The Traderszone Network

The United Steelworkers union (USW) said little progress was made in talks with oil companies on Tuesday for a new U.S. refinery workers contract as a strike at 11 plants completed its 10th day, according to a text message issued by the union. The USW said lead oil company negotiator Royal Dutch Shell Plc failed to bring experts and information as promised when talks ended last week. A Shell spokeswoman said on Tuesday night that the firm was working “in a good faith effort to collect the requested data”.

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Harry Wilson, who was a member of the government-appointed task force, notified the Detroit automaker on Monday that he wanted it to spend $8 billion to buy back shares, and that he will nominate himself for election to the board of directors this spring. GM, which has 13 people on its board, disclosed the letter on Tuesday. In an interview with Reuters later on Tuesday, he said GM’s management was too slow to make changes to improve profit and too vague in setting near-term milestones for performance. GM shares closed up 4.2 percent at $37.52 on Tuesday.

China’s economy is now more sustainable and domestic consumption is steadily rising, Chinese Central Bank Vice Governor Yi Gang told a G20 meeting of finance officials earlier this week. Yi’s remarks came after China posted its slowest economic growth in 24 years in 2014, with a cooling housing market, slowing investment and recent underwhelming exports expected to weigh further on domestic demand this year. To stoke growth and bank lending, China’s central bank last week reduced the amount of cash that banks have to hold as reserves for the first time in over two years.

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The new chief executive officer of Brazil’s Petrobras said on Tuesday that he has full autonomy to dictate its own fuel-pricing policy and protect cash, even as he questioned the size of losses stemming from a giant corruption scandal. In his first public statements since he was named CEO on Friday, Aldemir Bendine said no decision had been taken on whether Petroleo Brasileiro SA, as the company is formally known, will book 88.6 billion reais ($31 billion) of potential asset writedowns outlined in notes to its unaudited third-quarter results in January.

ATHENS/BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras comfortably won a confidence vote on his plan to cancel a deeply unpopular bailout program and challenge European leaders as both sides prepare for a showdown at meetings in Brussels this week. In a rousing speech to parliament, Tsipras hailed the decisive role “little Greece” was playing in reshaping Europe and promised Athens would not cave in to demands it extend its international bailout “no matter how much” German Finance Minister Wolfang Schaeuble asked for it.

More recently, U.S. carriers have seen an erosion in their share of bookings to Milan, according to a report the U.S. airlines sent to the White House and the departments of State, Transportation and Commerce. The report says the combined share of bookings between the United States and the Indian subcontinent for Delta Air Lines (DAL.N), United Airlines (UAL.N) and American Airlines (AAL.O) has fallen to 34 percent in 2014 from 39 percent in 2008.

PARIS/DETROIT (Reuters) – Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA.O) Chief Executive Elon Musk is prepared to fire overseas executives, people with knowledge of the matter said, after weak Chinese sales of the company’s luxury electric cars cast doubt on his ambitious global expansion plans. Tesla sold about 120 cars in China last month, one of the sources told Reuters, well below the company’s aggressive targets. Musk has previously said he expected China sales could rival those in the United States as early as 2015. Two top China managers left the company in 2014, Tesla said last year.