UBS former trader enters pleaA former UBS trader, Kweku M. Adoboli, pleaded not guilty on Monday to charges of fraud and false accounting that led to a $2.3 billion trading loss at Zurich-based UBS last year. Standing in a glass-walled box in a London court, Adoboli, 31, pleaded not guilty to each of the four counts. He faces up to 10 years in prison if found guilty of the two counts of falsifying accounts and two counts of fraud by abuse of position. The judge, Alistair McCreath, sent Adoboli back into custody and said the trial would start Sept. 3.
Consumer income rises, but not spendingConsumers had more money in their pockets in December, but fewer people decided to spend it, choosing instead to tuck the extra funds away in their savings. Personal income rose $61.3 billion, or 0.5 percent, from November to December, their highest jump in nearly a year, according to the Commerce Department. The increase was fueled in part by rising wages and salaries. But personal consumption expenditures dipped $2 billion, or 0.1 percent, an about-face from November. The savings rate, meanwhile, spiked to $460.1 billion, or 4 percent of disposable personal income -- the highest rate in four months. The increase is the largest monthly boost since April 2010.
A growing hunger for meat exportsU.S. exporters will continue to see "massive demand" for meat overseas, especially from China, the world's biggest pork consumer, according to Brett Stuart, co-founder of farm-industry researcher Global AgriTrends. U.S. pork exports may climb 2.7 percent this year, beef exports may rise 10.8 percent, and broilers will increase 2.4 percent, Stuart said in a conference call organized by AgStar Financial Services Inc., a livestock industry lender in Mankato. In 2011, U.S. meat and poultry exports rose $3.24 billion from a year earlier to $16 billion, he said. "The incentive to import pork remains huge" in China, Stuart said.
Huge fines in Japanese auto price-fixing caseJapanese suppliers will pay criminal fines of more than $500 million after being caught in a massive auto parts price-fixing scheme, and four Japanese executives will serve U.S. jail terms as part of a plea deal, the Department of Justice said. Yazaki Corp. will pay a $470 million fine, the second-largest criminal fine obtained for a Sherman Act antitrust violation, the government said, while Denso Corp. will pay a $78 million fine. Regulators said that for as long as 10 years, the companies colluded to divvy up contracts to supply Honda Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. in North America with electrical parts, wiring, gauges and fuel sensors. The penalties come on top of a $200 million fine levied on Furukawa Electric Co. that sent three more Japanese executives to jail in November.
Starbucks to open in India by SeptemberAfter years of studying the Indian market, Starbucks Coffee said Monday that it would open its first store here by September through a 50-50 joint venture with Tata Global Beverages, a unit of the largest business group in India. The announcement comes a year after Starbucks said it was going to enter the market and nearly two months after the Indian government fumbled an effort to attract more foreign investment in its retailing industry. The companies would not provide details on their investment and how many stores they want to set up, but a senior Tata executive said at a news conference that there could be 50 stores by the end of the year and speculated that Starbucks could eventually have 3,000 locations.
FROM NEWS SERVICES
