The Traderszone Network

Piech, the 78-year-old grandson of the inventor of the Volkswagen Beetle, had previously seen off other executives who crossed him, including his hand-picked successor as Volkswagen CEO, Bernd Pischetsrieder. The leadership row burst into the open this month when the news weekly Der Spiegel quoted Piech, the patriarch of the family that owns 51 percent of voting rights in VW, as saying he had “distanced” himself from CEO Winterkorn.

Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) faces a long and costly battle, analysts say, to sell Postbank (DPBGn.DE) and pare investment banking, the new strategic goals it outlined late on Friday. Deutsche will face an especially difficult challenge in selling off Postbank without having to post losses. “We’re worried about jobs at Postbank,” Carsten Schneider, finance expert and deputy SPD parliamentary floor leader, told Reuters. Postbank could fetch close to 3.6 billion euros ($3.9 billion) if it sells for a multiple of 0.8 times a book value of 4.5 billion euros, according to analysts’ calculations.

The powerful chairman of Volkswagen AG unexpectedly resigned Saturday, opening a new period of uncertainty for the automotive giant just weeks after he threw the company into a management crisis by withdrawing his support for VW’s chief executive.
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Weak sales growth, lower profits, and lowered guidance — does an earnings beat trump all that?

Some Americans are burdened with an outsize portion of the nation’s outstanding student loan debt. However, the situation seems to be improving.

Submitted by Alasdair Macleod via GoldMoney.com,

Last Monday there was a meeting in Washington hosted by the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF) to discuss the future relationship, if any, of gold with the Special Drawing Rights (SDR).

Also on the agenda was the inclusion of the Chinese renminbi, which seems certain to be included in the SDR basket in this year’s revision, assuming that the United States doesn’t try to block it.

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Russia gives a preview of military hardware to debut at its annual Victory Day parade.