Business PR Wire

A malfunctioning cable may have been responsible for the claim that some particles may be able to travel faster than light speed, a potentially embarrassing outcome for physicists.

U.S. stock-market futures traded slightly higher ahead of a closely-watched report on weekly jobless claims, as investors wait to see if they can recoup some of the prior session's lost ground.

Japan's central bank governor offered a stark reminder of the risks facing the nation's banks from a potentially dangerous concentration of Japanese government bond holdings.

A Shanghai court rejected a Chinese company's effort to get a preliminary injunction against the sale of Apple's iPad there over a trademark dispute and postponed the hearings pending the results of another case in a Chinese court.

The euro area will slip back into recession in 2012 after the economic recovery unexpectedly stalled last year, the European Commission said.

Chinese banks are wrestling with rising funding costs both inside and outside China's borders, at a time when these banks are expected to lend more to bolster China when its trade and real-estate sectors are sagging.

German business confidence increased substantially in February, Germany's Ifo Institute said, beating forecasts and confirming expectations that Germany's economic slump will likely be short-lived.

British American Tobacco posted a rise in profit on higher revenue, but cautioned that the consumer outlook remains uncertain.

Germany's Commerzbank said it will increase capital by $1.32 billion to meet tougher regulations and gave an upbeat outlook after it posted higher fourth-quarter net profit.

Swiss Re returned to profit in the fourth quarter of 2011, despite the impact of the heavy floods in Thailand.

Allianz, Europe's biggest primary insurer by market capitalization, said that a solid performance on the operating level enabled it to keep its dividend for 2011 stable despite a 57% decline in net profit for the year.

Stocks started slightly lower, as concerns about the outlook for the European economy weighed on sentiment, and investors remained wary about the Greek bailout.

Polaris Financial Technology expects its sales growth to slow in the fiscal year starting April 1, but it is confident of beating the industry average.

Crédit Agricole SA posted its heaviest net loss since it went public a decade ago in the fourth quarter, suffering from the impact of the Greek crisis and restructuring costs.

RBS said that it slumped to a 2011 full-year net loss of nearly $3.13 billion as the euro-zone crisis continued to weigh on its investment banking division and Greek debt write-downs hurt the U.K. bank's bottom line.

A coalition of Internet companies including Google has agreed to support a do-not-track button to be embedded in most Web browsers—a move that the industry had been resisting for more than a year.

Deutsche Telekom said it expects operating profit to drop further after reporting more customer losses in the U.S. and as the tough economy in many parts of Europe continues to hurt the company.

Dexia reported a $15.37 billion net loss for 2011, driven by a write-off of its Greek bond portfolio and costs linked to the break-up of the bank.

Riskier Asian corporate-bond issuers are creeping back to the international market, building on a strong start to the year by their investment-grade peers.

Fashion retailer Esprit Holdings said its first-half net profit tumbled 74% from a year earlier, as it continues to struggle to rebuild its brand while facing head winds in its wholesale business and European operations.