Outgunned by Chinese and Middle Eastern competitors and lacking the breadth of service of their U.S. rivals, European private equity firms are focusing on specific industries to compete on their home turf.
Industry
Weak spending to show Japan consumers unconvinced by Bank of Japan's stimulus
Japanese households cut spending further and retail sales fell for the first time in seven months in January, data on Friday is likely to show, a sign the central bank's radical stimulus has yet to convince consumers that inflation will take hold.
German wage deal could boost consumer-driven growth
An inflation-busting wage deal for Germany's biggest labor union agreed on Tuesday looks set to boost household spending this year after consumer activity propelled strong growth in Europe's largest economy at the end of 2014.
HSBC says Swiss scandal has brought 'shame' on bank
HSBC (HSBA.L) reported a 17 percent fall in annual pretax profit and cut its profitability target, saying allegations its Swiss business had helped customers to dodge taxes had brought shame on the bank.
Rent walkouts point to strains in U.S. farm economy
Across the U.S. Midwest, the plunge in grain prices to near four-year lows is pitting landowners determined to sustain rental incomes against farmer tenants worried about making rent payments because their revenues are squeezed.
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Dubbed the "king of wines, the wine of kings" by Louis XV of France, Hungary's Tokaji wine is undergoing a makeover as the region hopes to regain fame lost in decades of mismanagement.
China has agreed to lift its ban on Irish beef, Ireland's Prime Minister Enda Kenny said on Friday, making it the only European country to be allowed to export beef to both the United States and China.
A group of shipping companies and a powerful dockworkers union clinched a tentative labor deal on Friday after nine months of negotiations, settling a dispute that disrupted the flow of cargo through 29 U.S. West Coast ports and snarled trans-Pacific maritime trade with Asia.
U.S. consumers are shifting away from weight-management foods, forcing companies ranging from Kellogg Co to Nestle SA to change ingredients and focus their marketing on different health benefits as sales slip.
The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week, offering fresh evidence that the labor market was gathering steam.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N) said it would raise entry-level wages to $9 an hour, a 24 percent increase from the U.S. minimum wage that some employees now earn, succumbing to longstanding pressure to pay its workforce more.
The dollar was on the defensive against the yen and euro on Thursday, paring gains after minutes of January's Federal Reserve policy meeting showed officials were concerned about hiking interest rates too soon.
U.S. producer prices recorded their biggest drop in more than five years in January as the cost of energy and a range of other goods tumbled, hinting at a disinflationary trend that could argue against the Federal Reserve raising interest rates.
Bitcoin was founded on the precept that peer-to-peer transactions should be made easy and cheap. However, terrorists organizations gave allegedly exploited the alternative payment method.
