July 30 (Reuters) – The following were the top stories in
the Wall Street Journal on Monday. Reuters has not verified
these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
* General Motors Co’s tumult deepened when the auto
maker ousted its Global marketing chief Joel Ewanickm, head of
one of the largest advertising budgets in the United States, for
failing to properly vet the financial details of a European
soccer-sponsorship deal that he struck recently.
* Slowing economies from the United States to China,
recession in much of Europe and a stronger dollar could bring to
an end at least 10 continuous quarters of profit growth for
America’s biggest companies. In the third quarter, earnings by
companies in the S&P; 500 are expected to shrink for the first
time since just after the recession ended, according to Thomson
Reuters.
* Long before Sanford Weill suggested last week that big
banks should split up, Bank of America Corp executives
and directors considered the idea and then decided against it,
said people close to the nation’s second-biggest bank by assets.
* Northern Iron Ltd said it has received an initial
takeover proposal from Swiss-based trading house Prominvest AG
worth A$525 million($548.23 million).
* Comic book adaptation “Dark Knight Rises” from Time Warner
Inc’s Warner Bros Pictures and Legendary Entertainment,
earned $64.1 million from 4,404 locations in the United States
and Canada its second weekend out, according to early estimates.
* Federal prosecutors looking into possible bribery of
foreign officials by Avon Products Inc have asked to
speak to Andrea Jung, the former chief executive and current
full-time chairman, people familiar with the matter said.
* Raw-sugar futures fell 5.9 percent last week, as
production picked up in top sugar-producer Brazil on the heels
of unseasonable rains.
