A lcoa Inc. AA-N posted a narrower fourth-quarter loss on Monday as aluminum AL-FT prices inched up, but the result fell short of expectations and its shares dropped more than 6 per cent in after-hours trade. “The top-line numbers are significantly better than expected, but the bottom-line numbers are worse than expected,” said Stephen Massocca, managing director of Wedbush Morgan in San Francisco

T alisman Energy Inc. TLM-T is selling some of its founding assets and opening a U.S.

V enezuelan government inspectors accompanied by soldiers temporarily shut down stores belonging to a major retailer, seeking to prevent hefty price hikes after the country devalued its currency. Inspectors from the tax and consumer protection agencies shuttered stores of the Exito chain for 24 hours. The chain is majority owned by France-based Casino Guichard Perrachon SA.

U .S. aluminum giant Alcoa Inc. AA-N kicked off the fourth-quarter earnings-reporting season with a negative note, announcing quarterly results that fell short of market expectations

U .S. President Barack Obama is weighing a levy on Washington-rescued banks to help recover shortfalls in a $700-billion (U.S.) bailout fund and to help balance a budget that is looking increasingly grim amid an ongoing economic crisis.

A lcoa Inc. AA-N posted a narrower fourth-quarter loss Monday as aluminum AL-FT prices inched up and the manufacturing industry showed small signs of recovering from the recession. The net loss was $277-million (U.S.), or 28 cents per share, compared with a loss of $1.19-billion, or $1.49 per share, in the fourth quarter of 2008, when the economic downturn began.

Federal regulators have expanded their charges against Bank of America Corp. over billions in bonuses paid at Merrill Lynch, accusing the bank of failing to disclose mounting losses at Merrill before a shareholder vote approving the combination of the two firms. The Securities and Exchange Commission announced Monday it had asked a federal judge in Manhattan to allow it to file the new charges against the biggest U.S