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European and Asian shares rallied with U.S. stock index futures and commodities as China strengthened the yuan’s fixing by the most in four months, weighing on the dollar after the European Central Bank signaled an end to interest-rate cuts. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index jumped the most in two weeks, while a Bloomberg gauge of commodities prices climbed to a three-month high. Crude oil surged 2.3 percent, while industrial metals advanced. The yuan erased losses for the year, the currencies of resource-exporting nations appreciated and the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index held near its lowest level since October. The euro retreated, having strengthened the most in a month on Thursday after ECB President Mario Draghi damped expectations of more interest-rate cuts following a fresh round of monetary stimulus. Central banks are playing a leading role in determining the direction of global financial markets this week and next. The ECB’s actions whipsawed European stocks over the past two...

U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said on Sunday that it was critical for China to continue moving toward a more market-oriented exchange rate and clearly communicate its actions to the market. U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lew adresses during the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting in Shanghai, China February 27, 2016. (Reuters/Aly Song) Lew made the remarks during a meeting with Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang in Beijing, following the G20 finance ministers' summit in Shanghai. "As the global economy faces many challenges, our open and frank communications are more important than ever, and we must continue to work together for the benefit of both of our nations," Lew said. "We welcome China's efforts to transition to a more consumption-driven economy, including through fiscal policies that support household demand and actions that reduce excess industrial c...

The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that Google is shuttering Google Compare, its U.S. comparison-shopping site for auto insurance, credit cards and mortgages after one year, citing people familiar with the matter. People are silhouetted as they pose with laptops in front of a screen projected with a Google logo, in this picture illustration taken in Zenica October 29, 2014. (Reuters/Dado Ruvic) The quick reversal is a setback to the Alphabet unit's efforts to use its enormous reach to provide consumers with niche shopping services and financial-services tools, the Journal said on The Wall Street Journal. The company said in an email to its partners on Monday that Google Compare's U.S. and U.K. services would start winding down this month and terminate on March 23, according to the Journal. Google said the service didn't meet its expectations and that the company will ...

Following steep losses in the previous session, supported by a fall in the number of U.S. production rigs in use, oil prices partly recovered on Monday. But analysts said general oversupply was keeping the market weak. Pump jacks are seen at the Lukoil company owned Imilorskoye oil field, as the sun sets, outside the West Siberian city of Kogalym, Russia, January 25, 2016. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were trading at $29.90 per barrel at 0213 GMT, up 26 cents from their last settlement. International benchmark Brent LCOc1 was up 34 cents at $33.35 per barrel. Both contracts fell almost 4 percent on Friday. A falling rig count in the United States which is expected to lead to a decline in 2016 production helped support prices, analysts said. "The U.S. oil rig count continued to decline..., with a total of 26 rigs idled," Goldman Sachs said in a note to clients. "The current rig count implies... annual average U.S. production wou...

Twitter just announced a new committee to handle "trolling" and abuse to face a mounting backlash that its social media platform for unchecked bigotry. It hopefully stem the decline of the 10-year-old company, whose stock has plunged 30 percent since October 2015. The new committee, named the Twitter Trust & Safety Council, intends to "strike the right balance between fighting abuse and speaking truth to power," and enable Twitter's 320 million users to "express themselves with confidence on Twitter," wrote Patricia Cartes, Head of Global Policy Outreach, in a blog post today. The newly formed council includes representatives from a number of groups whose causes range from civil rights to anti-defamation and cyber safety. Twitter has proven itself to be a remarkable outlet for global solidarity, launching the #JeSuisParis hashtag after the November attacks in Paris last year -- but the free, international, all-access platform has also been an ...

Coca-Cola on Tuesday reported higher profit and revenue for its fourth quarter, as higher volume and pricing helped offset the impact of weakness abroad. It's better than what has already expected. The beverage giant also said it is accelerating its bottler-refranchising efforts and expects to finish refranchising its North American assets by the end of 2017, three years ahead of schedule. Coke has spent billions buying back bottling assets in North America, but it has reversed course recently as part of its cost-cutting effort. Coke has been struggling with weakness overseas, with key countries such as Russia and Brazil in recession, consumer demand weak in Europe and Japan, and China's economy slowing. Weakening foreign currencies also are hitting Coke, which generates about half its sales abroad but translates results into dollars. But the company has been able to offset that in part by raising prices and steering consumers to smaller packages that cost more per ounce...

Many men should be cry loudly over Playboy without naked women. In its March issue, the magazine will abandon nudity, which has been the core of the brand’s identity since its beginning in 1953, with a centerfold of Marilyn Monroe and lots of pathbreakingly candid talk about sex. As announced in October, Playboy is shedding NC-17-rated fare and revamping itself for the digital age, when racy images are as easy to find as Wi-Fi. Playboy sent an advance copy of the redesigned issue, and let us get straight to the point: There are still naked women in this newly demure version of the magazine. It’s just that they have been shot in ways intended for strategic concealment. The centerfold, for instance — yes, there is still a centerfold, in this case, Dree Hemingway, a great-granddaughter of Ernest Hemingway — cavorts in the buff. But this is the Garden of Eden after a bite of the apple, and our Eve, while amused, seems a bit embarrassed. In one shot, it’s as if someone has just stolen ...

Yahoo is moving full speed ahead — in every direction. The Internet pioneer, Marissa Mayer, said on Tuesday that it was open to offers for its core assets, which would represent the end of Yahoo as an independent entity. That is a shift from the company’s position as recently as December. Yahoo is also proceeding with plans to spin out its core assets. That would leave its most valuable property, its holdings in the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, in the original company. Investors like that idea. But what Yahoo is really focusing on is revitalizing itself under the guidance of Marissa Mayer, who has been chief executive since the summer of 2012. “What I am trying to do is reassure people,” Ms. Mayer said in an interview. “You could classify it as a call for patience. I am asking shareholders to understand this is a complicated situation.” In a conference call with analysts, she added: “It is going to be very busy.” Very busy, and very riveting. Whether the intense, glamor...

The company that owns Google, Alphabet, unseated Apple and took over the title of the most valuable company in the world in after-hours trading on Monday, beating analyst expectations in its latest earnings report. The search giant reported revenues of more than $21.3 billion in the fourth quarter, blowing past estimates by roughly half a billion dollars. Profit came in at $4.9 billion versus $4.7 billion for the same period a year ago. In its financial statement, Alphabet said it also saw $74.5 billion in sales for all of 2015, up from $66 billion in 2014. Shares jumped by about 5 percent in late trading Monday. The most valuable companies in America are now squarely in the tech sector. Google and Apple are in a category of their own with market values of $543 billion and $535 billion respectively -- heights never before reached in corporate history. Behind those two companies sits Microsoft at $433 billion. Facebook, at $328 billion, took fourth on Monday, surpassing Exxon Mobil...

As Opec predicts crude will mount a recovery , the oil price has steadily gone up after earlier falling below $28 a barrel this year. Brent crude, used as an international benchmark, fell as low as $27.67 a barrel, its lowest since 2003, before recovering to trade at $28.86. The price of US crude was $29.65 a barrel after hitting $28.36. Investors fear the lifting of Western sanctions on Iran could worsen the existing oversupply problem. Iran's deputy oil minister Roknoddin Javadi has expressed confidence the country can produce an extra 500,000 barrels per day. Phillip Futures analyst Daniel Ang said the earlier price drop was due to concerns about Iran. "This means we will be seeing a bigger oil glut with Iranian crude exports coming back to the market," he said. However, oil producers' group Opec said in its January market report that it expected to see the price of crude begin a rebalancing process in 2016. The group forecast that in the next six mo...

Job creation plan has been set out by President Francois Hollande for €2bn (£1.5bn) in an attempt to lift France out of what he called a state of "economic emergency". Under a two-year scheme, firms with fewer than 250 staff will get subsidies if they take on a young or unemployed person for six months or more. In addition, about 500,000 vocational training schemes will be created. France's unemployment rate is 10.6%, against a European Union average of 9.8% and 4.2% in Germany. Mr Hollande said money for the plan would come from savings in other areas of public spending. "These €2bn will be financed without any new taxes of any kind," said President Hollande, who announced the details during an annual speech to business leaders. "Our country has been faced with structural unemployment for two to three decades and this requires that creating jobs becomes our one and only fight." France was facing an "uncertain economic climate and p...

The UK's inflation rate went up to an 11-month high in December, with a sharp rise in air fares offsetting falling food and clothing prices. The Consumer Prices Index measured the rate rose to 0.2%, from November's 0.1%, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. It is the first time in a year that the rate has exceeded 0.1%, and the rise is higher than economists had expected. Air fares jumped 46% in December, the biggest rise for 13 years. December typically sees a high monthly increase in air fares, due to the Christmas holidays, but the ONS said this jump was the highest since 2002. But it warned that air prices were "highly variable" and said a November-to-December increase of more than 40% was not unusual. Petrol prices, while lower than November, fell less than in the same period last year, so they also contributed to the rise in inflation, the ONS said. This jump in transport costs was partially offset by a drop in alcohol, tobacco and food cos...