In a surprise move, the Canadian government provisionally rejected BHP’s $38.6 billion bid to buy the Canadian firm Potash. Potash, in the province of Saskatchewan, controls more than a fifth of the world’s reserves of potash, a key ingredient in fertilizer. After its initial review, the Canadian government was not convinced that the acquisition of… Read more »

In an effort to increase sales, a small but growing number of food chains are adding mobile food trucks as distribution channels. In contrast to local food-truck businesses which usually only operate as mobile units, some national chain eateries have added mobile units to supplement their brick-and-mortar locations. These chains are often using franchising as… Read more »

The high value of the Japanese currency is contributing to a major restructuring of Japan’s economy. Japanese businesses are increasingly transferring more of their manufacturing abroad to offset the stronger yen, which makes Japanese goods more costly and less competitive in global markets. Toyota Motor Corporation will produce a record 57% of its output abroad… Read more »

On October 22, the upper house of the French parliament passed a controversial bill to change France’s minimum retirement age.  The bill is designed to address France’s budget deficit in pension funding by increasing the minimum retirement age to 62 from 60.  Despite the fact France has a generous retirement program when compared to other… Read more »

Members of the European Union (EU) have reached a tentative compromise agreement about how to deal with euro-zone members who violate EU spending rules. Each euro-zone country is supposed to limit its budget deficit to no more than 3% of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) and its debt to 60% of GDP. One of… Read more »

Demonstrators in Japan staged a massive anti-China rally as tensions between the two nations continue to rise. Long-simmering tensions between the countries have been fueled lately as a result of an incident last month when a Chinese boat operating off the coast of islands that both China and Japan claim as theirs purposely collided with… Read more »

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu urged France to more actively support Turkey’s application to join the European Union (EU). Turkey’s EU membership talks are currently stalled in the nation’s long quest to become a member of the world’s largest trade bloc. Mr. Davutoglu called on French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner to help accelerate the membership… Read more »

World finance leaders at the IMF and World Bank meetings in Washington last week urged nations to continue their commitment to multilateral cooperation on currency issues. In his opening remarks, IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn outlined four risks to the global economy: public debt, a jobless recovery, inadequate regulation of the financial sector, and the… Read more »

As fiscal policy efforts by governments seem to have stalled in stimulating economic growth, central banks worldwide seem more willing to use monetary policy tools to address stagnating economic growth. Countries are also taking actions to restrain their currencies from rising to protect their export sectors. Japan will begin a $60 billion program to buy… Read more »