WASHINGTON: The White House moved yesterday to damp down speculation about President Barack Obama’s choice to lead the Federal Reserve when current Chairman Ben Bernanke’s term expires, saying no decision has been made and no announcement is likely until the fall.
Bernanke’s term at the US central bank, his second, ends on January 31. Obama has signalled that he is likely to choose someone else to replace him.
The president’s choice will be one of the most important economic decisions of his second term and has global ramifications. The Fed chair serves a four-year term and, independent from political pressure, makes decisions that influence the course of the US economy, and hence, other economies around the world.
GE plans to cut
600 French jobs
PARIS: Industrial conglomerate General Electric (GE) will cut about 600 jobs in France within a year, union and company sources said yesterday, a move that one trade union plans to context in court.
“We have counted 620 jobs that will disappear by the end of the year or during the first half of next year,” said a union member who is part of a committee representing GE France workers, refusing to be named.
A spokesman for GE France — which counts some 11,000 employees — confirmed that the figure was “close to reality”.
The spokesman, who would not give his name, said the job cuts — most of which will be through voluntary redundancies —were necessary on economic grounds to “protect competitiveness”.
Jet Airways surges on Etihad deal talks
MUMBAI: Shares in Jet Airways India Ltd surged as much as 19.7 percent yesterday after traders said India’s Foreign Investment Promotion Board was likely to approve a planned stake sale to Etihad Airways.
Jet Airways and Etihad Airways officials were not immediately reachable for comment on the market speculation. A spokesman for India’s finance ministry, which oversees FIPB, declined to comment.
The FIPB, which clears foreign direct investment proposals, is scheduled to consider the Jet-Etihad deal at its meeting on Monday and traders said it may be approved. Agencies
