Debt-burdened Greece drew strong demand for a crucial bond issue on Thursday but paid a steep risk premium that underscored its plea to Germany and other EU partners for support to help lower its borrowing costs. A day after the government announced draconian new austerity measures, a 5 billion euro 10-year syndicated bond was more
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Weakness in mining stocks offset gains in banks to leave Britain's top share index 0.1 percent lower at midday on Thursday, after the Bank of England left interest rates and quantitative easing unchanged, as expected. By 1218 GMT, the FTSE 100 was 5.17 points lower at 5,528.04 after it closed 49.15 points, or 0.9 percent,
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Stock index futures point to a lower open on Wall Street on Thursday, with weekly jobless data due before the market opens, and non-farm payrolls figures to come on Friday. At 0950 GMT (4:50 a.m. ET), futures for the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq were down between 0.1 and 0.3 percent. The FTSEurofirst 300
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The Bank of England held fire on both interest rates and quantitative easing on Thursday as it paused to assess the impact of the massive stimulus it has already injected into the economy. There was little reaction from financial markets which expect no change in monetary policy until much later this year as the central
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Britain's top share index fell 0.2 percent early on Thursday, weighed down by weaker commodity stocks as investors took profits after four sessions of gains ahead of the latest Bank of England meeting, due at midday. At 0930 GMT, the FTSE 100 was 12.60 points lower at 5,520.61 after it closed 49.15 points, or 0.9
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House prices in Britain unexpectedly fell 1.5 percent in February, the first drop since June last year, mortgage lender Halifax said on Thursday. The decline followed a downwardly revised 0.4 percent rise in January and left prices 4.5 percent higher in the three months to February compared with a year ago. Halifax said increased supply,
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European equities slipped in early trade on Thursday from six-week highs a day earlier, led lower by energy shares on weaker crude prices, and ahead of some interest rate decisions in Europe and Friday's U.S. jobs numbers. Energy shares also lost ground as crude oil prices fell 0.6 percent towards $80 a barrel on a
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World stocks slipped on Thursday while the euro held above a recent 9-month low against the dollar as the European Central Bank prepared to announce next steps in stimulus withdrawal after its policy meeting. The premium investors demand for holding Greek government bonds rather than those of Germany rose while Greek bank shares also rose
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The European Central Bank is set to hold interest rates at a record low level of 1.0 percent on Thursday and detail the next steps in its gradual withdrawal from emergency lending. With Greece's debt troubles unresolved and concerns growing about the fragility of Europe's recovery, the monthly meeting is also expected to adopt a
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Greece should consider selling some of its islands as one option to reduce debt, two members of the German parliament in Chancellor Angela Merkel's centre-right coalition said. Josef Schlarmann, a senior member of Merkel's Christian Democrats, and Frank Schaeffler, a finance policy expert in the Free Democrats, were quoted on Thursday as saying that selling
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