Britain's Lloyds Banking Group sank to a 4 billion pounds ($6.8 billion) loss in the first half, battered by a surge in bad debts from its HBOS business, but the bank told investors it was through the worst. Britain's biggest retail bank said on Wednesday its impairment losses for the six months to June jumped

A closely-watched gauge of U.S. factory activity likely rose in July but stayed below the level showing expansion, suggesting the economy might start to emerge from recession in the second half of the year. The median forecast for July for the Institute for Supply Management's index of U.S. manufacturing is 46.5, according to 25 economists

Sony Corp will begin selling this month the cheapest digital book reader for the United States, heating up the competition with Amazon.com Inc in the small but fast-growing market for electronic readers. Sony plans to start selling its 5-inch-screen Reader Pocket Edition at $199 — which it called a breakthrough price — and a larger

Wall Street was expected to open lower on Wednesday, slipping back from a nine-month high, as investors awaited further pointers to a potential economic recovery, and more second-quarter earnings. * At 5:23 a.m. EDT, futures for the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq were down between 0.2 and 0.4 percent. * The FTSEurofirst 300 (.FTEU3)

European shares inched higher on Wednesday, with banks boosted by results from Societe Generale while mining stocks weighed as investors looked ahead to key U.S. data later in the day. At 0832 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was 0.2 percent higher at 941.20 points. The index, which plunged 45 percent in

House prices in Britain jumped 1.1 percent in July and fell at their slowest annual rate in more than a year, mortgage lender Halifax said on Wednesday, as it halved its forecast for house price falls this year. The lender said house prices in July were 9.9 percent down from a year ago, the smallest

Moody's Investors Service has downgraded to B2 from B1 the Insurer Financial Strength rating (IFSR) of the insurance company Standard Insurance, based in Baku, Azerbaijan. The outlook on the rating is negative primarily reflecting concerns over the economic and financial environment in Azerbaijan, and particularly the weakness of Bank Standard, which is Standard Insurance's sister

The fundamental credit outlook for the Omani banking system is stable, primarily reflecting the relative remoteness from the global economy, but also the resilience of the country's economy to the global recession, Moody's Investors Service said in its new Banking System Outlook on Oman. "The stable outlook reflects the resilience and continued growth of the

British industrial output rose unexpectedly in June and at its fastest pace since October 2007, helped by a surge in car production, official data showed on Wednesday. The Office for National Statistics said industrial production rose 0.5 percent on the month in June after a 0.7 percent drop in May and well above analysts' forecasts