Three large U.S. manufacturers reported results that topped Wall Street’s expectations. It cited recovering demand in all aspects from corporate jets to equipment so they can run factories more effectively.

Rockwell Automation, Textron Inc, and United Technologies Corp posted increased gains in the recent quarter. They said they were growing more optimistic in the recovery of the economy, most especially in rising markets.

Scott Donelly, chief executive of Textron said they are chiefly motivated by the pick-up in the demand of business jets and commercial helicopters.  That reflects relative stability in global economies and improving confidence in general business.

Textron, which creates Bell helicopters and EZ-Go golf carts, is rising from an abrupt two-year slump in demand for corporate jets. They are expecting profits to grow more than three times this year as returns rise by about 11 percent.

Rockwell Automation sells machines and equipments to factory owners. They saw strong demand growth from rising markets and abruptly increased its profit forecasts for the year 2011.

The largest maker of elevators and air conditioners in the world United Tech said the demand for supplies to maintain air conditioning equipment and jet engines enhanced their results in the quarter.

Their sales increased to $14.9 billion, which is up to 6 percent. Both profit and sales topped the forecasts of the analysts. Textron reported fourth-quarter gain of 33 cents per share, except one-time items, leading the 25 cents that analysts had forecasted, Thomson Reuters said.

Rockwell informed their fiscal first-quarter profit was $150.1 million or $1.04 per share in comparison to year-earlier earnings of $76.6 million or 53 cents per share.

Thomson Reuters said analysts looked for a profit of 88 cents per share on average.

The trust of Americans in different kinds of institutions fell last year as the relentlessly high unemployment rate weakened the confidence of people in government and business, a recently released study discovered.

The drop in United States’ trust in business occurred amidst an overall worldwide increase. The global increase is driven by the swelling confidence in fast developing economies that includes Brazil and India, the Edelman Trust Barometer revealed.

The study found that only 46 percent of Americans said they trusted business. That is 8 percent down from 54 percent the previous year.

The study was released on Tuesday. It was performed by Edelman U.S., a public relations firm. According to Matthew Harrington, the chief executive of Edelman U.S., the rebound last year was a tiny piece of euphoria. He said this year shows more of the reality that it is going to be a long toil.

Some 56 percent of the respondents worldwide said they trusted business, which is up from 54 percent last year. Respondents in Brazil, India and France influenced the general increase in confidence.

In Brazil alone, 81 percent of the total respondents said they trusted business. The figures increased from 62 percent in 2009.

Harrington said the results show an evident sense of optimism. It tells the fact that their economies are doing well, and that both home-grown and business from abroad are investing in their countries.

Brazil’s economy bloomed back in 2010 after it has shortly declined in 2009 because of the recession. They have grown an estimated 7.4 percent rate.

In comparison, the economy in United States is still struggling with the high unemployment rate. It has remained above 9 percent for the past 20 months. Certain analysts look for possibilities that GDP will grow around 2.5 percent this year.

RockTenn Co, the packaging and paper company, has concurred to buy larger rival Smurfit-Stone Container Corp for the amount of $3.5 billion in cash, including stock for seven months.

The deal was announced on Sunday. This occurred after Smurfit rose from bankruptcy with less debt and higher potentials in profit.

This will increase RockTenn’s annual revenue three times up to more than $9 billion. The combined company will be considered as the second-largest containerboard producer in North Africa following International Paper Co.

Based on the agreement approved by the boards of both companies, RockTenn will pay $35 in cash, as well as stock per each Smurfit-Stone common share. This represents 27 percent premium to Smurfit-Stone’s $27.52 closing price on Friday.

Along with the deal, RockTenn Chairman and Chief Executive, James Rubright is making a big bet that the demand for containerboard will increase as the economy of United States comes out of the recession.

In the recent months, the demand for paper and packaging has increased as consumers elevated their everyday spending on goods that are sold and shipped through packaging. The improvement occurred after an almost decade-long fall because of the weak demand and overcapacity.

Guided by the terms of the deal, RockTen will offer 50 percent cash and 50 percent stock for Smurfit. That is, $17.50 in cash and 0.30605 RockTenn share for every Smurfit share.

RockTenn shareholders will possess an estimated 56 percent while Smurfit-Stone shareholders will possess 44 percent of the joint company following the deal.

The agreement is anticipated to close in the second quarter upon the regulatory and shareholder approval.

China’s biggest online commerce firm together with its financial partners decided to spend as much as $4.5 billion to set up network facilities and warehouses all over the country that would tap an increasing desire for shopping online.

The company stated on Wednesday that the $3.0 billion to $4.5 billion investment will be acquired over the next three to five years and will be intended chiefly at constructing warehouses as well as setting up network facilities across the country.

In October, the Alibaba Group is planning to spread out its logistics network so they will reach 52 cities in two years from 20 cities at present.

Victor Yip, a UOB Kay Hian analyst in Hong Kong said that this investment will give clients the assurance that the products they will purchase will not be damaged by a third party along the way. This will also help enhance client closeness to the Alibaba platform.

The charismatic founder of Alibaba Group, Jack Ma, believes that China’s logistics market would be portioned and customer service for products bought on the internet would be enhanced. Alibaba group owns a 40 percent share in Yahoo Inc as well.

Jack Ma added that hopefully in the next ten years, whoever will place an order online anywhere in China will receive his or her ordered products within the span of 8 hours. It will allow virtual urbanization of each village all over China.

Alibaba’s Vice President, Ming Zeng said that share of the investment can be made through a fund that would be set up with private equity as well as venture capital firms.

Worldwide oil prices have rapidly increased by towering amounts but the rise in OPEC output will not stop this number from growing.  The ascend is determined by demand, the chief executive of French oil major Total said on Sunday.

Christophe de Margerie, durring an energy conference in Abu Dhabi, capital of UAE, said that the world is just recovering, it would have been better if the prices would not go too high and too quickly.

He said that oil market has been confident because there is growing demand in emerging markets, and the demand is higher than expected.

Brent crude increased above $99 a barrel on Friday in New York, achieving 5.73 percent on the week.  US crude oil for February delivery increased 14 cents to patch up at $91.45 per barrel.

Last week, a Reuters poll showed U.S crude oil is anticipated to reach $100 a barrel in the first quarter of the year. However, a new record of more than $147 is less possible.

When asked if OPEC should increase their production, de Margerie answered it may not help hold back the elevating prices.

He explained that it is difficult because there is no shortage in oil and the increase in oil prices today are driven by the market. In addition, he mentioned that high oil prices which are too high would not be well received by consumers.

Iran’s oil minister Masoud Mir Kazemi said on Sunday that there are no OPEC countries that have requested an emergency meeting to confer the increasing price of crude. He also called the $100 oil as a real price and that it was not a matter of concern for the producers.

Obama’s administration is investigating methods to improve tax incentives for corporate investments in the United States, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner informed on Wednesday before his meeting with chief financial officers from some of the biggest companies in America.

Geithner said in comments after his speech at John Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies that they are examining whether they can get political support for a big tax change. This change is revenue neutral but would improve incentives for investing in the United States.

He is expected to gather with CFOs of major companies in the U.S that includes Microsoft Corp and Cisco Systems on Friday to discuss ideas for simplifying, as well as trimming the corporate tax that is almost the highest tax in the world of industry.

Corporate tax reform, according to administration officials, is the foundation for a discussion about comprehensive tax. But, it would be difficult to pass any meaningful reform for the next two years if the Congress is divided.

Several White House officials have said that they concur with the companies’ main complaint that the federal corporate tax rate at 35 percent is way too high. Both parties have also agreed that the tax code is too heavy and troublesome.

However, administration officials and other people noted that deductions, as well as loopholes make it uncommon for companies to pay the 35 percent rate.

Dorothy Coleman, the vice-president of tax and economic policy at the National Association of Manufacturers, told that cutting the corporate tax rate is a big issue for the group’s members, many of whom will attend the Friday meeting.

Coleman said that they are looking at the issue as a start of a debate and a sign that the administration is serious.

Charles Schwab Corp agreed on Tuesday to pay $118.9 million to settle the federal regulatory charges that they concealed the risks of a short term, multibillion-dollar bond fund.

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced the agreement with two Schwab units namely, Charles Schwab Investment Management and Charles Schwab & Co. Inc.

The agency charged that Schwab advertised the fund as a conservative investment. However, the fund is somewhat riskier than a money-market fund despite the fact that half of its assets were invested in high-risk securities.

Both Schwab units did not admit or deny the assertions in the settlement with the SEC. The company called the fall of the YieldPlus Fund as the result of an unforeseeable credit crisis and market collapse during the year 2007 and 2008.

The company said in a statement that Chairman Charles Schwab, the company founder, was one of the biggest investors in the YieldPlus Fund. It also said that Schwab would never seek to profit at the expense of its clients, and that they regret that fund shareholders lost money in the YeildPlus.

The Securities and Exchange Commission also filed a civil charge against Kimon Daifotis, the former chief investment officer for fixed income at Charles Schwab Investment Management, as well as Randall Merk, an executive vice president of Charles Schwab & Co.

The lawsuit says both have committed fraud and other law violations in their offer and sale of the YieldPlus Fund. Daifotis and Merk disagreed with the SEC’s allegations and informed that they would fight them in court.

The number of workers hired in the last month of the 2010 was notably lesser than expected amid the surprising fall in the unemployment rate to its lowest record for nearly two years.

The decline in the jobless rate was due to the fact that people are giving up their search for work. The unappealing jobs growth figure was reported by the Labor Department on Friday.

These figures suggest that the Federal Reserve will likely stay the course, along with its efforts to support the biggest economy in the world by purchasing $600 billion government bonds.

A survey done by the Labor Department among non-farm employers showed that payrolls increased 103,000 last month, which is below the economists’ expectation of 175,000. Also, hiring from private institutions rose 113,000, but government employment declined to 10,000.

These results suggest the idea that the economy is in for a long and slow jobless recovery. Brian Dolan, the chief strategist at Forex.com said that Fed cannot just surrender, not unless the unemployment rate is below 9 percent.

On the brighter side, the overall employment for the months of October and November was modified to reveal 70,000 more job gains than what was previously reported.

Even though the labor market shows signs of slow recovery, the larger economy, on the other hand, shows signs of strengthening, particularly on consumer spending and manufacturing improving. The central bank chief said to the Senate Budget Committee that they have seen an increased evidence of self-sustaining recovery in consumer and business spending.

Clients of Goldman Sachs Group Inc who are thinking of buying shares in the closely held social networking site, Facebook Inc. should pay attention for Wall Street’s most profitable firm might release its own holdings without any warning.

The firm, in its one-page investment profile that was sent to private wealth clients, said in the last sentence that GS group may further reduce its exposure to investment in Facebook at any time, without letting the fund or investors in the fund know ahead of time.

Facebook’s offering document that was obtained by the Bloomberg News shows that $75 million of the total $350 million invested in Facebook by Goldman Sachs is from the Goldman Sachs Investment Partners. This is a hedge fund that manages client money.

The firm’s $375 million investment might possibly be cut down to $300 million because Goldman Sachs anticipates selling its $75 million shares to third parties or to the fund it made so other clients may buy a stake in Facebook.

According to the offering document’s disclosure section, it said that there may be problems of interest regarding the underlying investments of the fund, as well as Goldman Sachs. However, the materials written in the documents are not guaranteed accurate or complete.

Goldman Sachs spokesman Stephen Cohen refused to comment yesterday, as well as the spokesman for Facebook, Jonathan Thaw.

Clients of Goldman Sachs should make a minimum investment of $2 million by January 7 to get a stake in Facebook. Facebook has already more than 600 million active users every month, and 230 million of that has access to the site through mobile services.

Unilever, a British-Dutch consumer goods corporation, gets the approval of Kenya to buy Sara Lee Corp’s ancillary in the east African nation, according to a government notice presented on Friday.

An Unilever official who does not want to be named stated that the company had purchased Sara Lee’s local body care businesses.

As a dual-listed company, Unilever consists of Unilever N.V. in Rotterdam, Netherlands and Unilever PLC in London, United Kingdom. It owns world’s several consumer product brands in beverages, foods and other home and personal items.

In fact, they own 400 brands through acquisition but they focus on their 13 “billion-dollar brands” that achieve more than €1 billion annual sales.

Sara Lee, also a global consumer-goods company, has sold a number of brands for the past five years. This is considered as part of a strategic move from a once rambling company that sold everything from underwear to hotdogs to one that is focused on its core coffee and protein businesses.

The European commission granted Unilever’s $1.3 billion agreement to purchase Sara Lee’s body care unit. Sara Lee even mentioned that it had received a strong interest in its remaining household businesses.

Sara Lee Kenya LTD engages in the promotion of shoe care products, which comprises of cleaners, polishes, and wax under the Kiwi brand. They also include insecticides under the Ridsect brand.

Sara Lee Corporation is actually based in USA. However, it has operations in more than 40 countries, which includes Kenya, and sells its consumer goods in over 180 nations around the world.