The US economy showed continued signs of recovery early this year, with retailers posting their best monthly sales performance since before the recession began in 2007.  The 3.7 percent gain, which beat analystsÔÇÖ expectations, showed that shoppers are starting to spend more, with many willing to pay for certain higher-end goods.  The February sales report was the third consecutive monthly increase, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC). The trade group, which analyzes data from 29 chain stores, was expecting only a two percent increase.

The Switzerland-based commodity trader Glencore has announced it will buy back its prized Prodeco coal operations in Colombia from the international mining giant Xstrata.

The New York-based pharmaceuticals company Pfizer will bid up to Ôé¼3 billion ($4.08 billion) for the German generic drug maker Ratiopharm Group International, according to reports.

The UK-based oil and gas services firm Petrofac and Sweden's Lundin Petroleum are to spin off their North Sea oil assets into a new venture to be floated on the London Stock Exchange.

A Toronto company financed by the US investment firm Blackstone is hoping to build a 2,000 megawatt power line between Montreal's south shore and New York City at a cost of $3.8 billion.  The 570 kilometer line proposed by Transmission Developers Inc. (TDI) would largely be buried under Lake Champlain and the Hudson River in order to minimize its impact on the environment and local communities.  The line, being called the Champlain-Hudson Power Express (CHPE) transmission power line, will be a high-voltage direct current (HVdc) cable.

The power and gas company E.ON UK has submitted environmental scoping reports outlining the company's plans for a carbon dioxide pipeline for its proposed Kingsnorth coal-fired power station.

Korea Gas Corporation (KOGAS) has invested C$565 million ($543 million) into three north-eastern British Columbia natural gas plays.  The state-run company has signed a three-year deal with Calgary-based gas giant EnCana for a 50 percent interest in land blocks in the Montney and Horn River Basin shale formations. The agreements cover 10,000 hectares of Horn River land and an additional 52,000 hectares of Montney land.

UK temporary power supplier Aggreko has won a £30 million contract to provide power for the football World Cup in South Africa this summer.

Bird Construction won the largest single-building construction project ever awarded by the Canadian Forces to build a new maintenance hangar for the CC-177 Globemaster III. April Terreri talks to project manager Shawn Stirling.

Building an outstanding reputation for construction in the San Francisco Bay Area is a challenge fraught with pitfalls. Yet for Nibbi Brothers General Contractors, the idiosyncrasies of each project represent a labor of love, as Andrew Pelis learns.