The Traderszone Network

Smucker, known for its peanut butter, jam and Folgers coffee, is betting on rising pet ownership in the United States, a trend that has already attracted interest from investors and encouraged companies to sell up or go public. More U.S. households have pets than children, according to the American Pet Products Association. About 39 percent of the estimated $59 billion in pet-related spending was on food last year, according to its website. “With approximately two-thirds of U.S.

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Negotiations made no progress on Tuesday as Royal Dutch Shell Plc and union leaders haggled over a new wage contract for U.S. refinery workers who have been on strike for three days, the union said. The two camps have been at an impasse since the United Steelworkers union (USW) called walkouts early on Sunday for the first time since 1980 at nine plants with about 10 percent of U.S. refining capacity, saying Shell left the negotiating table when talks broke down.

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Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) had notified BP of the action in November last year, and are currently “investigating certain practices relating to crude oil pipeline nominations procedures on Canadian pipelines,” the company said. “We have responded to CFTC’s allegations and challenged their jurisdiction over the alleged conduct,” BP said in response to a query from Reuters. Friction between U.S. commodity regulators and BP is not out of the ordinary.

Koua Fong Lee, the Camry’s driver, was found 40 percent responsible, according to lawyers. Toyota denied that the car was at fault, and said the driver had been negligent. A spokeswoman for Toyota, Amanda Rice, said it was weighing its legal options. The car in the accident was not covered by Toyota’s recall of more than 10 million vehicles between 2009 and 2010 over acceleration issues.

Yahoo announced last week about a tax-free spinoff of its 15 percent stake in China’s Alibaba into a newly formed independent registered investment company responding to pressure to hand over to shareholders its prized e-commerce investment valued at roughly $40 billion. Yahoo had then said the new entity would include its 384 million shares in Alibaba as well as an unspecified “legacy, ancillary” Yahoo unit.

Earlier this evening, shortly after take-off from the Taiwanese capital of Taipei, a commercial aircraft with 58 people on board clipped a bridge and crashed into a river. As AP reports, the death count is either 2 (aviation authority) or 3 (Central News Agency) which is simply stunning considering the following unbelievable clip…

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Among the companies whose shares are expected to see active trade in Wednesday’s session are General Motors, Keurig Green Mountain, and Yum Brands.
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