The European Commission and the European Central Bank (ECB) have encouraged the European Payments Council ('EPC') to move ahead with the launch of the SEPA Direct Debit scheme. Under this scheme, bank customers would be able to arrange direct debits to pay companies with bank accounts in any of the 31 European countries participating in
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The drop in oil prices appears to have had an immediate impact on inflation in August, as the consumer price inflation rate eased to 5.4% from 5.6% in July, although it was still well above the 2.5% recorded n August 2007. For the period January-August 2008, the CPI recorded an increase of 5.0% compared to
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Oil rose by more than a dollar on Thursday as a number of U.S. refineries remained shut because of hurricane disruption and ahead of U.S. government data excepted to show falls in gasoline stocks. U.S. crude rose $1.10 to 110.45 a barrel by 0903 GMT. London Brent crude jumped $1.05 to $109.11. Hurricane Gustav did
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President of the Republic of Cyprus Demetris Christofias, who is in Sweden on a two-day visit, begins his contacts on Thursday during which he will have consultations with Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt. He will also have an audience with the King of Sweden Carl XVI Gustav. According to an official press release, the Cypriot President
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Asia will continue to deliver strong growth in the mobile phone market due to sustained demand from China and India, the world's two biggest markets of such services, industry officials said. But, even if Asia is the world's largest broadband market in terms of absolute numbers, it lags the United States and Europe in overall
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Microsoft Corp said on Wednesday it plans to cut the U.S. prices of its Xbox 360 video game machine, lowering the price of its entry-level console to $50 below Nintendo Co Ltd's top-selling Wii. The move makes the Xbox 360 the first game machine of this generation of consoles to sell for less than $200,
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The U.S. service sector likely shrank modestly in August, as a pullback in consumer spending pinched retailers and other non-manufacturing industries for a second straight month. The Institute for Supply Management's index on national service activity likely held at 49.5 in August, unchanged from July, according to analysts polled by Reuters. A reading below 50
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Major U.S. retailers are expected to post softer August sales as consumers spent less on back-to-school items, with the results helping to set analysts' expectations for the all-important holiday season. Top retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc, Target Corp and Gap are due to report monthly sales reports for stores open at least a year
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Commodity market regulators are probing whether energy market players are injecting false crude oil supply data into the marketplace, the Wall Street Journal said. Regulators are concerned that companies may be reporting inventory levels that benefit their own trading positions but may not be accurate, the paper said, citing people familiar with the probe. Unexpected
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BP is close to a deal with its oligarch co-owners of TNK-BP that would see board changes at the Russian oil major, the departure of TNK-BP's BP-nominated chief executive, and which could lead to 20% of TNK-BP being floated, an industry source said on Thursday. BP shares rose more than 2% on the news of
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