Global financial giant, Credit Suisse Group has recorded its second consecutive quarterly loss amid difficult financial situation.

Chief Executive Officer TidjaneThiam announced sharper cost cuts at its securities business in the beginning of the year. The company's securities business is affected by writedowns on trading positions.Thiam is aiming to reduce the scale of its investment bank in order to free up capital for expanding the bank's wealth-management business in order to cater to the clients across the Asia-Pacific region.

SBE Entertainment Group, which owns the SLS Hotels brand, has announced that it has acquired New York-based Morgans Hotel Group Co. for $82 million.

Leading retail giant, Wal-Mart has said that it will bring back door greeters to a majority of its 5,000 stores in the coming months in order to improve customer service at its stores.

The company has also said that it will position a customer host at stores that are at a higher risk of theft. The role of the customer host will not only be to greet customers but also check receipts to prevent theft. The company stores faced a problem with theft in the previous year. The customer hosts will be trained to help prevent thefts at stores.

Authorities in the state of Washington have said that they have reopened the Alaskan Way Viaduct ahead of schedule.

The Washington State Department of Transportation announced on Sunday that tunnelling work has progressed well and they were able to reopen the viaductat about 7:30 p. m, which is five days ahead of schedule. The officials said that tunneling-machine Berthadug the tunnel, which will replace earthquake-damaged elevated roadway, in just days while the Viaduct was expected to be closed for two weeks.

A leading economist in New Zealand, ShamubeelEaqub has said that the wants the government to make provisions for doubling the state housing stock from 60,000 to about 120,000 houses in the Budget.

Eaqub said, "This Government has shown little initiative on this front but I certainly hope housing will be big in this Budget because moves so far have been too marginal and too incremental to be effective. To explicitly ask the Government to step in and build houses and related infrastructure flies in the face of current thinking, yet the situation is dire."

Dairy farmers in Australia have expressed anger over decision by Murray Goulburn and Fonterra to cut prices paid by them for raw milk.