Business Today: Europe anxiety drives down futures, Wal-Mart slides

Click to View in Browser 04/23/2012 Europe anxiety drives down futures, Wal-Mart slides NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock index futures slid on Monday on renewed anxiety over how Europe would tackle its sovereign debt crisis while Wal-Mart shares fell after a report about a stymied probe into bribery allegations. Nestle wins pricey battle for Pfizer baby food unit ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss food group Nestle is to buy U.S. drugmaker Pfizer's baby food business for $11.85 billion, beating out French rival Danone in the battle for dominance of fast-growing emerging markets. China premium car sector remains bright spot BEIJING (Reuters) - Global car makers such as GM, Daimler, BMW and Peugeot are counting on China to maintain growth in their premium offerings, even as all the signs point to an overall slowing in the world's largest auto market. ConocoPhillips profit lags Wall Street view (Reuters) - ConocoPhillips , which is splitting into two stand-alone companies at the end of the month, reported lower-than-expected quarterly profit, hurt by weak refining margins, and its shares slipped in premarket trading. Vodafone agrees to buy C&W Worldwide for $1.7 billion LONDON (Reuters) - Mobile phone group Vodafone has agreed to buy Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CWW) for 1.04 billion pounds ($1.7 billion), giving it a British fixed-line network to relieve the strain on its wireless operations from data-hungry smartphone users. Wal-Mart probe could cost some executives their jobs (Reuters) - Allegations that Wal-Mart Stores Inc stymied an internal investigation into extensive bribery at its Mexican subsidiary are likely to lead to years of regulatory scrutiny and could eventually cost some executives their jobs. China sees trade with Germany near doubling by 2015 HANNOVER, Germany (Reuters) - China and Germany, the world's two biggest exporters, can nearly double their bilateral trade in the next three years, but must also improve their market access and combat protectionism, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said on Monday. Kellogg cuts outlook, shares sink (Reuters) - Kellogg Co cut its full-year outlook on Monday, citing a weaker-than-expected first-quarter performance, and its shares fell 6.3 percent. Spain and EU deficit calculations add up BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Spain's budget deficit was confirmed at 8.5 percent of economic output in 2011 by the EU's statistics office Eurostat on Monday, dispelling doubts about the new Spanish government's reading of its national accounts. Qtel comes calling for $2 billion loan: bankers LONDON (Reuters) - Qatar Telecom has sent requests for proposals to international lenders for a $2 billion refinancing loan that will mark its return to the market after a two-year gap, bankers close to the deal said. Related Video U.S. Morning Call: Stock futures lower; Wal-Mart probe Market Pulse: German PMI, Dutch political crisis double blow Economic News Awash in money and piles of debt Europe pressed for action to end debt crisis A daily digest of breaking business news, coverage of the US economy, major corporate news and the financial markets. Register Today   The latest Reuters articles on M&A, IPOs, private equity, hedge funds and regulatory updates delivered to your inbox each day. Register Today   » MORE NEWSLETTERS - 3 Times Square New York, NY 10036 USA © Copyright 2010 Thomson Reuters Ensure delivery of Reuters Newsmails, add mail@nl.reuters.com to your address book. Details Subscribe to other Reuters newsletters. Unsubscribe from this newsletter. Follow us on Twitter Friend us on Facebook Forward to a friend