Japan bought billions of dollars to restrain a soaring yen on Friday and traders reported intervention by European central banks, kicking off joint action by the world's richest nations to calm markets made nervous by Japan's nuclear crisis. After a week of panicky trading, the U.S. dollar surged two full yen to as much as
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The United States, in a sharp shift in tone, wants the United Nations to authorize not just a no-fly zone to aid Libyan rebels but also air strikes against Libyan tanks and heavy artillery, U.S. officials said on Thursday. The move toward a tougher stance in favor of military action comes after an extended internal
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A surge in oil prices could threaten forecast economic growth for Cyprus of 1.5% this year, Finance Minister Charilaos Stavrakis said on Thursday. "The external environment is difficult and fragile," Stavrakis told an economic conference. "We had a surge in oil prices before the situation unfolding in Japan … these are difficulties which can cause
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Cyprus will offer up to 200 mln euros in 26-week treasury bills in an auction on March 28, its public debt management office said on Thursday. The bills will have a March 31 issue date, it said. At its last auction on January 10, the average yield on 26-week bills was 2.52%.
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Moody's Investors Service said in a new report that displaced demand from Japan's nuclear shutdown will shift to Asia-Pacific thermal-energy producers such as Australia's upstream Woodside Petroleum (Baa1 negative), Indonesia's thermal-coal miner Adaro (Ba1 stable), Korea's refiner SK Innovation (Baa3 Stable), and Thailand's petrochemical firm PTT Chemical (Baa3 review for upgrade). "These firms and others
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The ongoing turmoil in parts of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is creating considerable uncertainty for oil and gas companies operating in the region, but is likely to have only a limited impact on ratings for now, Moody's Investors Service said in a new report with a focus on Libya. However, looking ahead,
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Moody's Investors Service believes that merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in the Russian banking system gained traction in 2010, a trend that is likely to accelerate in 2011. "Moody's considers this to be credit positive because the Russian banking system will benefit from increased economies of scale and a reduction in the number of very
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– Europe looks to get tough with new data privacy rules – Google, Facebook, others face new legal landscape – EU and U.S. trying to create a level playing field When it comes to privacy, the Internet has long been something of a Wild West but that that is starting to change, with regulators in Europe
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The yen briefly hit record highs versus the dollar on Thursday as quake-hit Japan's nuclear crisis unleashed a global risk sell-off, while world stocks ticked higher after Tokyo stocks came off earlier lows. Risk aversion fanned expectations Japanese investors would sell overseas assets, including lucrative carry trades, to bring home funds. The yen rose as
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Japanese military helicopters dumped water on an overheating nuclear plant on Thursday while the United States expressed growing alarm about leaking radiation and said it was sending aircraft to help Americans leave the country. Engineers tried to run power from the main grid to fire up water pumps needed to cool two reactors and spent
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