Stock-picking fund managers are testing their investors’ patience with some of the worst investment returns in decades. With bad bets on financial shares, missed opportunities in technology stocks and too much cash on the sidelines, roughly 85 percent of active large-cap stock funds have lagged their benchmark indexes through Nov. 25 this year, according to an analysis by Lipper, a Thomson Reuters research unit. It is likely their worst comparative showing in 30 years, Lipper said.
Regions
Banking tricks blunt China's drive to increase lending
China hopes that last week's interest rate cut will increase lending into the economy to shore up flagging growth, but measuring any rise will be impeded by a number of tricks the country's bankers use to manipulate the figures.
Saudis block OPEC output cut, sending oil price plunging
Saudi Arabia blocked calls on Thursday from poorer members of the OPEC oil exporter group for production cuts to arrest a slide in global prices, sending benchmark crude plunging to a fresh four-year low.
ECB's Draghi warns countries to reform as clouds gather over euro zone
Failure to reform and shield weaker members threatens to divide the euro zone, the head of the European Central Bank warned on Thursday, amid fresh signs the currency bloc's economy is losing speed.
Airbus could shed full Dassault stake by end of 2015: sources
Airbus Group and Dassault Aviation aim to oversee the complete sale of Airbus's 4.8 billion-euro stake in the French planemaker by the end of next year, two people familiar with the matter said.
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Toyota Motor Corp said on Thursday it would recall 57,000 vehicles globally to replace potentially deadly air bags made by Takata Corp, as a safety crisis around the Japanese auto parts maker looks far from being contained.
Subdued food price inflation in Europe is unlikely to pick up any time soon, adding to the pressure on mainstream grocers as they struggle with changing shopping habits and competition from discounters.
The World Trade Organization adopted the first worldwide trade reform in its history on Thursday, after years of stalemate, months of deadlock and a final day's delay following an eleventh-hour objection.
Barclays' private bank in Switzerland has dropped out of a U.S. program aimed at cracking down on wealthy Americans evading taxes through hidden offshore accounts, the British bank's market head for Switzerland said on Thursday.
Oil prices, oil-related shares and oil-linked currencies all tumbled in Asia on Friday, in the wake of OPEC's decision to refrain from cutting output despite a huge oversupply.
Ridesharing company Uber suspended its operations in the U.S. state of Nevada late on Wednesday in a setback that it said would cost nearly 1,000 jobs.
Indonesia's Lion Group is buying an additional 40 aircraft from ATR for $1 billion at list prices, the companies said, in a move that will make Lion the biggest customer of the European manufacturer.
Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim is set to become the largest investor in Spanish builder FCC after reaching a deal with the firm's current top shareholder Esther Koplowitz to buy her rights to participate in a $1.3 billion capital increase.
Investment in the fast-growing market for Internet-connected devices gathered pace this year and is set to attract more top U.S. technology and telecoms buyers of firms active in the market, a report from a merger advisory firm said on Thursday.
