American Airlines to begin daily flights from Los Angeles to Shanghai in April

American Airlines plans to begin daily service from Los Angeles to Shanghai starting April 5.

The carrier announced Thursday that it had received approval from the U.S. Department of Transportation. It willl fly 247-seat Boeing 777 aircraft on the new route.

American spokesman Tim Smith said the flights will depart and arrive at Terminal 4 at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and that details were still being worked out with federal officials.

The airline also received tentative approval for antitrust immunity that allows American and Japan Airlines to cooperate on flights between Asia and North America under the Open Skies agreement between the two countries. The airlines await a final OK for American to start daily flights from New York to Tokyo on Jan. 20, and Japan Airlines to start flights between San Francisco and Tokyo on Oct. 31.

Renault's Improving Grip on Road

Renault is one of the cheapest but riskiest bets on the global auto sector. The stock has gotten a lot less risky now that the French auto maker has drastically reduced its debt by selling part of its stake in truck-maker Volvo AB. No wonder investors are excited. Renault's stock was up 7% Thursday. The cost of insuring Renault's debt against default also fell sharply. But investors still need to keep their enthusiasm in check.

Renault has done well to raise €3 billion ($4.18 billion) by selling all its 303 million B shares in Volvo for 93 Swedish kronor ($13.88) each, a slight discount to Wednesday's closing price but 60% above the stock's 2010 low. Better-than-expected U.S. September truck orders ensured strong institutional investor demand for Volvo stock. The French auto maker is retaining its A shares in Volvo, which gives it a 6.8% equity stake and 17.5% of the votes.

The move dramatically reduces leverage in Renault's automotive business. It had net debt of €4.7 billion as of June 30, equivalent to 1.3 times forecast 2010 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. Renault's extra financial security isn't to be sniffed at considering it was bailed out by the French government last year.

But Renault still faces considerable challenges. It is heavily reliant on selling low-margin small cars in Europe, a market likely to contract as subsidies end next year. The yen's strength against the dollar is a headache for Nissan Motor Co., which is responsible for most of Renault's earnings. Investments in Russia, a small-car partnership with Daimler, and a €4 billion electric-car program are years from contributing to earnings.

Investors currently attribute negative value to Renault itself. Using market valuations for its 44% stake in Nissan and other strategic investments, Renault is worth minus €14 a share, based on Tuesday's closing stock price, according to Credit Suisse. That suggests some potential upside for the shares. But while a deleveraged Renault is less likely to lose its grip of the road, the way ahead still looks bumpy.

Verdantix Forecasts US Sustainable Business Spending Will Double To $60 Billion By 2014

The US sustainable business market will double to $60bn in 2014 from $28bn in 2010, according to a new report from independent analyst firm Verdantix. Based on an analysis of 1,833 firms with US revenues of at least $1bn, sustainability spend will increase by 11% in 2010 compared to 2009. This positive trend will continue with a year-on-year increase of 16% in 2011 accelerating to growth of 24% in 2012. Over the 2009 to 2014 period the compound annual growth rate will be 19% across all 20 industries covered by the market forecast.

“Executive awareness of the business benefits of sustainability is on the rise” commented Verdantix Director, David Metcalfe. “The elevation of sustainable business decisions to the C-Suite drives increased expenditure across all sustainability issues. But the US sustainable business market is still 2 years away from rapid growth due to the sluggish global economy, delayed federal regulations and a lack of mature programs in firms with revenues of less than $10bn.”

Nvidia enters the graphics card business

Enthusiast site HardOCP reported last night about its purchase of two Nvidia-branded graphics cards from a local Best Buy. This is news.

Previously, Nvidia has been a maker only of graphics chips, leaving its partners like EVGA, ASUS, PNY, and others to handle the business of building the chips into graphics cards, and packaging and selling them at retail. It seems Nvidia has decided to change that relationship.

Nvidia's technical marketing director, Nick Stam, confirmed for us this morning that what HardOCP found is indeed part of a new strategy. In an exclusive partnership with Best Buy, Nvidia is now selling boxed graphics cards "built and supported by Nvidia" at retail. The card selection is limited for now to the midrange GeForce GTX 460 and the GeForce GTS 450, although those cards represent the most profitable $125 to $250 sweet spot of the retail graphics card business.

Allegiant Starts Nonstop Bakersfield-Las Vegas Service

Allegiant announced that, beginning November 17, the travel company will offer nonstop service between Bakersfield, CA, and Las Vegas, with one-way introductory rates of $29.99 when purchased by October 2010 for travel through March 8, 2011. Following the introductory fare period, one-way fares on the route will start from $39.99.

In November, three weekly flights will travel between Meadows Field Airport and McCarran International Airport: Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Flights departing Bakersfield at 6:45 p.m. will arrive in Las Vegas at 7:50 p.m. Flights leaving Las Vegas at 5 p.m. will touch down into Bakersfield at 6:05 p.m. onboard a full-size, 150-seat MD-80 jet aircraft.

The Las-Vegas based company also offers air and hotel vacation packages with more than 40 of Sin City's hotels, including Venetian-Resort-Hotel-Casino, Paris Las Vegas, Caesars Palace and ARIA Resort & Casino, among others.

Bing App for IPhone Updated With Travel, Map Features

Microsoft has rolled out an update to its Bing app, gracing it with a new travel feature, a "nearby" feature, and some map enhancements.

The Bing app is Microsoft's answer to the search-friendly Google Mobile App. Bing offers voice activated search, maps and directions, and a few other tricks meant to help iOS users get the information they need.

New in version 1.3 of Bing is a flight and travel deals search engine that predicts whether travel prices for your destination will increase or decrease in the near future. The "nearby" feature lets you know about hot places near your location by employing the iPhone's geo-location capabilities. Bing's map feature has also been enhanced with new pop ups that display over the maps, providing info on traffic, business listings, and more. Finally, Microsoft added neighborhood labels to make it easier to find certain locations.

Nestle to invest $500M in medicinal foods business

Nestle will plow some $500 million into expanding its medical nutrition business over the next decade, in a bid to capture a slice of the growing market for foods to treat chronic conditions such as diabetes and obesity, the Swiss consumer company said Monday.

Nestle SA said it wants to "pioneer a new industry between food and pharma" by creating a medical nutrition institute in Switzerland and a stand-alone subsidiary called Nestle Health Science SA.

The Vevey-based company is already one of the world's biggest producers of processed foods including Nesquik cereal, Haagen-Dazs ice cream and Nespresso coffee, with sales of some $100 billion last year.

The decision to expand its medical nutrition segment is a direct challenge to North Chicago, Illinois-based Abbott Laboratories, which has steadily increased its presence outside the traditional pharmaceutical market.

Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, Nestle's chairman and former chief executive, said health care systems worlwide are struggling to cope with the growing number of people suffering from diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer's.

"Finding efficient and cost-effective ways to prevent and treat acute and chronic diseases" will be the goal of Nestle's research combining food and medical science, he said.