U.K. government bonds climbed, outperforming their “AAA” rated German peers in the first day of trading after Moody’s Investors Service cut Britain’s top rank, as investors downplayed the significance of the downgrade.“What Moody’s said is old news,” said Stuart Thomson, who helps oversee $109 billion at Ignis Asset Management in Glasgow, Scotland. “It is behind the curve.”Gilts rose Monday, reducing the additional yield investors demand to hold Britain’s 10-year benchmark securities instead of

Unemployment and local governments could be among the first to feel the pain of federal budget cuts

For a decade the International Herald Tribune has been the global edition of the New York Times in all but name. On Monday, the parent company made it official.In a statement, the New York Times Company said the 125-year-old offshoot of the defunct New York Herald Tribune will be rechristened sometime this fall as the International New York Times."The digital revolution has turned the New York Times from being a great American newspaper to becoming one of the world's best-known news providers,"

BARCELONA (AP) ― Huawei, a Chinese company that recently became the world’s third-largest maker of smartphones, calls its new flagship product “the fastest smartphone in the world” and wants to use it to expand global awareness of its brand. Parts of the presentation of the phone at a press conference Sunday in Barcelona, Spain, suggest that the company has some way to go in polishing its pitch for a global audience. Richard Yu, head of Huawei’s consumer business group said the new phone can be

WASHINGTON (AP) ― The automatic budget cuts set to take hold this week were roundly condemned Sunday as the Obama administration and congressional Republicans bickered over who’s to blame for the failure to reach a deal to stave off the $85 billion reduction in government services that threatens the fragile economic recovery.The grim picture is emerging as the White House and lawmakers count down the days until the government is forced to make drastic cuts in domestic and defense spending with h

TOKYO (AFP) ― Asian Development Bank president Haruhiko Kuroda is seen as the leading candidate to become Japan’s next central bank governor, local media reported on Saturday.The government is strongly considering nominating Kuroda, 68, as the next Bank of Japan chief to succeed Masaaki Shirakawa, Kyodo News said, quoting sources familiar with the matter.The Asahi Shimbun also reported that one of its government and finance ministry sources said: “Mr. Kuroda is the first candidate.”Incumbent BOJ

LONDON (AP) ― The man in charge in Britain’s economy says he won’t change direction despite a rating agency’s decision to downgrade the nation’s credit rating and he spurned renewed calls from the opposition for more stimulus for a flat-lining economy. Treasury chief George Osborne declared that the action by Moody’s Investors Service redoubled his commitment to the government’s police of cutting spending in an effort to reduce deficits. But Labor Party spokesman Ed Balls said Saturday that the