Biz People

Buffett moves into bonds

IN BRIEF (Page 16)

Business International

Hyundai goes for a touch of luxury

Hyundai Motor Co yesterday launched its first premium sedan, the Genesis, dipping a toe into the luxury car market and hoping to win customers from foreign rivals and improve its brand image abroad.

Schultz back in the saddle

Starbucks Corp replaced CEO Jim Donald with founder and Chairman Howard Schultz and said it would slow an aggressive US expansion in a shake-up that sent its battered shares up nearly 9 percent.

McDonald's plans expansion of drinks lineup

McDonald's plan to expand the beverage lineup at its US restaurants with cappuccinos, lattes and other drinks is expected to add $1 billion to annual sales, a spokeswoman said.

India woos big firms as it frets about $150 oil

India wants global companies including Exxon Mobil Corp and Chevron Corp to explore for oil and gas in the South Asian nation on concern that crude prices may soar to $150 a barrel and curb record economic growth.

IN BRIEF (Page 16)

Rising fuel costs to hit carriers hard

Rising fuel costs will be the main culprit cutting into US airlines' profits this year, with credit market turmoil and slowing passenger demand also expected to hamper the industry worldwide.

British business gloomy about '08

Companies are more pessimistic now about the British economy than at any other time in the past five years, according to a survey by Lloyds TSB.

Gulf stocks may remain robust

Gulf Arab stocks will probably hold their value this year as oil earnings boost the region's economies even after benchmarks jumped in 2007 leaving "few bargains" for investors, according to Nomura Holdings Inc.

Japan's ghosts of bubbles past haunt US in 2008

In early 2001, economist Stephen Roach raised a warning flag that enraged many peers: The US risks repeating Japan's mistakes of the 1990s.