Western Europe
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France has a special responsibility as a euro zone heavyweight to take deficit cuts seriously, even though its budget deficit is above target, Bundesbank chief Jens Weidmann said in an interview published Sunday.
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Dutch bank ABN AMRO does not plan to open its books to a trio of its European rivals who may gate-crash ABN's $85-billion-plus takeover talks with Barclays, and the consortium's interest could speed up Barclays' courtship process.
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Speculation is growing that Britain's Barclays may abandon its bid for the Dutch bank ABN Amro, CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo reported. Barclays is due to finalize its bid for ABN next week, Bartiromo said, "but sources tell me there is a chance Barclays will pull out" because of "past liability concerns over past money-laundering questions."
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Finland's annual inflation rate surged to 2.6 percent in March, the highest figure in almost six years, the government statistics agency said Friday.
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The European Central Bank kept short-term interest rates on hold Thursday as expected, but economists and investors think that another rate rise is due this summer.
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Nestle, the world's largest food company, will buy U.S. baby-food giant Gerber from NovartisAG for $5.5 billion in cash, becoming the world's biggest baby food company.
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Nordic bourse operator andtechnology firm OMX said on Thursday it was in cooperation talks with several exchanges, but added it had not received any bid.
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Global brewing giant SABMiller said on Thursday its annual worldwide underlying beer volumes rose 10%, and said its financial performance was in line with its own expectations.
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A top DaimlerChrysler executive is scheduled to meet in New York this week with bidders for the German auto maker's Chrysler unit but it appears that billionaire Kirk Kerkorian's Tracinda isn't among those on the invitation list, The Wall Street Journal reported.
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Shares in German sportswear maker Puma rose after French luxury-to-retail giant PPR (up 2.61%) made a 5.3 billion euro ($7.1 billion) takeover bid for the company.
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Shares in Air France-KLM increased on Friday after Deutsche Bank upgraded the stock to “buy” from “hold”.
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Dutch food retailer Ahold is looking to buy the Dutch-based retail franchise Hema, recently put up for sales, possibly for more than 1 billion euros ($1.34 billion), a newspaper reported on Thursday.
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John Thain, chief executive officer of the New York Stock Exchange, told CNBC’s “Closing Bell” that different listing standards in the United States and Europe create an opportunity – not a barrier – for Euronext.
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The newly merged transatlantic exchange operator NYSE Euronext made its debut in Paris when it started trading as a combined company on Wednesday.
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Shares in the world’s largest utility E.ON increased considerably after it gave up its 42 billion euro bid ($56 billion) for Spanish utility company Endesa (down 0.69%), agreeing to split it up with rivals.
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Shares of Italy’s Pirelli soared to 9.67% Monday morning after it revealed late Sunday that it was in talks with U.S. telecom giant AT&T and its Mexican affiliate America Movil to sell two-thirds of its 80% stake in holding company Olimpia for 2.82 euros a share less debt.
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Risk to euro zone inflation remain and the European Central Bank will do what is necessary to ensure stable prices, the authority's president, Jean-Claude Trichet, said in newspaper interviews published on Monday.
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Cap Gemini’s shares increased 2.37% in Paris trade Friday after Exane BNP Paribas upgraded the IT group from ‘neutral’ to ‘outperform’, citing the company’s strong growth prospects based on its business mix, cost control and use of off-shoring.
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Dutch Philips Electronics , confirming its financial targets at its annual shareholders' meeting on Thursday, said it is looking at takeovers and ways to return excess cash to shareholders.
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Shares of caterer Compass Group gained 5.78% in midday London trading Thursday after it reported that trading in the first 5 months of the year has been ahead of its expectations and the sale of its European vending business is progressing.
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Danish shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk's full-year profit fell 22% after freight shipping rates fell and as the government raised its tax rate on oil and gas activities, the company said Wednesday.