GE goes global for sales growth; Company's business in overseas markets to match domestic markets this year.(Business)

Byline: JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN - Associated Press

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - General Electric Co., which rode a wave of American prosperity in the last century to become one of the world's largest companies, expects its overseas sales to roughly match its domestic business this year for the first time due to rapid global growth.

The milestone by the conglomerate reflects a new reality: The fastest growth is no longer in selling appliances for the American kitchen but in building railway locomotives for China and airplane engines for India, creating solar power in Portugal, expanding electricity in Saudi Arabia and buying stakes in banks from Honduras to Bangkok. …