Reporting from London— European officials began scrambling to find ways to lend financial aid to Portugal on Thursday after the debt-ridden Iberian nation bowed to market pressure and decided it had no choice but to ask for help to pay its bills. Lisbon’s announcement Wednesday evening that it would seek outside assistance came as little surprise to many economists, who had predicted such an eventuality for months. Unsustainably high borrowing [Read the rest...]

(Reuters) – Japan‘s government plans to take control of Tokyo Electric Power Co (9501.T), the operator of a stricken nuclear power plant, by injecting public funds, the Mainichi newspaper said on Friday. But the government is unlikely to take more than a 50 percent stake in the company, an unnamed government official was quoted by the daily as saying. “If the stake goes over 50 percent, it will be nationalized. [Read the rest...]

With the scale of the disaster in Japan still being measured, concerns are growing that last week’s earthquake and tsunami could lead to a long-term disruption in the world’s supply of automobiles, consumer electronics and machine tools. Japan is the world’s third-largest economy and a huge exporter of cars, electronic components and industrial equipment as well as steel, textiles and processed foods. In turn, it’s a voracious consumer of petroleum, [Read the rest...]

The US lobbied Russia this year on behalf of Visa and MasterCard in an attempt to ensure the payment companies were not “adversely affected” by new legislation, according to American diplomats in Moscow. A state department cable released this afternoon by WikiLeaks reveals that US diplomats intervened to try to amend a draft law going through Russia’s Duma. Their explicit aim was to ensure the new law did not “disadvantage” [Read the rest...]

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — General Motors’ new stock got a good start out of the gate Thursday, opening up 6% to $35 from its offer price in its first trade. The automaker, just 17 months removed from a bankruptcy filing and federal bailout, raised $20.1 billion with the $33-a-share pricing announced Wednesday evening, the most money ever raised with a first day stock offering. Strong investor interest allowed GM (GM) [Read the rest...]

U.S. stocks rallied as speculation grew that Ireland will accept a bailout to rescue indebted banks and reports on American manufacturing and jobless claims bolstered optimism in the economy. Alcoa Inc. and Exxon Mobil Corp. climbed at least 1.9 percent as base metals rallied in London and crude oil rebounded from a four-day drop. Applied Materials Inc. gained 2.3 percent after reporting profit more than tripled. General Motors Co. surged [Read the rest...]