Business News Headlines - Canadian Press

TORONTO - General Motors Canada will temporarily lay off the third shift at its Oshawa car plant starting the first week of February in another blow to an industry reeling from thousands of job loss.

SHANGHAI, China - Asian markets were mostly lower Friday as a slew of dismal U.S. economic news overshadowed big rate cuts from central banks in Europe. Oil traded near four-year lows.

WASHINGTON - Desperate U.S. automakers ran into fresh obstacles from skeptical legislators Thursday as they appealed with rising urgency - and a new dose of humility - for a $34-billion bailout.

BEIJING - China is urging Washington to rein in debt-fuelled spending and stabilize its economy in high-level talks on commercial relations, reflecting Beijing's growing economic assertiveness.

PITTSBURGH - Boeing Co. may delay the first deliveries of its of long-awaited 787 jetliner by at least six more months due to a recent strike by union workers and other production glitches, a news report said Thursday.

SINGAPORE - Oil prices were steady near four-year lows below US$44 a barrel Friday in Asia as more bad U.S. economic news soured the outlook for global growth and demand for crude.

WASHINGTON - U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke pleaded Thursday for more government action to relieve the foreclosure crisis and break a vicious cycle in which the housing meltdown is plunging the country deeper into recession.

PITTSBURGH - Boeing Co. may delay the first deliveries of its of long-awaited 787 jetliner by at least six more months due to a recent strike by union workers and other production glitches, a media report said Thursday.

LOS ANGELES - Amid an ongoing debt crisis at controlling shareholder Sumner Redstone's movie theatre company, National Amusements Inc., media giant Viacom Inc. said Thursday it will slash about 850 jobs - seven per cent of its work force - and freeze some senior-level salaries.

MONTREAL - The private equity firms involved in a bid to privatize BCE Inc. (TSX:BCE) are reportedly interested in spending up to $10 billion to buy a 20 per cent stake in the phone company as the original deal appears headed for collapse next week.

MONTREAL - A century-old mill will make its last roll of newsprint paper next spring after AbitibiBowater Inc. (TSX:ABH) announced that at least 800 workers will lose their jobs with the closure of its troubled plant in Grand Falls, N.L.

WOODSTOCK, Ont. - There is still federal money available to help troubled automakers trying to stave off bankruptcy even though Parliament has been suspended, Industry Minister Tony Clement said Thursday.

TORONTO - Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (TSX:CM) profits were cut to $436 million in the fourth quarter, less than half what they were a year earlier, but its CEO says its expenses will also be falling.

NEW YORK - Starbucks warned Wall Street on Thursday that its profit would fall short of analysts' expectations this quarter during a conference that began with CEO Howard Schultz trying to assuage concerns about the recession's effect on the coffee retailer.

TORONTO - TD Bank Financial Group (TSX:TD) saw its quarterly earnings fall partly due to its first major writedown related to the credit crisis, but the bank's CEO says he expects profits to grow next year.

MONTREAL - Bombardier Inc. (TSX:BBD.B) hopes to ride the rails of global stimulus efforts to help offset the impact of an economic slowdown and financial crisis on it airplane business.

TRENTON, N.J. - Drugmaker Merck & Co. on Thursday forecast lower profits and flat revenue in 2009 - far below Wall Street expectations - with management blaming the weak global economy, generic competition, slower sales of key products and restructuring charges.

OTTAWA - Ottawa has gone into hibernation with the economy in its most urgent need, leaving the Bank of Canada to do the heavy lifting in trying to keep Canada from a crippling recession, economists say.

ULAN BATOR, Mongolia - Mongolia decided Thursday to reopen talks with international mining companies on two key mineral deposits, an issue which dominated a bitter election earlier this year.

MONTREAL - National Bank Financial Group (TSX:NA) is hoping to weather the current economic turmoil and provide shareholders with earnings-per-share growth of five to 10 per cent annually in the medium term, CEO Louis Vachon said Thursday.

TORONTO - Canada's dollar swooped, recovered and fell again to close down more than 1 1/2 cents on Thursday as the loonie navigated a turbulent political and economic situation.

TORONTO - Canada may be unable to avoid shouldering a "disproportionate amount of the pain" connected to any restructuring of the auto industry, as the U.S. government will tie any aid to a promise to protect U.S. jobs and the Canadian government lacks the clout to do the same, an industry analyst says.

TORONTO - The Toronto stock market shed more than 200 points Thursday as commodity stocks were hammered by lower metal and oil prices.

TORONTO - George Weston Ltd. (TSX:WN) is in talks to sell its Dunedin U.S. fresh bread and baked goods business to Grupo Bimbo of Mexico, a move one at least analyst says could result in the company taking its Loblaw subsidiary private.

TORONTO - Canada's dollar fell nearly 1.5 cents and stock prices tumbled Thursday as financial markets navigated a turbulent political situation and worsening news about the North American and global economies.

NEW YORK - Pressured by the economic turmoil and the mounting loss of traditional phone customers, AT&T Inc. is cutting 12,000 jobs, about four per cent of its work force.

NEW YORK - There was more bad news from the book industry Thursday with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt announcing the "streamlining" of its educational business and the elimination of jobs in both its education and general divisions.

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Europe's central banks slashed borrowing costs aggressively Thursday to try and ward off a long recession triggered by the financial crisis.