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France Telecom SA, the largest phone company in France, said today that third quarter profits advanced 1.9% supported by the business expansion in Africa and the Middle East, where the plans to expand business by increasing its client base seems to be on target, where France Telecom intends to increase its client base by nearly a third by 2015. Earnings before interest, taxed, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) rose in the third quarter to 4.26 billion euros from 4.21 billion euros a year earlier, beating media estimates for 4.14 billion euros. The company said revenue rose 4.0% to 11.61 billion euros. The company confirmed its targets for this year and reiterated their plan to pay a dividend of 1.40 euros per share for this year, 2011 and 2012. Chief Executive Office Stephane Richard confirmed in a statement the vital role the new markets are presenting for France Telecom’s plans; especially as Richard pledged as much as 7 billion euros for expansion in emerging markets....

By Chang-Ran Kim, Asia autos correspondent TOKYO (Reuters) - Nissan Motor Co said on Thursday it would recall 2.14 million March/Micra, Cube and about a dozen other models in its third-biggest recall, to fix a faulty ignition relay that could cause engine problems. No accident was reported from the defect, Nissan spokesman Toshitake Inoshita said. Nissan said problems in the ignition relay could cause the engine to stall or fail to restart. The recalls are mostly in Japan, with 835,000 units, and the United States and Canada with a combined 762,000 units. The faulty vehicles were built in Japan, the United States, Britain, Spain, China and Taiwan between August 2003 and July 2006. Nissan does not disclose cost estimates on vehicle recalls or any impact on its earnings. But the fix is likely to be relatively cheap, with Nissan estimating less than 25 minutes for the repair, which involves replacing the ignition relay. Recalls exceeding 1 million vehicles have become more common at big automakers as...

By Leika Kihara TOKYO (Reuters) - The Bank of Japan kept its policy settings unchanged on Thursday, but said it will bring forward its next meeting to speed up the launch of a 5 trillion yen ($61 billion) asset buying plan aimed at helping the economy cope with a strong yen. The BOJ unveiled the plan on October 5 and vowed to keep interest rates near zero as long as the economy was mired in deflation, so no one expected the central bank to ease its policy further this week. Instead, the BOJ offered a detailed breakdown of assets it plans to buy and said it would meet on November 4-5 rather than in mid-November as originally planned, to speed up its purchases of less conventional assets such as exchange traded funds. By fleshing out the plan, the central bank made it easier to justify boosting the scheme as soon as next month if the yen shoots up toward record highs, sources familiar with...

Will We Hold It Wednesday - Copper $3.80 Edition By Phil of Phil's Stock World Can copper keep above $3.80? They call it "Doctor Copper" because copper pricing is a pretty good indicator of economic health. It's more of a demand metal than gold or silver and hard to fake and there aren't any silly ETFs stockpiling it although China has socked away a full-year's supply, which has given copper a very false sense of demand while our masters hoarded the World's substantial excess capacity at an average of less than $2.50 per pound. China is up 52% on their investment, not bad considering they're holding 300,000 tons of it. We went short on copper at the $3.90 line in the futures and we took a huge win yesterday so now the question is, will that $3.80 line hold up? MT reported a 21% DROP in Q3 earnings and said "Steel demand was well below pre-recession levels as the construction and automobile sectors continued...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock index futures dipped on Tuesday, the day after the market hit a five-and-a-half month high, while the dollar steadied. Corporate earnings will be in focus as DuPont and Co <DD.N> posted higher-than-expected profit as sales rose across all business units, while Ford Motor Co <F.N> posted a profit that exceeded estimates and said it expected to eliminate its net debt by year-end. Late Monday, Texas Instruments Inc <TXN.N> warned that fourth-quarter revenue will be hurt by slowing demand, but quarterly results topped expectations. Bristol-Myers Squibb Co <BMY.N> is also due to report later Tuesday. Equities and the dollar have formed an inverse relationship exacerbated by expectations the U.S. Federal Reserve will embark on another round of economic stimulus. The greenback steadied Tuesday, with investors wary of pushing it lower. The dollar index <.DXY> was up 0.2 percent. Stocks rose to a five-and-a-half month high on Monday as a falling dollar, partly driven by expectations of further Fed stimulus, prompted investors...

By Clare Baldwin and Paritosh Bansal NEW YORK (Reuters) - BankUnited, owned by some of the world's most powerful private equity firms, plans to file for a public offering this week, looking to raise roughly $500 million, two sources familiar with the matter said on Monday. BankUnited plans to use the proceeds from an initial public offering and a secondary offering to buy other banks, one of the sources said. Private equity firms, including Wilbur Ross's WL Ross & Co, Carlyle Group <CYL.UL>, Blackstone Group <BX.N> and Centerbridge Partners, bought the assets of failed BankUnited FSB in May last year from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The firms put $900 million in the bank and installed former North Fork Bank head John Kanas as CEO. The deal, attractive for loss protections from the FDIC, led to a surge of other private investors looking to enter the U.S. banking sector. But it was also followed by tighter regulations, humbling investors' aspirations. The planned offering would make...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Tuesday, with futures for the S&P 500 down 0.14 percent, Dow Jones futures down 0.17 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.14 percent at 0900 GMT. * Texas Instruments Inc <TXN.N> will be in focus after it warned its fourth-quarter revenue will be hurt by slowing demand for chips for computers and televisions, sending its shares lower in extended trading, even though its results beat Wall Street forecasts. [ID:nN25274454] Shares in Texas Instruments traded in Frankfurt <TXN.F> were down 0.1 percent. * Investors await a flurry of quarterly results on Tuesday, including earnings from DuPont <DD.N>, Ford Motor Co <F.N> and Bristol-Myers Squibb <BMY.N>. On the macroeconomic side, data expected on Tuesday include the Conference Board's October consumer confidence, the S&P Case/Shiller Home Price Index for August, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond's October indexes on area manufacturing and service sectors. * Shares of financial services...

Wells Fargo & Company reported today its third quarter earnings for the year 2010 where managed to beat analysts' estimations by reporting better than expected diluted earnings per share at $0.60. The company reported total revenues of $20.87 lower than both previous quarter of $21.39 Billion and year earlier quarter of $22.47 Billion, yet the company managed to record net income of $3.34 or $0.60 diluted earnings per share which is higher than both prior and year earlier quarters' net income, and also higher than the estimated $0.564 diluted earnings per share. Wells Fargo & Company's Tier 1 Capital ratio is 10.9% higher than year earlier of 10.6% and quarter earlier of 10.5%, while its Tier 1 Common Equity ratio is 8.0% higher than year earlier of 5.2% and quarter earlier of 7.6% while its current Price/Earnings stands at 10.36.

GYEONGJU, South Korea (Reuters) - Finance leaders from the Group of 20 economies will pledge on Saturday to commit themselves to pursue market-determined exchange rates and refrain from "competitive devaluation" of their currencies, a U.S. official said. A communique to be issued at the conclusion of G20 finance ministers' and central bank governors' meeting here will state: "We're all committed to moving toward market determined exchange rates that reflect underlying fundamentals and refrain from competitive devaluation," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. (Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)