http://finstories.com Financial Freedom. Best business news. Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:40:02 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Optimism over upcoming U.S. jobs figures helped stocks and the euro to rally on Friday despite further evidence that the 17-nation eurozone is heading for recession. Following a run of fairly strong U.S. economic data, investors are increasingly confident that the world's largest economy is over a soft patch from ... http://finstories.com/markets-guardedly-optimistic-over-us-jobs-data/ Republican senators and Gov. Jay Nixon have sparred regularly the last few years about how to grow Missouri's economy. Now they're sparring over who to put in charge of the effort. Senate leaders are poised this week to sink Nixon's nomination of St. Louis attorney Jason Hall to lead the ... http://finstories.com/senate-stymies-nixons-pick-for-eco-devo-post/ BlackRock Inc., the world http://finstories.com/blackrocks-doll-says-fed-unlikely-to-do-qe3-in-contrast-to-pimcos-gross-bloomberg/ British police searched the offices of Rupert Murdoch's British newspapers Saturday after arresting a police officer and four current and former staff of his tabloid The Sun as part of an investigation into police bribery by journalists. The arrests spread the scandal over tabloid wrongdoing _ which has already caused ... http://finstories.com/british-police-arrest-5-in-tabloid-bribery-probe/ Solutia's prowess in developing chemicals found in everything from car tires to office windows throughout the globe drew the interest of Eastman Chemical Co. last summer. Now it's buying the Town and Country-based company in a deal worth $4.7 billion. Eastman, a chemical manufacturer based in Kingsport, Tenn., is acquiring ... http://finstories.com/solutias-global-business-drew-interest-of-eastman-chemical/ Prime Minister Stephen Harper is gaining support among Canadians for his plan to ship oilsands crude to China after President Barack Obama rejected TransCanada Corp. (TRP) http://finstories.com/harper-builds-oil-link-with-china-after-obama-keystone-slap-bloomberg/ The biggest year for overseas buyouts by Japan http://finstories.com/nodas-130-billion-fund-goes-untapped-in-japans-ma-surge-bloomberg/ Few U.S. companies plan to step up hiring in the next six months although they do expect the economy to be a bit stronger this year, according to a poll released on Monday. The National Association for Business Economics' industry survey found that two-thirds of respondents expected no ... http://finstories.com/companies-see-growth-but-few-new-jobs-poll/ It takes Mikael Ohlsson five minutes _ and the help of one other person _ to assemble IKEA's Ektorp sofa. After 33 years at the Swedish home-ware chain, the 54-year-old chief executive is an expert at configuring IKEA's famous flat-pack furniture. But Ohlsson is not bragging about the fact that ... http://finstories.com/ikea-flatpacks-its-way-through-downturn/ Australia unexpectedly lost jobs for a second straight month in December, capping the nation http://finstories.com/australian-job-markets-worst-year-since-92-boosts-rate-cut-bets-economy-bloomberg/