Ford has reported a jump in US sales of 43% last month, selling more cars than its great rival General Motors (GM).
GM posted a more modest rise of 11.5%, as it benefited from customers abandoning Toyota over the Japanese firm’s recall

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The European Central Bank (ECB) has kept the eurozone interest rate at its record low of 1% for the 10th month in a row, as expected.
The ECB also signalled it would scale back the special lending measures introduced during the financial crisis.

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Hong Kong’s richest businessman Li Ka-Shing plans to bid for the UK arm of French electricity giant EDF Group.
Mr Li’s bid would be a joint venture between holding company Cheung Kong Infrastructure (CKI) and Hongkong Electric, which is 40% owned

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UAL Corp.’s (UAUA) United Airlines finalized its order to buy 25 of Boeing Co.’s (BA) 787 Dreamliners with an option to buy another 50.
United, the third-largest U.S. airline by traffic, hadn’t ordered new aircraft for 11 years. In December, United unveiled plans to order an equal number of planes from Boeing and rival Airbus, [...]

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Indian mobile phone company Bharti Airtel has offered to buy Kuwaiti telecommunications firm Zain’s African assets for $10.7bn (£6.8bn).
In a statement, Bharti said the two companies would now enter into talks which would last until 25 March.

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General Motors (GM) is to wind down operations of its Hummer vehicles – after failing to complete a planned takeover by a Chinese firm.
GM did not comment on why the sale to China-based Tengzhong had collapsed. Reports have said Beijing had refused to approve the purchase.

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The number of immigrants entering the UK from Central and Eastern Europe has continued to fall, according to the latest figures.
Provisional numbers from the Office for National Statistics suggest the number of people from these countries fell by a third in the year to

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JPMorgan Chase, which reported $11.7 billion in profit in 2009, awarded Chief Executive Jamie Dimon a compensation package worth about $16 million.
Bankers’ compensation has been a hot-button issue amid the financial crisis, as the U.S. government spent billions in taxpayer funds to prop

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Air Products and Chemicals launched an unsolicited $5.1-billion cash bid to buy rival Airgas Friday in a move to create the largest industrial gas company in North America. Airgas shares jumped 42 percent in premarket trading.
Air Products, which supplies gases such as argon, helium and nitrogen

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Toyota President Akio Toyoda has apologised for the recall of millions of cars across the world and pledged to set up a new quality control committee.
Mr Toyoda said he was “deeply sorry” for the recalls and admitted Toyota faced “a moment of crisis”.

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