Tourist arrivals in August marked an increase of 4.3%, reaching 304.264 compared to 291.583 in August 2009, the Cyprus Employers and Industrialists Federation (OEB) has said in a statement. The Federation added that overall, tourist arrivals increased by 0.7% between January 1st and August 31st 2010, and income between January 1st and July 31st rose

Greece's jobless rate rose to a 10-year high of 11.8 percent in the three months to June from 11.7 percent in the first quarter as economic activity weakened, the country's statistics service said on Thursday. The jobless rate in the second quarter of 2009 was 8.9 percent. Greek unemployment figures are not adjusted for seasonal

Sales of new passenger cars saw "considerable percentage drops" over the summer months, industry association ACEA said on Thursday, as the phasing out of scrapping incentive schemes continued to take its toll. Government-backed scrapping schemes boosted demand last year for carmakers hit by the crisis, but these have either finished or are running out, leaving

The yen crept higher on Thursday but the market was on the alert for more intervention by Japanese authorities after a massive amount of yen-selling the previous day knocked the yen off a 15-year high against the dollar. Some traders see chances of another round of intervention increasing if the dollar slips back below 85

A fiscal consolidation package to plug Cyprus's financing gap could include increases in taxation for Cypriot companies and banks, Finance Minister Charilaos Stavrakis said on Thursday. Stavrakis said the government was in talks with coalition partners to raise revenue next year and meet an EU commitment that the island's public deficit not exceed 4.5 percent.

Annual harmonised inflation rose in Cyprus in August 2010, reaching 3.4%, compared to 2.7% in July, according to data released by Eurostat. Euro area annual inflation was 1.6% in August 2010, down from 1.7% in July. A year earlier the rate was -0.2%. Monthly inflation was 0.2% in August 2010. EU annual inflation was 2.0%

U.S. industrial output rose at a slower pace in August and a measure of New York state business conditions slipped to the lowest level in more than a year, according to data on Wednesday that suggested the economy was cooling but not stalling. Industrial production rose 0.2% in August, matching economists' forecasts for a sharp

Wall Street fell at the open on Wednesday as investors consolidated recent gains after a gauge of regional manufacturing unexpectedly fell in September. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 45.64 points, or 0.43%, at 10,480.85. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 5.80 points, or 0.52%, at 1,115.30. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 9.24

Britain's central bank stands ready to act if the economic recovery turns out to be weaker than expected, Bank of England Governor Mervyn King told trade unions in a speech on Wednesday. King made no specific policy comment on inflation, which has been above the BoE's 2% target since December 2009, indicating that the central

Japan intervened in the currency markets on Wednesday to sell yen for the first time in six years and promised more to come in a bid to stop its relentless rise from threatening a fragile economic recovery. Fresh after victory in a party leadership contest, Prime Minister Naoto Kan appeared to be stepping up efforts