Moody's Investors Service placed the island’s three leading banks on review for a possible downgrade and warned Cyprus it could cut its Aa3 sovereign credit rating on Thursday, citing the island's deteriorating fiscal standing and banks' high exposure to Greece. Moody’s said the rating may be cut by more than one notch but that it
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Chinese shares had eased by midday Friday as talk of interest rate increases and further policy tightening by Beijing kept investors on the back foot despite some analysts saying the chances of a rate rise over the weekend were slim. The weak mainland market weighed on Hong Kong's bourse although the strong momentum in financials
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Japan's prime minister appointed a fiscal hawk to a key post and replaced his deputy in a cabinet revamp on Friday to cope with a divided parliament and tackle reforms to rein in public debt, but hurdles to success are high. Drafting Kaoru Yosano, an advocate of raising the 5% sales tax, as economics minister
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Up to 16 mln people are expected to take cruises this year, an increase of 6.6% over 2010, with Europe, the Caribbean and Alaska among the top destinations. "We are very bullish about 2011," Bob Sharak, of the Cruise Line Industry Association (CLIA), told a press conference. "The cruise industry has been extremely resilient, particularly
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Cyprus has no imminent plans to borrow from international markets because it has covered its financing needs for coming months, the Finance Ministry said on Thursday. The island was responding to a warning from Moody's that it could downgrade its Aa3 rating for Cyprus government debt, citing fiscal deterioration and the banking sector's high exposure
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Greek urban transport ground to a halt on Thursday, as bus and metro drivers went on a 24-hour strike to protest against government plans for the restructuring of the country's loss-making state-run transport sector. Streamlining spendthrift public bus and train companies is a key condition in the 110 bln euro EU/IMF bailout for the debt-laden
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Greece's unemployment rate hit a new record in October as an austerity programme designed to slash the budget deficit led to more job cuts, impacting more than a third of the workforce aged 24 and under, data showed. The unemployment rate jumped to 13.5% from 12.6% in September and 9.8% in October 2009, Thursday's figures
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European shares slipped back from 28-month highs on Thursday, ahead of interest rate decisions at central banks but after a successful Spanish bond auction, In early trading, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was down 0.2% at 1,161.42 points, after rising 1.5% in the previous session to its highest close since September 2008.
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World stocks climbed to a new 28-month high despite weakness in Europe on Thursday while the euro held on to the previous session's gains ahead of key debt auctions in Spain and Italy. Wednesday's smooth sale of Portuguese bonds took the edge off concerns about the ability of debt-strapped euro zone issuers to fund themselves.
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The European Central Bank is expected to give few clues on its bond buying plans on Thursday, instead pressing governments to do more to tackle the euro debt crisis while it stands guard against firming price pressures. The bank is set to keep euro zone interest rates on hold at the record low 1% they
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