Just hours after General Motors abruptly fired Karl-Friedrich Stracke as chief executive of Opel last week, industry observers were already beginning to ask whether it was time to start writing the troubled European unit's epitaph. Since GM emerged from bankruptcy three years ago, Opel has racked up $3.5 billion in underlying l osses thanks to
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The global economy is moving into a good old fashioned slowdown with the developed world's policy options limited and investors nervous, putting the spotlight firmly on U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke in the coming week to point the way ahead. Bernanke delivers his twice yearly update to lawmakers on Tuesday and Wednesday, beginning a
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Nearly two-thirds of Germans oppose giving heavily indebted countries in the euro zone more time to meet reform commitments, according to a poll published on Friday that highlights the domestic political constraints facing Chancellor Angela Merkel. Ahead of elections in 2013, Merkel is resisting foreign pressure to cut euro zone stragglers such as Greece more
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JPMorgan Chase & Co, the biggest U.S. bank, posted $4.4 billion of losses from its "London Whale" trades, but also said some of its traders might have tried to conceal bad credit bets in the first quarter. The disclosure was the first indication the bank has made that the problems in its Chief Investment Office
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The first Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the European Union comes at very challenging times, President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy has told the Cyprus News Agency. In statements to CNA in Brussels, Van Rompuy said that the decisions taken at the June European Council will have an important impact on the
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Clearly one of the priorities of the programme to be agreed between the Troika and Cyprus will involve measures to restore the health of the banking sector, Director of IMF External Relations Gerry Rice has said, adding that it is too premature to get into too many details. Rice was replying to questions during a
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Moody's surprised markets on Friday by downgrading Italy's government bond rating by two notches to Baa2 and warned it could cut it further, piling on pressure just hours before the euro zone third-largest economy launches its latest bond sale. The ratings agency blamed increased liquidity risks for the country amid persistent euro zone woes and
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Egypt's new Islamist president and his old military foes have come out swinging in a struggle for political power, but their countrymen need them to find a way to work together to avert economic chaos. In the two weeks since his inauguration, President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood has openly defied the entrenched military
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What looks to be the worst U.S. drought in a quarter of a century has given rise to an old-fashioned commodity rally on world markets, with key grain prices hitting highs which caused food crises in vulnerable parts of the globe last time around. Seeking to protect their populations from hunger this time, many countries
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The discovery of suspicious wires in plastic straws aboard a Madrid-bound Delta Air Lines jetliner on Thursday night forced the plane to return to New York, but authorities said they searched the aircraft and found no bomb. Delta Flight 126, a Boeing 767-300 with 206 passengers aboard, landed safely at John F. Kennedy airport shortly
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