Mideast push
Bank of America is hiring bankers in the Middle East as sovereign wealth funds and companies target North American investments. The second-largest US lender by assets is “selectively” recruiting in the Persian Gulf and relocating people from Europe as business picks up, a top BofA official said in Jordan.
Toyota tough
The largest weekly decline for Japanese equities in more than a year is failing to discourage options market bulls on Toyota, the country’s biggest company by market value.
Bela-China
China is building an entire city in the forests near the Belarusian capital Minsk to create a manufacturing springboard between the European Union and Russia. An area 40 percent larger than Manhattan has been set aside for the $5 billion development, which will include enough housing for 155,000 people.
Worst Place
Better Place, the electric-car venture backed by Israel’s President Shimon Peres as a way to wean the world off oil dependence, will shut down after failing to attract new investments.