The World Trade Organization ruled that the European Union's system of registering and protecting regional food names is exclusionary. A WTO panel agreed that Europe's "geographical indications" regulation discriminates against foreign products, which violates global trade rules, U.S. officials said in a statement. The ruling allows U.S. companies to market trademarked foods that share names with the European Union's geographical indications, including Anheuser Busch's "Budweiser" or "Bud" beer names.
Air Europa has become the first airline to agree to buy the jet being developed by Airbus to rival Boeing's 7E7 "Dreamliner." The Spanish airline signed a memorandum of understanding to buy 10 A350s worth about $2 billion, Airbus said. The European plane maker has to win a critical mass of orders before its management decides to begin production.
Nintendo raised its forecast for shipments of new consoles because of high demand in the United States and Japan. The company said it will now ship more than 2.8 million of its popular dual-screen handheld players. Many retail stores have run out of the game console, which costs $149 in the United States, and 90 percent of the shipped Nintendo DS systems have already been sold, the company said.
(Elaine Thompson -- AP)
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Worldwide semiconductor sales grew 23.4 percent, to $218.5 billion, in 2004 despite a significant slowdown in the second half of the year, research firm Gartner said. Chipmakers cut production in response to an industry-wide inventory buildup late this year, a Gartner analyst said. The Asia-Pacific market area showed the strongest growth rate, up 34.6 percent year-over-year. It was followed by Europe, the Middle East and Africa (19.8 percent), the Americas (16 percent) and Japan (14.6 percent).
EARNINGS
General Mills said profit grew 19 percent in its second quarter, to $367 million from $308 million in the same quarter a year earlier, as higher sales of Pillsbury and other products helped offset the impact of higher commodity prices. Sales rose 4 percent, to $3.17 billion from $3.06 billion.
Morgan Stanley said it saw an 18 percent rise in fourth-quarter profit, to $1.2 billion from $1 billion in the same quarter a year earlier. Revenue rose 7 percent, to $5.4 billion from $5.1 billion. For 2004, profit rose to $4.49 billion, from $3.79 billion in 2003, and revenue rose 14 percent, to $23.77 billion.
Bear Stearns said profit surged 22.3 percent in the fourth quarter, to $352.6 million from $288.3 million in the same quarter last year, boosted by record income in the capital markets division. Revenue rose 19.4 percent, to $1.83 billion from $1.53 billion. For 2004, Bear Stearns earned a record $1.34 billion, up 16.3 percent from $1.16 billion in 2003. Revenue rose 13.7 percent, to $6.81 billion.
Research In Motion, the maker of the BlackBerry e-mail pager, said third-quarter profit and sales surged as cell phone service providers in Europe and Asia began to offer its products. Profit for the quarter ended Nov. 27 was $90.4 million, compared with $16.3 million during the same period a year ago. Sales at the Waterloo, Ontario, company were $365.9 million, up from $153.9 million.
Compiled from reports by the Associated Press, Bloomberg News, Dow Jones News Service and Washington Post staff writers.
