Business

NICOSIA (AFP) - A lack of details on how Dubai plans to pay off its 80-billion-dollar debt mountain will hit Gulf stock markets sharply this week when they trade for the first time since news broke of the emirate's problems, analysts predict.

NEW YORK (AFP) - Wall Street braced for repercussions of the Dubai debt crisis to unfold and for looming key economic data, after winding down a turbulent holiday-shortened week.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Dubai, jobs data, Black Friday results and a chance for Congress to throw fireballs at Fed chief Ben Bernanke: The U.S. stock market's path to glory is fraught with peril next week.

MUMBAI (AFP) - India's leading vehicle company, Tata Motors, reported Friday it had swung to a consolidated quarterly net profit, helped by a better performance by its premium car marques Jaguar and Land Rover.

FRANKFURT - German steel maker ThyssenKrupp AG reported a loss of euro1.87 billion ($2.8 billion) for the 2008-9 fiscal year and announced plans Friday to cut 5,000 jobs and sell divisions employing another 15,000 people.

NEW YORK - Strong overseas sales and cost-cutting kept a decline in Tiffany & Co.'s third-quarter profit to a bare minimum, causing the luxury jeweler to raise its full-year profit outlook heading into the crucial holiday season.

MANSFIELD, Ohio - General Motors Co. says production at a stamping plant in Ohio is expected to end Jan. 29.

STOCKHOLM - A spokeswoman for General Motors' Saab unit says several potential buyers have expressed interest in the Swedish brand after specialty car maker pulled out of a deal to acquire it.

RAMBOUILLET, France - French electricity giant EDF will join Russia's Gazprom in supporting the South Stream gas pipeline under the Black Sea, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Friday.

If you are a pundit, or get paid to watch trends, then this message doesn't apply to you. It's your job to go out and find the next shiny object that could influence how we live and do business.

It's been a hard year to work at General Electric . Salary freezes have hit its famously performance-driven employees, with some managers taking pay cuts. The price of GE stock, which once made millionaires out of even hourly workers, has gone nowhere as the rest of the market has risen. A 68% dividend cut -- the first in 71 years -- has stung execs who rely on a heavy dose of restricted shares.

About a year ago, observers of the UK commercial property market would not have been shocked to see the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse riding around the corner.

NEW YORK - Dubai's debt crisis rattled world financial markets Friday, raising concerns that some banks could further tighten lending and stall the global economic recovery.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - As world markets absorbed the shock of Dubai's debt crisis, the ruler of the once-booming city-state left town for an important meeting in a desert palace. His hosts: the leaders of neighboring Abu Dhabi whose balance sheets are flush with oil revenue.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Just a year after the global downturn derailed Dubai's explosive growth, the city is now so swamped in debt that it's asking for a six-month reprieve on paying its bills — causing a drop on world markets Thursday and raising questions about Dubai's reputation as a magnet for international investment.