By Carolyn Cohn and Tom Westbrook LONDON (Reuters) – Oil hit its highest since the Omicron outbreak, world stocks rose to one-week peaks and the dollar plumbed six-week lows on Wednesday after U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell sounded less bullish on rates than expected in testimony to Congress. Powell told a congressional hearing on…

By Makiko Yamazaki TOKYO (Reuters) – Toshiba Corp’s proposal to split itself into three companies won’t solve its governance issues and the conglomerate should prioritise an overhaul of its board and management, said a senior executive at one of Japan’s largest pension funds. Ken Hokugo, corporate governance director at the Pension Fund Association (PFA), said…

By Scott Murdoch, Kane Wu and Matt Scuffham SYDNEY/HONG KONG/NEW YORK (Reuters) -Morgan Stanley will raise its annual bonus for top-performing staff on Thursday by more than 20%, people with direct knowledge of the matter said, with a dealmaking boom set to usher in bumper payouts by banks this year. Bankers in equity underwriting and…

(Reuters) – Global recruiter PageGroup Plc lifted its full-year profit forecast for the full-year for the third time in six months on Wednesday, buoyed by a surge in demand for long-term hiring and staff shortages. The London-listed company, which helps in hiring executives, professionals and clerical staff, expects annual operating profit of around 165 million…

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Dutch health technology company Philips on Wednesday said it expected fourth-quarter core profit to drop around 40% to about 650 million euros ($739.25 million), hit by a global shortage of electronic components and the fallout of a massive recall of ventilators. Comparable sales fell 10% on a yearly basis to 4.9 billion…

(Reuters) -French cloud computing company OVHcloud reported on Wednesday a rise of 13.9% in its first-quarter revenue, and said it was on track to achieve its full-year objectives. Citing a good commercial performance with strong customer gains, the cloud services provider posted a revenue of 187.2 million euros ($212.9 million) during September-November. The group also…

By Koustav Samanta and Sonali Paul SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Oil prices steadied on Wednesday, following steep gains in the previous session after the U.S. Federal Reserve chief signalled the central bank may raise rates more slowly than expected, which should help support oil demand. Brent and U.S. crude oil are trading at their highest levels…

By Kevin Buckland TOKYO (Reuters) – The dollar slid to its weakest since mid-November against major peers on Wednesday, after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said it may take several months to make a decision on running down the central bank’s $9 trillion balance sheet. In testimony at his renomination hearing on Tuesday, Powell said…

By David Henry NEW YORK (Reuters) – Citigroup Inc will exit its Citibanamex consumer banking business in Mexico, the bank said on Tuesday ending its 20-year retail presence in the country that was the last of its overseas consumer businesses. Citigroup’s decision to sell or spin off Citibanamex, Mexico’s third biggest bank by assets as…

By Daniel Leussink and Leika Kihara TOKYO (Reuters) -Japanese manufacturers turned less positive about their business conditions in January, a survey showed on Wednesday, even as central bank governor Haruhiko Kuroda stressed the economy was on track for a recovery accompanied by rising inflation. Along with the potential hit from a spike in COVID-19 cases…