President Barack Obama will forecast a 2009 deficit of $1.75 trillion in a budget proposal on Thursday that sets goals of overhauling the healthcare system and shoring up the U.S. economy. The huge deficit would represent 12.3 percent of U.S. gross domestic product — the largest share since World War II. Two senior administration officials,
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Britain launched a huge scheme on Thursday to insure "toxic assets" that have brought many banks to their knees as Royal Bank of Scotland reported the biggest loss in British history. Increased unemployment in Germany, Europe's biggest economy, and a tightening of credit further reflected a grim picture across the continent. In the United States,
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Louis Plc (LUI) issued its 2008 preliminary results posting a loss of EUR30.8 mln compared to a profit of EUR 13.3 mln in 2007. Revenue decreased to EUR 273mln from EUR 314 mln in 2007. Revenue were adversely affected by the weakening of the US$ during 2008 since Louis Hellenic Cruises’ revenue from chartering of
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Royal Bank of Scotland on Thursday reported a loss of 24.1 billion pounds ($34.3 billion) for 2008, the biggest in UK corporate history, and said it planned to place 325 billion pounds of assets in a state insurance scheme. The bank said the record deficit reflected a 16.2 billion pound write down against acquisitions, including
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U.S. banking regulators are not pursuing nationalization of troubled institutions struggling to shed toxic assets from their balance sheets, the chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp said on Wednesday. "Nationalization means different things for different people but nationalization is not the route we're pursuing now," FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair told reporters after speaking to
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Apple Inc Chief Executive Steve Jobs wasn't even there, but at times it seemed like it was all anyone talked about at the firm's annual shareholders' meeting on Wednesday. In a lively, one-hour gathering at the firm's headquarters in Cupertino, shareholders asked about the absent executive, serenaded the charismatic corporate chieftain, and spoke privately about
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The world's top cellphone maker Nokia is eyeing entering the laptop business, its Chief Executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said in an interview to Finnish national broadcaster YLE on Wednesday. "We are looking very actively also at this opportunity," Kallasvuo said, when asked whether Nokia plans to make laptops. Industry has rumored about Nokia's possible plan to
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Governor of the Central Bank of Cyprus Athanasios Orphanides assured on Wednesday that the global financial crisis has affected Cyprus to a lesser extent compared to other EU countries, and that the banking sector ''continues to be in a very good situation.'' Speaking after a meeting with President of the Republic Demetris Christofias, Orphanides said
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British house prices fell by a bigger-than-expected 1.8 percent in February for a record annual decline of 17.6 percent, figures from mortgage lender Nationwide showed on Thursday. The 15th consecutive monthly fall took the price of an average house down to 147,746 pounds ($211,000), the lowest level since April 2004 and 20.6 percent down on
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The United States launched a "stress test" programme to judge banks' resistance to a possible deeper recession, as investors await President Barack Obama's budget proposal to see what support it will give the economy. Britain is expected later on Thursday to unveil details of its own plan to limit banks' losses on around 500 billion
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