There is a risk that lack of financial confidence could spread across the European Union and affect previously untouched countries, Britain's Chief Secretary to the Treasury David Laws said on Wednesday. Laws, a Liberal Democrat, holds the number two Treasury job in a coalition government led by the Conservative Party that took office two weeks
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Stock index futures rose on Wednesday, a day after markets clawed back from a steep sell-off and as U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner flew to Europe to press for united action to tackle the region's deepening debt crisis. Geithner, in an apparent criticism of Germany, called for a "carefully designed global approach" to financial reform
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U.S. mortgage applications to refinance home loans jumped to a seven month high last week as rates neared record lows, but purchase demand remained stuck at a 13-year low. Interest rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, the most widely used loan, reached their lowest level since late-November 2009, the Mortgage Bankers Association said on Wednesday. Low
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Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said U.S. inflation expectations were stable despite price swings in the past few years and signaled the Fed saw no need to change its current price commitment. Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa also warned of the danger of focusing too much on short-term price moves in policy decisions, underscoring
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Dell Inc said its Streak tablet computer can double as a mobile phone and will have a front-facing camera for videoconferencing — features it hopes will help the new gadget compete against Apple Inc's iPad. The five-inch tablet will debut in Britain next month through mobile carrier O2, a unit of Spain's Telefonica, and Carphone
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Bank of Cyprus Group (BOCY) reported net after tax profit of EUR 81 mln for the first quarter of 2010, easily beating and surpassing analyst forecasts of EUR 69-71 mln. At the same time there was a positive contribution to profit from all the markets in which the Group operates. Net interest income recorded an
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The electronic communications sector in Cyprus has not yet grasped the full potential of a liberalised market, a European Commission report on telecoms communications says. According to the report, the incumbent operator, 100% state-owned, maintains a very strong presence on the fixed, broadband, and mobile markets. Broadband penetration in the country reached 22.2% in January
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The euro slid on Wednesday, with trade driven by fears that Europe's debt woes can wreak havoc in its banking system, though Asian stocks edged up from nine-month lows as value investors hunted for bargains. Increasingly difficult financing conditions in the euro zone, tightening U.S. banking regulation and escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula have
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Greece's Finance Ministry launched a tax evasion crackdown on itself on Tuesday to investigate hundreds of staff in response to a public outcry over corruption in the crisis-hit country. Greeks, at the epicenter of fears over European debt, have been hit hard by austerity measures meant to pull the economy out of recession and opinion
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U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner flew to Europe on Wednesday to press for united action to tackle a deepening debt crisis that has rekindled fears of a return to recession and sent global stocks tumbling. Asian equity markets rallied from nine-month lows but the euro remained under pressure with sentiment downbeat as costs for banks
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