German lender Hypo Real Estate struck a last-minute deal with a consortium of banks for credit to resolve a refinancing squeeze it faced, the group said early on Monday. Earlier, sources with knowledge of the matter had said Hypo was in urgent talks with German banking regulator Bafin and the finance ministry as it sought
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European shares fell sharply early on Monday, led by banks, as news of Fortis's partial nationalisation left investors concerned a U.S. bailout package may not be enough to help stabilise the sector. By 0717 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was down 0.8 percent at 1,095.99 points. The banking sector took most
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Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat called for a resolution by the end of the year to the division of Cyprus, saying the passage of time was making a deal more difficult. Leaders of Cyprus's estranged Turkish and Greek Cypriot communities started reunification talks in early September. By the end of the process, they will
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Benelux financial group Fortis underwent a shotgun nationalisation on Sunday after emergency talks with European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet to prevent U.S.-style financial contagion engulfing one of Europe's top 20 banks. The Belgian, Dutch and Luxembourg governments agreed to inject 11.2 billion euros ($16.4 billion) into the banking and insurance company, which will sell
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Thomas Cook, Europe's second-biggest travel firm, said it had withdrawn from talks over a potential merger of its airline Condor, with TUI Travel's TUIfly and Lufthansa's Germanwings. Thomas Cook also said trading in the summer 2008 season had been strong and was confident it was on track to meet its expectations for the full year,
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The U.S. dollar rose against the euro on Monday as a banking crisis worsened in Europe, while Asian stocks fell 2 percent on questions on the effectiveness of a U.S. government plan to save the financial system from ruin. European stock market futures pointed to falls of about 1 percent on evaporating confidence in the
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Wachovia Corp is in talks with rivals to be taken over, sources familiar with the situation said on Sunday, after the U.S. bank's shares fell 27 percent on Friday due to concerns about its portfolio of illiquid mortgage assets. The sources said Citigroup Inc and Wells Fargo & Co are among the parties in talks
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Belgian-Dutch bank Fortis denied on Friday it faced a liquidity crisis and pledged to speed up asset sales as it became the latest focus of investor concern about Europe's fragile financial sector. As its shares fell for the fifth straight day in feverish trade, Fortis said it had a funding base of 300 billion euros
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The U.S. economy grew less strongly than previously thought during the second quarter as consumers boosted spending less vigorously and businesses trimmed some investments, a sign confidence was sagging even before financial market turmoil deepened. The Commerce Department said on Friday gross domestic product, the measure of total goods and services output within U.S. borders,
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Oil was down around $2 on Friday, pressured by concerns over the financial market crisis after talks between U.S. politicians on a bailout package stalled. The $700 billion deal to rescue the faltering U.S. financial system hit a wall on Thursday amid bickering between Democrats and Republicans. On Friday, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said
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