Business news in brief

U.S. firms file steel-dumping complaint

Steelmakers including U.S. Steel Corp. and Nucor Corp. filed a trade complaint alleging producers in China and four other countries are selling the corrosion-resistant metal at unfairly low prices.

The suit also cites imports from India, Italy, South Korea and Taiwan, Courtney Boone, a U.S. Steel spokesman, said Wednesday. The case may result in anti-dumping duties being imposed on galvanized steel from some producers in those countries. Shares of U.S. steelmakers rose.

The American steel industry is under pressure from record imports as foreign rivals take advantage of rising demand in the U.S. and the stronger dollar. Domestic steel prices have tumbled by 33 percent in the past 12 months. Last year, imports surged to account for about 38 percent of the 117.6 million tons of steel consumed in the U.S., according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel, the nation's second-largest producer, cut its full-year profit forecast in April. A month earlier Nucor, the biggest steelmaker, cut its first-quarter earnings projection, blaming imports.

U.S. Steel was up as much as 4.5 percent in New York on Wednesday while Nucor climbed as much as 2.6 percent.

Nucor declined to comment on the filing.

-- Bloomberg News

Aiding tax evaders costs 2 Swiss banks

Rothschild Bank AG, the Zurich-based private bank of the Rothschild financial dynasty, will pay the U.S. Justice Department $11.5 million for helping Americans dodge taxes.

Banca Credinvest SA, with headquarters on Lake Lugano, also agreed to pay a penalty of $3 million in a separate settlement under a program that lets Swiss firms avoid prosecution, the Justice Department said in a statement on Wednesday.

The two banks, which helped U.S. clients hide money offshore, join seven other Swiss firms that resolved their past violations. More than 100 companies entered the program at the end of 2013.

-- Bloomberg News

Pimco foresees more volatile markets

World financial markets appear more susceptible to flash crashes and bouts of volatility as rules designed to make the system safer have depressed trading activity, according to Pacific Investment Management Co.

Summing up the results of the company's annual forum last month to plot investment strategy, three senior Pimco executives also wrote in a report that global fixed income and equity markets seem reasonably valued. Over the next three to five years, they see bond yields, stock prices and the dollar rising amid a "cautiously optimistic" outlook for the world economy.

"We are operating in a less risky" financial system thanks to rules created after the crisis, Andrew Balls, Richard Clarida and Daniel Ivascyn wrote in their review of the forum. Yet investors must be prepared for "ongoing periods" of volatility as those same regulations have made banks and brokers "less able to function as market-makers."

Those middlemen are constrained from taking big positions in financial markets by rules limiting their leverage and the scope of their activities, meaning markets are less liquid and more prone to sudden swings.

-- Bloomberg News

Wendy's kicks off $1.4B stock buyback

Wendy's Co., the third-largest U.S. burger chain, announced plans Wednesday to repurchase $1.4 billion in stock, including a portion of the stake owned by its largest shareholder, Trian.

As part of the effort, the company began buying back $850 million in stock on Wednesday, with a tender offer to acquire as much as $639 million at $11.05 to $12.25 a share.

Wendy's also will purchase $211 million of its stock from Trian. The fast-food chain plans to make the remaining $550 million in buybacks by the end of 2016, according to a statement.

Wendy's shares jumped 37 cents, or 3.3 percent, to close Wednesday at $11.47.

-- Bloomberg News

OPEC's ex-research chief: Crude to fall

Brent crude prices will be lower by the end of the year as production is set to increase from Iraq and Iran and shale oil output stabilizes while demand slows, according to OPEC's former head of research.

Brent will trade between $40 to $50 a barrel in the fourth quarter, from about $64 now, Hasan Qabazard, who was OPEC's research head from 2006 to 2013, said in an interview in Vienna on Wednesday. The end of summer will mean slower demand, he said. Oil climbed 12 percent this year on signs of more demand and speculation of reduced U.S. supply.

"The fourth quarter is going to be a real test for oil prices," Qabazard, who is now chief executive officer of Kuwait Catalysts Co., said on the sidelines of an OPEC seminar on prospects for the oil industry.

Brent crude for July settlement fell $1.69, or 2.6 percent, to $63.80 a barrel Wednesday on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange.

-- Bloomberg News

Asia passing U.S. in theme-park growth

Asia's largest theme parks grew at more than twice the rate of their U.S. counterparts and now rival them on a list of the most-attended in the world, according to a report released Wednesday.

The region has 10 properties among the 25 most-attended theme parks globally, one more than last year and equal in number to the U.S., industry consultant Aecom said in a report for the Themed Entertainment Association, a Burbank, Calif.-based trade group.

The importance of Asia to the industry will increase with the opening of Walt Disney Co.'s $5.5 billion Shanghai Disney Resort next year. Attendance at Asia's top 20 parks rose 4.9 percent to 122.5 million last year, compared with 2.2 percent and 138.1 million for the 20 largest in the U.S.

"We've forecast that Asian parks overtake American parks in 2020," Chris Yoshii, vice president for economics at Aecom, said in a statement. "Asia's large parks keep getting larger."

-- Bloomberg News

Business on 06/04/2015

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