Industries

P&G Chief Bob McDonald Pins Growth on Closer Shave Than a Mumbai Barber Procter & Gamble Co.’s Bob McDonald is going undercover in Latin America next week.

Retail LBOs are Back as Credit Freeze Abates, Buyout Firms Executives Say Private-equity firms looking to buy retail and consumer companies said they’re now able to finance deals and pay reasonable prices after the credit crisis and global recession triggered a buyout slump.

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Crude Oil Is Little Changed as U.S. Trade Deficit, Jobless Claims Decline Crude oil was little changed along with the dollar after U.S. government reports showed that the country’s trade deficit narrowed, indicating a slowing economic recovery, and jobless claims decreased.

Alberta to Reduce Oil, Gas Production Royalties Next Year to Spur Output Alberta, home to the largest oil reserves outside the Middle East, said it will reduce its take from oil and natural gas production starting next January in a bid to spur exploration.

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Dodd Ends Talks on Financial Overhaul, Says Bill to Include Corker's Ideas Senator Christopher Dodd, who today ended three weeks of talks with Republican Bob Corker on legislation to overhaul financial regulations, said elements they worked out will be in the bill he introduces next week.

Goldman Sachs Internal Hedge Fund Head Flamand Said to Leave to Start Firm Pierre-Henri Flamand, the head of Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s largest internal hedge fund, is retiring from the world’s most profitable securities firm to start a hedge fund, according to three people with knowledge of his plans.

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Pfizer Says Sutent Tumor Drug Fails Breast Cancer Patients in Two Trials Pfizer Inc. said the cancer drug Sutent failed to meet its main goals in two late-stage studies of advanced breast tumors and the company stopped a late-stage trial of an experimental medicine for a type of lung malignancy.

Congressional Leaders Agree on Language for Obama's Health-Care Overhaul House and Senate leaders have agreed on most elements of legislation needed to push forward President Barack Obama’s proposed overhaul of the U.S. health- care system, top House Democrats said.

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Buffett Gets $100,000 Berkshire Salary for 29th Straight Year, No Bonus Warren Buffett, the billionaire chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. who pays the company for postage and personal phone calls, received a $100,000 salary for a 29th straight year as he arranged a $27 billion acquisition.

Fed Shoulders AIG Japan Mortgage Losses to Ease Sale of Alico to MetLife The Federal Reserve Bank of New York and American International Group Inc. agreed to shoulder as much as $450 million in losses tied to the insurer’s Japan real estate bets as part of the sale of a division to MetLife Inc.

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Home Equity Loans That Fueled U.S. Consumer Spending Make `Modest' Rebound John Hale’s four-bedroom house near Seattle is worth about $2 million and is 90 percent paid for. It still took him nine months to find a bank that would give him a $250,000 home equity line of credit.

Foreclosures in U.S. Rise at Slowest Pace in Four Years on Modifications U.S. foreclosure filings rose at the slowest pace in four years in February as the government sought to reduce record bank seizures, RealtyTrac Inc. said.

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Calpers May Challenge Apple, BlackRock on Directors Over Election Methods The California Public Employees’ Retirement System, the biggest state-run U.S. public pension, may use its financial clout to force Apple Inc., BlackRock Inc. and other companies where it has large holdings to change the way they elect directors.

Elliott Said to Consider Sale of Unit If $2 Billion Novell Offer Succeeds Elliott Associates LP, the fund manager that made an unsolicited $2 billion offer for Novell Inc., may consider selling the NetWare networking-software unit if its bid succeeds, a person familiar with the matter said.

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Toyota Sees Recovery in 2010 for Most of U.S. Market Share Lost on Recalls Toyota Motor Corp. set a 2010 goal of regaining most of the U.S. market share lost in the past two months after global recalls of 8 million vehicles damped demand, the No. 2 U.S. sales executive said.

United's Bonds Jump Most of 2009 Airline Issues as Travel Demand Rebounds Bonds issued last year by U.S. carriers including UAL Corp.’s United Airlines and Delta Air Lines Inc. are all trading at or above par for the first time amid improving demand as business travel returns, according to RBS Securities Inc.

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