Toyota Motor becomes world's largest automaker
Toyota Motor Corp has moved up ahead of General Motors Corp. to become the world's biggest automaker by sales in 2006 according to leading industry paper Automotive News. The publication, which comes out with a widely quoted annual ranking of the world's automakers, said Toyota sold 8,808,000 units in 2006 outstripping GM by about 128,000 units. GM sold 8,679,860, the paper said.

In its ranking, the data included sales of GM's subsidiary in the total for the parent company with the majority stake.

GM, which has claimed the top spot for 76 years, had counted those vehicles, totaling 420,140 units in 2006, in its own tally, the paper said.

Toyota's own sales figures include sales at units Daihatsu Motor Co. and Hino Motors.

By GM's own figures, global sales in the first quarter of 2007 fell 90,000 vehicles short of its Japanese rival's. Toyota is almost certain to take the lead for all of 2007 after projecting sales of 9.34 million units against GM's forecast of 9.2 million.
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NYSE makes changes for its brokers
New York: New York Stock Exchange has changed rules to allow brokers on its trading floor to handle non-NYSE listed stocks, a move aimed to reduce trading share losses due to entry of newer competitors.

The rule levels the playing field for floor brokers, who could not previously access liquidity in other venues, including the Nasdaq Stock Market when executing trades.

The proposal was approved on Monday.

The rule, which came about in response to brokers' demands for more flexibility in executing trades, offers them greater parity with traders in off-the-floor venues, whether at NYSE's "upstairs" desks where such trades are permitted, or anywhere else, such as an electronic exchange or a broker's office, the NYSE's parent company NYSE Euronext said.

Floor broker share of total NYSE trading volume has dropped 49 percent between the first quarter of 2006 and the first quarter of 2007, the company said in its filing.
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Philip Morris receives setback on SC ruling
Washington: Philip Morris USA, a unit of Altria Group Inc., received a setback by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that a class-action lawsuit against the company should not be decided in federal court.

The judges unanimously reversed a ruling that allowed Philip Morris to transfer the lawsuit to federal court from the Arkansas state court where it initially was filed.

At the heart of the issue is a suit filed against Philip Morris by two Arkansas women alleging that the company engaged in unfair business practices in marketing its low-tar Cambridge Lights and Marlboro Lights cigarette brands.

Companies facing class-action lawsuits typically prefer to have those cases litigated in federal courts, where they usually fare better than in state courts.

Philip Morris succeeded in having the case moved to federal court, saying it was appropriate because cigarette advertisements had been regulated by a U.S. agency -- the Federal Trade Commission.
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