Truckmaker MAN confirms outlook despite rough quarter

German insurance giant Allianz on Tuesday said its net profits soared by 60 percent in the first quarter of 2012 and confirmed its full-year targets.Net profits rose to 1.37 billion euros ($1.76 billion) in the first three months of the year on flat turnover of just over 30 billion euros, the group said, slightly better than analysts had expected.The sharp increase in profits was based in part on a particularly weak first quarter of 2011, during which natural catastrophes including the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan weighed heavily on results.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s economic machine is beginning to show signs of neglect. As the continent’s growth engine and self-appointed fiscal paragon orders budget cuts for its peers, investors, economists and policy makers are starting to warn Germany is turning a blind eye to its own weaknesses. Joerg Asmussen, a European Central Bank board member nominated by Merkel, has gone as far as to predict a return to the status of “Sick Man of Europe” should they go unfixed. It’s clear now things have to change at home too

MONTREAL — Canada’s two large railways outperformed their U.S. rivals in the fourth quarter although rail companies on both sides of the border were helped last year by a surge in traffic for petroleum products. Walter Spracklin of RBC Capital Markets said Canadian railway freight volumes were up 2.6% overall in the final quarter of 2012 on strong intermodal, agricultural products and chemicals carloads. U.S. railways suffered a 1.8% volume decrease, largely as a result of a decline in coal and grain shipments.

Goldman Sachs cut its 2013 gold forecasts on Wednesday and said gold’s current price cycle will likely turn next year as a rise in real interest rates on the back of improved growth offsets any further balance sheet expansion from the Federal Reserve. Goldman cut its three, six and 12-month forecasts for gold prices – currently near $1,700 an ounce – to $1,825 an ounce, $1,805 an ounce and $1,800 an ounce respectively. It also introduced a 2014 forecast of $1,750 an ounce, suggesting price growth could tail off.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Germany's MAN plans to scale

THE IMF has released its full World Economic Outlook updated to September, and the big news is the breadth of the Fund's downgrade to its growth forecasts. 

THE IMF has released its full World Economic Outlook updated to September, and the big news is the breadth of the Fund's downgrade to its growth forecasts.