GE profit down 44 percent

General Electric Co reported a 44 percent drop in quarterly profit on weakness at GE Capital and its lighting and appliance units, as the U.S. conglomerate and economic bellwether closed out one of the toughest years in its 117-year history.Despite meeting Wall Street's lowered estimates, earnings at the company's GE Capital finance arm its Achilles heel for the past year stumbled 67 percent. Its energy infrastructure unit, which makes electric turbines and windmills, was the highlight, recording 11 percent profit growth.

Obama faces plunging stock markets as party ends

US President Barack Obama faced plunging global stock markets on Wednesday, with the music barely faded from euphoric star-studded celebrations to greet his arrival in the White House.Obama, who danced into the early hours to celebrate his inauguration as the nation's first black president, suffered an economic hangover as financial fears eclipsed hope that he will breath new life into the American economy.The woes facing the new president took on new urgency as the global banking crisis intensified and speculation grew on nationalisation of the troubled sector.

Munich RE to buy AIG's HSB unit

Reinsurer Munich RE in a starkling revelation has said that it would buy Hartford Steam Boliler from its embattled parent company, American International Group for a price of 742 million dollars.The purchase s being considered as well below the HSB's value, estimated at between 1 billion and 2 billion by the Financial Times, as AIG is forced to sell the units to pay back a U.S governmenr bailout loan.

Cairn announces new oil find

In a significant development, Cairn India has announced that it had made an oil and natural gas discovery adjacent to the Raageshwari oilfield in its Rajasthan block. Raageshwari East announced that about 10 metres of net oil pay and 1.4 metres of gas pay. This comes as a good boost to the company which is still in the look for more oil fields.

Forex reserves drop by $1.82 bn to $245.85 bn

India's foreign exchange reserves declined by $ 1.829 billion to $ 245.857 billion during the week ended December 5.Reserves had risen to $ 247.686 billion during the previous week after falling for several weeks. Foreign currency assets (FCAs) decreased by $ 1.82 billion to $ 237.148 billion from $ 238.968 billion a week ago.The FCAs expressed in US dollar terms include the effect of appreciation/depreciation of non-US currencies such as Euro, Sterling and Yen held in reserves.The gold reserves and the special drawing rights remained unchanged at
$ 7.861 billion and 3 million, respectively.

Thain seeking 2008 bonus of $10 million

Merrill Lynch & Co Chief Executive John Thain has suggested to directors that he get a 2008 bonus of as much as $10 million, but the battered company's compensation committee is resisting his request of such a kind and from the information got from the company is said that they are not in a state to accept his request.Thain, who became Merrill's chief executive after losses in mortgage-related investments led to the October 2007 ouster of Stanley O'Neal, has also run NYSE Euronext, after a long career at Goldman.

Metal prices fall further

The prices of the key industrial metals have fallen in the last four months than the period during the " Great Depression ". The average fall in the prices of the metals like copper,lead and zinc have been nearly 60pc from last July. Prices for the three metals fell 40pc from their highs in 1929 before touching bottom in 1933, with the bulk of the fall in 1930 as the slump spread worldwide. Copper was the hardest hit during the recession and now itself there are speculations that this crisis will be worser than the " Great Depression "