Business news for Mon, 17 Dec 2007 & with word department. 12 news.

NEW World Department Store China Ltd, a unit of billionaire Cheng Yu-tung's New World Development Co, agreed to buy a department store and real estate from its parent for HK$885.4 million (US$113 million). New World Department Store China will buy Wuhan Department Store and a shopping mall in a complex its parent owns in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in Hubei Province, it said in a statement yesterday.

INTERNATIONAL buying of United States financial assets rose twice as much as expected in October as investors snapped up Treasury securities at the fastest pace in almost two years. Total holdings of equities, notes and bonds increased a net US$114 billion, after a revised increase of US$15.4 billion in September, the Treasury Department said yesterday. Including short-term securities such as Treasury bills and non-market trades such as stock swaps, foreigners bought a net US$97.8 billion, compared with selling of US$32.8 billion a month before. Purchases of US equities in October were the most in five months, helping offset net selling by China, the report showed.

CHINA International Capital Corp, the country's first joint-venture investment bank, has acquired a US$5 billion quota under the qualified domestic institutional investor scheme, a senior foreign exchange management official said. Sun Lujun, deputy head of the capital project department under the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, said by early December, the forex market regulator had verified a total of US$23 billion as QDII quotas for China Southern Fund, Huaxia Fund, Harvest Fund and China International Fund. Sun said that through the end of October, 16 QDIIs had put on the market 154 QDII products. Sun added that US$28.6 billion were actually remitted abroad for QDII operations by the end of the month. The total indicates that capital flows accelerated sharply over the past few months as only US$4 billion or so were remitted between April 2006 and March 2007. In May, QDII banks were approved to invest in Hong Kong stocks.

SOUTH Korea's largest retailer Lotte Shopping Co plans to acquire a stake in a Chinese discount-store chain to expand its presence on the Chinese mainland, the Seoul-listed company said in a regulatory filing yesterday. Lotte agreed to buy a 49-percent stake in CTA Makro, which now operates five discount stores in Beijing and two in Tianjin, from SHV Holdings NV for 57.6 million euros (US$82.90 million). The Netherlands-based SHV Holdings IV now operates CTA Makro with a 49-percent stake while China Trade Association Property Corp Ltd owns 51 percent. Lotte also plans to open another outlet in Beijing next year, according to the statement. However, the acquisition plan is still awaiting China's regulatory approval. Shanghai Daily's call to CTA Makro yesterday was not answered. The retailer, which controls more than 40 percent of South Korea's department store market and 14 percent of discount stores, is preparing to open new outlets through land purchases and buying existing

CONSUMER confidence is falling, the odds of a recession have risen, analysts predict the worst holiday shopping since 2002 - and retail-industry executives are buying their companies' shares like never before. Limited Brands Inc Chief Executive Officer Leslie Wexner and eight other executives bought a record amount of stock last month after prices fell to a four-year low. Dillard's Inc director Warren Stephens made the biggest insider purchase ever as shares of the Arkansas-based department store chain headed for the steepest decline since at least 1980. Cambiar Investors LLC, Royce & Associates LLC and Becker Capital Management Inc say insider buying foreshadows a rebound. The last four times executives added to their holdings, the Standard & Poor's Supercomposite Retailing Index rose an average 9.9 percent in the next three months, topping a 6.2-percent average rise in the S&P 500 Index. Retail company officials increased their investments by US$346.4 million since the start

The renovation of the Antioch Center mall will get $2.5 million in remediation tax credits from the Missouri Department of Economic Development.

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The U.S. current account deficit narrowed in the third quarter to $178.5 billion, or 5.1% of gross domestic product, the Commerce Department said Monday.

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - The U.S. current account deficit narrowed in the third quarter to $178.5 billion, or 5.1% of gross domestic product, the Commerce Department said Monday. It's the smallest current account deficit as a share of the economy since the first quarter of 2004. The decline in the deficit was accounted for by a decrease in the deficit in trade of goods and an increase in the surplus on income. Net financial inflows decreased to $93.4 billion in the third quarter from $152.8 billion in the second as foreigners slowed their purchases of U.S. financial assets.

This week's profile and On The Move personnel listings.

The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development recently released 60 community development block grants, many of which benefit counties in the western part of the state.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- The Social Security Administration and a slew of health-related Web sites earned top rankings this year, while the Department of Homeland Security hit bottom in a survey of customer satisfaction with federal government Web sites.

The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality withdrew Talley Defense Systems' hazardous-waste permit for its Mesa facility after state officials decided the permit's intent was widely misinterpreted and alarming residents.