By Rumman Ahmed Indranil Mukherjee/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images Analysts say that the rupee’s new low could be a serious threat to the financial health of corporate India. As the rupee loses value against the U.S. dollar, executives at Indian companies that earn in dollars should be rejoicing, right? Wrong. In fact, executives at these companies are as dumbstruck by the rupee’s sharp losses as the rest of corporate India. On Thursday, the rupee hit an all-time low of 56.37 for one U.S. dollar, though it bounced back by Friday afternoon to trade at 55.64 rupees. Still, its value has fallen 23% in the last one year, with a large part of the losses coming in recent weeks as global investors dumped currencies of emerging countries like ... Continue reading →

Dear Facebook Investor: If you're one of the shareholders suing Facebook Inc. because the social-networking company and its underwriters played favorites about disclosing changes to analysts' forecasts, then you deserve to be compensated for your losses or have your trades wiped out if the allegations turn out to be true. Marketwatch columnist David Weidner pulls up a chair on Mean Street to point out the Facebook IPO mess taught us all a valuable life lesson: there's a sucker born every minute. Photo: AP. Still, that doesn't mean you aren't an old-fashioned Wall Street sucker. The reason: You didn't have to follow Facebook's initial public offering with the zeal of Robert Caro to recognize there were significant problems. Consider that as Facebook readied its IPO, there ... Continue reading →

By Shreya Shah and Shefali Anand Agence France Presse/Getty Images It is important for young managers to understand that all employees, including older employee, have some strengths and experience that they can learn from. A young boss and an older employee? This is an increasingly common scenario nowadays, as merit takes greater importance in promotions than years of experience. But this situation can also be tricky to navigate. The young manager may feel awkward giving orders or criticizing a team member who is much older. Meanwhile, the older employee may be smarting over a hurt ego or may feel insecure. Either way, there could be friction in the office and productivity could suffer. Here, human resources experts share some tips on how the manager and ... Continue reading →

Benchmark U.S. crude fell $2.14, or 2.3%, to $89.71 per barrel in intraday trading. At the close, oil was trading at $90.06. The price hadn't been below $90 per barrel since Nov. 1.Brent crude, meanwhile, dropped to a new low for the year but remained above $100 a barrel. It lost $2.64 to $105.77 per barrel in London.Pump prices in the U.S. have followed oil lower. Retail U.S. gasoline prices were flat at $3.678 per gallon on Wednesday, according to auto club AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. The nationwide average for a gallon of regular unleaded has dropped by 26 cents since peaking in the first week of April. Gasoline is 16.5 cents per gallon cheaper than it was the same time ... Continue reading →

BY JOANN S. LUBLIN AND CHRISTOPHER WEAVER At the recent annual meeting of medical-device maker Stryker Corp., Chairman William U. Parfet puzzled attendees when he began with a brief statement about former Chief Executive Stephen P. MacMillan, who was pushed out two months earlier. "Just to clarify, on behalf of the board of directors, we'd like to clearly state that Steve never violated any company policy nor any code of conduct," Mr. Parfet said at the meeting April 24. It wasn't clear why he made the comment—Stryker had said in February that the CEO was leaving for "family reasons"—and Mr. Parfet didn't explain. The circumstances, pieced together ...BY JOANN S. LUBLIN AND CHRISTOPHER WEAVER At the recent annual meeting of medical-device maker Stryker Corp., Chairman ... Continue reading →

BY SHEFALI ANAND, KHUSHITA VASANT AND RAGHAVENDRA UPADHYAYA MUMBAI – India's currency continued a free fall Tuesday -- propelled to new lows over concerns about the country's economic outlook --, exacerbating losses for foreign investors in India's stock and bond markets. The Indian rupee hit a fresh record low of 55.47 rupees for one U.S. dollar, making it one of the worst-performing currencies in Asia this year. The rupee has lost around 12% against the U.S. dollar over the last three months and is 22% lower than a year ago due to a host of economic problems facing India, including high fiscal and current account deficits, slowing economic ...BY SHEFALI ANAND, KHUSHITA VASANT AND RAGHAVENDRA UPADHYAYA MUMBAI – India's currency continued a free fall Tuesday ... Continue reading →

Facebook shares skidded on their second day on the market, leaving some investors in the red and raising questions about whether the company and its lead banker, Morgan Stanley, botched the deal. Steven Russolillo has details on The News Hub. Photo: Bloomberg. Criticism of the Facebook Inc. stock deal grew as the shares dropped below their offering price in their first full day of trading Monday, wiping $11.5 billion off the social network's market value.The company, its investment bankers and the Nasdaq Stock Market came under fire for failing to ensure a smooth debut for one of the most anticipated deals in recent memory. Facebook shares, which began trading Friday at $38 and managed to add just 23 cents by the end of that day, ... Continue reading →

Jennifer S. Altman for The New York Times Barrie Berg, the chief executive of American operations for What If, in one of the diner-style booths the firm installed in its Manhattan office. “There’s something very satisfying about a booth,” she said. The walls have come tumbling down in offices everywhere, but the cubicle dwellers keep putting up new ones. They barricade themselves behind file cabinets. They fortify their partitions with towers of books and papers. Or they follow an “evolving law of technology etiquette,” as articulated by Raj Udeshi at the open office he shares with fellow software entrepreneurs in downtown Manhattan. “Headphones are the new wall,” he said, pointing to the covered ears of his neighbors. Cubicle culture is already something of a punch ... Continue reading →

The 57-year-old Banerjee — determined, resolutely populist and hardworking, yet eccentric and intolerant of dissent — holds the balance of power in India’s coalition government and has used that power to huge effect. Time after time, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s efforts to introduce economic reforms have foundered because of Banerjee’s opposition. Time magazine recently listed her among the world’s 100 most influential people, and 25 out of 50 CEOs surveyed by a leading Indian newspaper last week said she was the biggest stumbling block to economic growth.Banerjee is the personification of a fundamental change that is transforming Indian politics and will have a crucial bearing on this country’s future: the declining vote share of the country’s two main political parties and the rising influence of ... Continue reading →

Facebook's public debut had plenty of buzz but not much pop. The shares opened 11% higher, but soon struggled to stay above their offering price. David Benoit and Shayndi Raice have details on The News Hub. Photo: Reuters. Facebook Inc. took eight years to stage one of the most anticipated initial public offerings ever. The anticlimax came Friday, as Wall Street bankers struggled to prevent the newly minted stock from ending its first day with a loss.The stock had been widely predicted to soar on its first day. Instead, up until the closing moments of the trading session, Facebook's underwriters battled to keep the stock from slipping below its offering price of $38 a share. Such a stumble would have been a significant embarrassment, particularly ... Continue reading →