German airline Lufthansa AG said Monday it received unconditional approval from U.S. regulators for its planned $374.7 million takeover of Swiss International.
The Cologne-based airline still needs European regulatory approval before the deal - announced in March - can go through.
U.S. antitrust authorities gave their approval for Lufthansa to acquire Swiss International Airlines Ltd. over the weekend. European Union regulators are expected to make their decision next week.
Swiss has suffered massive financial problems since it was created out of Swissair in 2002, racking up losses of $1.64 billion so far.
Lufthansa has pledged to maintain the Swiss brand and run it as a separate Swiss-based airline operating from its hub in Zurich.
Lufthansa is Europe's third-largest passenger airline, behind British Airways and Air France-KLM, and flies to more than 330 destinations in 90 countries.
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
Linux Finds Its Way to More Handheld Devices
LXrider writes "The coolest new handheld to pick Linux as its OS is the Pepper Pad This device was one of the most exciting products to be found at this year's otherwise lackluster C3 Expo in NYC. The Pepper Pad runs MontaVista Linux on a Intel XScale PXA270 (624 MHz) processor and it used for viewing multimedia, surfing the net, and controlling your home's electronics."
Euro Hits 13 Month Low Against Dollar
The euro hit its lowest level against the dollar in more than 13 months Monday after economic data painted a rosy picture of the U.S. economy and traders waited to see if the European Central Bank would cut interest rates later this week.
The euro fell as low as $1.1896 in Europe - its lowest point since May 20, 2004, when it dropped to $1.1893 - before recovering slightly to $1.1899. That's compared to $1.1947 in New York late Friday.
The British pound slipped to $1.7591 from $1.7694, while the dollar fell against the Japanese yen, to 111.43 yen from 111.70 yen late Friday after a survey showed Japanese business sentiment improving. The dollar briefly touched a 10-month high of 111.89 yen, dealers said, but met heavy selling from Japanese exporters.
Carsten Fritsch, a currency strategist with Commerzbank, said the euro is facing a dollar buoyed by the interest rate increase last week by the U.S. Federal Reserve and rises in U.S. manufacturing and consumer sentiment indexes.
"The other currencies are under pressure from the dollar," Fritsch said.
Fritsch said comments by France's Christian Noyer, a member of the European Central Bank's governing council, that a country could exit the 12-member euro zone, were also forcing the common currency lower.
"It's caused some further euro selling," Fritsch said.
The ECB, which has held interest rates at 2 percent for two years, meets Thursday amid calls from politicians to lower borrowing costs in order to spur growth in Europe.
Speculation has mounted that the ECB may move to cut interest rates after Sweden's Riksbank unexpectedly cut its own interest rate to 1.5 percent last month. The Bank of England, which also meets this week, has also been holding its key interest rate steady at 4.75 percent, but analysts said it might move to cut that in light of increasingly dour economic data in Britain.
Fritsch said the sterling's drop has been linked to the confusion and uncertainty in the wake of no votes against the EU constitution a month ago by France and the Netherlands, as well as the raft of dull economic figures last week.
The euro surged to an all-time high of $1.3667 at the end of December on worries about the wide U.S. trade and budget deficits. The dollar has since rebounded, as the Federal Reserve has raised interest rates and economists believe more increases will come this year.
Positive economic news and higher interest rates tend to lift the value of a nation's currency.
- Prakash John Nadavallil
The euro fell as low as $1.1896 in Europe - its lowest point since May 20, 2004, when it dropped to $1.1893 - before recovering slightly to $1.1899. That's compared to $1.1947 in New York late Friday.
The British pound slipped to $1.7591 from $1.7694, while the dollar fell against the Japanese yen, to 111.43 yen from 111.70 yen late Friday after a survey showed Japanese business sentiment improving. The dollar briefly touched a 10-month high of 111.89 yen, dealers said, but met heavy selling from Japanese exporters.
Carsten Fritsch, a currency strategist with Commerzbank, said the euro is facing a dollar buoyed by the interest rate increase last week by the U.S. Federal Reserve and rises in U.S. manufacturing and consumer sentiment indexes.
"The other currencies are under pressure from the dollar," Fritsch said.
Fritsch said comments by France's Christian Noyer, a member of the European Central Bank's governing council, that a country could exit the 12-member euro zone, were also forcing the common currency lower.
"It's caused some further euro selling," Fritsch said.
The ECB, which has held interest rates at 2 percent for two years, meets Thursday amid calls from politicians to lower borrowing costs in order to spur growth in Europe.
Speculation has mounted that the ECB may move to cut interest rates after Sweden's Riksbank unexpectedly cut its own interest rate to 1.5 percent last month. The Bank of England, which also meets this week, has also been holding its key interest rate steady at 4.75 percent, but analysts said it might move to cut that in light of increasingly dour economic data in Britain.
Fritsch said the sterling's drop has been linked to the confusion and uncertainty in the wake of no votes against the EU constitution a month ago by France and the Netherlands, as well as the raft of dull economic figures last week.
The euro surged to an all-time high of $1.3667 at the end of December on worries about the wide U.S. trade and budget deficits. The dollar has since rebounded, as the Federal Reserve has raised interest rates and economists believe more increases will come this year.
Positive economic news and higher interest rates tend to lift the value of a nation's currency.
- Prakash John Nadavallil
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)