NEW YORK - WALL Street swung higher on Wednesday after a better-than-expected survey on US private-sector job losses helped ease investor angst over 'stress tests' on the banking system.
LONDON - BRITISH Airways said on Wednesday that passenger traffic grew by 0.9 per cent in April, but highly profitable premium traffic fell by nearly 18 per cent.
PARIS - BNP Paribas said on Wednesday its net profit slumped 21 per cent in the first quarter as its retail banking activities in the United States were hammered amid the global economic downturn.
Paris-based BNP Paribas, the euro zone's largest bank by deposits, said net profit fell to 1.56 billion euros (S$3.06 billion) in the first quarter, down from 1.98 billion euros a year earlier.
MILAN - ITALIAN automaker Fiat denied a report that it plans to slash 18,000 jobs by closing or scaling down 10 factories in Europe in a possible takeover of Germany's Opel.
'The Fiat Group clearly states that it is not information generated by Fiat and does not form part of any plan prepared by Fiat,' the company said in a statement released late on Tuesday.
