CA-BUSINESS Summary

TSX jumps more than 1 percent on Fed comments

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index rose more than 1 percent on Wednesday, led by gains across all major sectors, as investors cheered comments from U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke suggesting continued monetary stimulus. The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index <.gsptse> was up 138.73 points, or 1.09 percent, at 12,881.16 in early afternoon trade.

Canada retail sales unchanged in March, gas prices a drag

OTTAWA (Reuters) - The value of Canadian retail sales in March was unchanged from February, due largely to the drag caused by lower gas prices, Statistics Canada said on Wednesday. Analysts had expected retail sales to grow 0.1 percent from February. Statscan trimmed February's month-on-month growth to 0.7 percent from an initial 0.8 percent.

Clearwire recommends approval of sweetened Sprint bid

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Clearwire Corp said its special committee and its board of directors approved Sprint Nextel Corp's sweetened offer to take over the company and advised shareholders to vote for the deal. Wireless service provider Clearwire announced its decision on Wednesday, one day after Sprint raised its offer for the almost 50 percent of the company it does not already own to $3.40 per share from $2.97.

Sears Canada posts loss as demand dips for home products

(Reuters) - Department store chain Sears Canada Inc posted a loss in the first quarter compared with a profit last year, as demand for its home products and major appliances fell. Sears Canada, 51 percent owned by U.S.-based Sears Holdings Corp , has been facing increasing competition as U.S. retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc expand their Canadian operations and new ones like Target Corp enter the country.

Vatican financial body investigating possible money laundering

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican's new financial watchdog said on Wednesday it had detected six possible attempts to use the Holy See to launder money last year, citing this as proof of its commitment to transparency. The head of the Vatican's Financial Intelligence Authority (FIA), presenting its first annual report, also said it would soon have stronger supervisory powers over the Vatican's scandal-plagued bank, the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR), dubbed the world's most secretive bank by Forbes magazine.

Monte Paschi director accused of insider trading-source

MILAN (Reuters) - A board member at Italy's troubled lender Monte dei Paschi di Siena is being investigated over allegations of breaking insider trading rules and has been suspended, a judicial source said on Wednesday. Prosecutors in Siena allege that the board member, Michele Briamonte, leaked to the press the content of a board meeting during which it was decided to seek damages from two former executives as well as investment banks Nomura and Deutsche Bank over losses on financial derivatives contracts, the source said.

Bernanke comments spur volatility, but stocks, dollar gain

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks, bonds and currencies took a wild ride on Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the U.S. central bank's massive bond-buying program would remain in place for now, even as the bank considers cutting back stimulus in coming months. Wall Street stocks jumped as much as 1 percent, before modestly paring gains after Bernanke, in testimony to Congress, said that if economic improvement continued, "We could in the next few meetings take a step down in our pace of purchases."

Boeing expects 787 battery retrofits done by next week

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Boeing Co is 90 percent finished with retrofits of the battery system on its 787 Dreamliner and should finish the rest by next week, Ray Conner, president of the company's commercial airplane division, told an investor conference on Wednesday. Conner told the conference he saw "great momentum" on the 787 program, after overheated batteries prompted a fleetwide grounding earlier this year.

SocGen moves to fire Rosbank CEO after arrest

PARIS (Reuters) - Societe Generale said on Wednesday that it was moving to dismiss its top Russian executive days after his shock arrest on bribery charges. The decision by Russian subsidiary Rosbank's board to fire its head, Vladimir Golubkov, after his arrest last week in a dramatic sting came as the French bank's management faced shareholders at its annual shareholder meeting.

Canadian dollar weakens to 10-week low on soft retail sales, eyes on Fed

TORONTO (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar took a hit from unexpectedly soft domestic retail sales data, sliding to a 10-week low against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday ahead of key testimony from U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. The value of domestic retail sales was unchanged mostly due to a drag from lower gasoline prices, while volumes were higher.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ca-business-summary-000309350.html

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