Global gold demand fell last year for the first time since 2009 as jewellery buying abated in the key Indian and Chinese markets and U.S. and European coin and bar investment dropped, the World Gold Council said on Thursday. While gold consumption is expected to stabilise this year, it may be some time before it

Asian shares rose on improving risk sentiment while the yen steadied ahead of the weekend meeting of G20 finance and central bank officials, whose views on global growth and differences over currencies will be scrutinised by investors. "Asian markets have extended gains with risk sentiment remaining resilient as markets continue to push to new highs.

Qatar's sovereign wealth fund is in advanced talks with Russia's second-largest bank VTB about injecting between $3 billion and $3.5 billion into the banking giant, the Telegraph reported. VTB will likely issue the Qataris with $1.5 billion of new equity and $1.5 billion of mandatory convertible bonds under the structure of the deal, the daily

A hard-won bank debt deal has been hailed by the Irish government as an historic step towards recovery, but from the unemployment-scourged ghost estates of the midlands, the feted rebound feels more like a mirage. The long-awaited deal, struck with the European Central Bank last week following talks that had preoccupied the nation for nearly

Europe's two largest economies, Germany and France, both shrunk markedly in the last three months of 2012, suggesting the euro zone has slipped deeper into recession and throwing a first quarter recovery for the bloc into doubt. The German economy contracted by 0.6 percent on the quarter, official data showed on Thursday, marking its worst

When the Volvo manufacturing plant shut its doors in Asheville, North Carolina, in 2010 and moved more than 200 jobs out of state, it was time for Ben Teague to go to work. As the region's economic development officer, he worked with state and local officials to advertise the town's skilled labor force and offer