Business news for Mon, 24 Dec 2007 & with word united. 17 news.

UNITED States Internet sales rose at the slowest pace on record as discounts cut revenue in the final days of the holiday shopping season. Online spending from November 1 through December 21 increased 19 percent from the same period a year earlier to $26.3 billion, Reston, Virginia-based ComScore Inc said yesterday. Sales trailed last year's 26 percent growth and the research firm's forecast for a 20 percent gain during this year's holidays, Bloomberg News said. Consumers have limited spending growth this year as gasoline and food prices rise and mortgage defaults increase. The Reuters/University of Michigan final index of consumer sentiment for December dropped to 75.5, the lowest since October 2005. "This year will be the year of the discount," Fred Crawford, managing director at AlixPartners LLP, told Bloomberg Television on December 21. AlixPartners is a consulting firm based in Southfield, Michigan. ComScore hasn't recorded growth of less than 20 percent since

ASIAN stocks rose for a second day, led by electronics makers, after consumer spending increased more than forecast in the United States, the region's biggest export market. Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, maker of iPods for Apple Inc, and Samsung Electronics Co climbed to the highest in more than a week. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index advanced the most in three weeks last Friday after the report on November spending eased concern about recession in the world's biggest economy. "US shares showed firm gains, and we're seeing the influence in shares today (yesterday)," said Kim Jae Dong, who oversees the equivalent of US$8.6 billion at Korea Investment Trust Management Co in Seoul. BHP Billiton Ltd led an increase among miners after metals prices climbed, and a UK regulator set a deadline for a formal takeover bid for Rio Tinto Group. The MSCI Asia Pacific, excluding Japan Index, rose two percent to 524.1 as of 3:38pm in Hong Kong, with all 10 industry groups climbing.

CATHAY Pacific Airways Ltd said yesterday it had received a formal letter of complaint from European Union regulators investigating allegations of price fixing in the air cargo business. The EU and the United States have been investigating more than a dozen airlines since at least early 2006 to discover if there was collusion in the air cargo industry to fix prices on surcharges for fuel, security and insurance. The European Commission said on Friday it had sent out Statements of Objections to a number of airlines, but did not name them. British Airways, Air France-KLM, and Scandinavian airline operator SAS Group later confirmed they had each received a letter. Cathay said it was reviewing the letter with its legal counsel and would make a "timely response" to the objections. "It is a lengthy and complex document, and only sets out the (regulator's) preliminary findings resulting from its investigation into the air cargo sector of the aviation industry. The

RAPID urbanization as well as robust demand for homes will continue to boost the country's real estate industry in 2008, industry analysts said. Wei Bo, a property analyst with Central China Securities Company, sees three main factors as being responsible for the strong demand. "New demand from the country's urbanization progress, growing requirement for larger and better homes among the Chinese, as well as rising investments caused by the appreciation of the Chinese currency and the existing negative interest rates, will probably help the real estate industry's fortune for another year," Wei said. "We expect the industry to maintain its high pace of development and give it a 'better than broad market' rating." China is seeing probably one of the largest urbanization in the world. According to an earlier forecast by the United Nations, between 16 million and 22 million people will migrate from rural places to urban areas in the country each year from now

Investors will have to wait a little while longer for the first pure-play social networking initial public offering in the United States.

United Rentals Inc. said Monday it will seek $100 million after a Delaware court ruled that private equity company Cerberus was not obligated to complete a $4 billion buyout of the equipment-rental company that it abandoned last month.

Cerberus Capital Management L.P. agreed Monday to pay United Rentals Inc. a $100 million breakup fee for dropping its $4 billion purchase of the equipment-rental company.

United Rentals ended its merger agreement with Cerberus after a court decision that the private-equity firm wasn't obligated to complete its proposed $4 billion buyout of the construction equipment rental company.

United Rentals said on Monday that it will not appeal a Delaware judge’s ruling Friday that Cerberus Capital Management cannot be forced to complete its $4 billion buyout of the rental equipment operator. United Rentals said that it will terminate the deal and ask the private equity firm to pay the $100 million breakup fee stipulated [...]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Equipment rental group United Rentals Inc said on Monday it terminated its $4 billion takeover by Cerberus Capital Management and asked Cerberus to pay it a $100 million termination fee.

Reuters - Equipment rental group United Rentals Inc said on Monday it terminated its $4 billion takeover by Cerberus Capital Management and asked Cerberus to pay it a $100 million termination fee.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil held near $93 per barrel on Monday in thin trade, pressured by an uncertain economic outlook for top oil consumer the United States and a firmer dollar, but supported by concerns over shrinking world oil stocks.

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) - United Rentals Inc. said it's terminating a merger agreement with Cerberus Capital Management's acquisition vehicles RAM Holdings Inc. and RAM Acquisition Corp. The equipment rental company said it's also requesting Cerberus to pay it $100 million in termination fee as part of the original merger agreement.

United Airlines' West Coast stronghold is under assault by low-price competitors, putting pressure on fares at a time when United desperately needs to raise prices to offset fuel costs. This year Virgin America, JetBlue Airways Corp. and Southwest Airlines Co. have launched service at San ...

United Rentals Inc. wants $100 million after a Delaware court ruled that private equity company Cerberus was not obligated to complete a $4 billion buyout that it abandoned last month.

About a month ago, officials with the United Services Automobile Association partied with Bernstein-Rein staffers to celebrate two years of working together.