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Bernanke may not stand for another Fed term

US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke has told close friends he probably will not stand for a third term at the central bank even if president Barack Obama wins the November 6 election, the New York Times reported. Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has already said he would not re-nominate Bernanke if he wins the presidency. Bernanke's term as chairman ends in January 2014. Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner has already made it clear he wants to leave by the end of the year. Former treasury secretary Lawrence Summers would be at the top of Obama's list to replace Bernanke, although his reputation for not being a team player could count against him, New York Times columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin wrote.

Sony to close Tokyo tech centre to trim costs

Sony Corp plans to shut operations in a Tokyo office building that houses 8% of its Japan staff, one of the first concrete moves by the electronics and entertainment company to pave the way for 4,000 job cuts. The move, part of a still-unfolding restructuring under chief executive Kazuo Hirai, had not been previously disclosed. Sony will shut down the Shinagawa Technology Centre, a 31-storey building it has occupied since it was built in 1998, a company spokesman told Reuters. The 4,800 staff in the center will be relocated.

Ross interested in buying Spanish bank assets

Wilbur Ross, the billionaire who's taken stakes in distressed US and European lenders, told Bloomberg he's interested in Spanish banking assets as the country takes steps to resolve bad loans stemming from its real-estate bubble. Ross's WL Ross & Co, which holds about 10% of Bank of Ireland and teamed up with Richard Branson to buy part of Northern Rock, is in talks "almost every week" with representatives of the large Spanish banks, he said in an interview in Abu Dhabi, without naming potential targets. "Maybe next year will be the year for Spain," he said. "We've been doing a lot of work in Spain. We've put a lot of time and effort into Spain but haven't put any money in yet."

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