European shares rose on Friday at midday, with banking stocks taking the lead and commodity shares tracking higher crude and metal prices. By 1139 GMT, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares was up 0.4 percent at 1,001.14 points. The index, which gained nearly 26 percent in 2009, is down around 4 percent this
More
The euro rose while euro zone government bonds fell on Friday after Greece revealed higher-than-expected budget revenues, while expectations for solid corporate results pushed world stocks higher. The premium investors demand for holding 10-year Greek debt rather than German bunds fell while the default insurance cost for the country also eased after Greek budget revenues
More
Oil held around $78 a barrel on Friday after sliding more than 2 percent the day before as traders mulled recovery prospects for the United States, the world's top energy consumer, ahead of economic data. Data on Thursday pointed to a lacklustre outlook as demand for a wide range of U.S. manufactured goods fell in
More
World stocks rose on Friday, aided by upbeat economic data from Japan and expectations for solid corporate results, while two-year euro zone yields hit record lows as investors wary of the Greek debt crisis sought safety. The euro held just above last week's 9-month low as investors remained jittery about the potential impact on Greece
More
Britain's economic growth in the fourth quarter was revised up more than expected after new figures showed the service sector grew five times faster than initially estimated. The Office for National Statistics said on Friday that GDP grew by 0.3 percent in the final three months of 2009, revised up from the initial 0.1 percent
More
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou told parliament on Friday, after a visit by EU economic inspectors, that the worst fears about Greece's economy had been confirmed. Greece is desperate to restore investor confidence in its economic statistics, and reassure buyers of its debt, after revealing that the previous government understated its budget deficit by half.
More
Lloyds, Britain's largest retail bank, shrank its losses in 2009, despite a 24 billion pound ($37 billion) hit from loans that soured, mostly assets inherited from last year's takeover of rival HBOS. The bailed-out bank was one of the first to call a peak in bad debts during 2009 and it says it sees further
More
Steve Jobs defended Apple Inc's decision to maintain a $40 billion cash pile and said it was better to save the money for bold risks, like acquisitions, than to spend it on stock buybacks or cash dividends. Faced with shareholders' questions over his intensions for the company's cash balance, equal to about one-fifth of its
More
Cypriot tennis player Marcos Baghdatis has secured a place in the semi-finals of the Dubai Tennis Championships, after beating Germany’s Michael Berrer with 2-0 (7-6 6-1). On Friday at 5 o’ clock in the afternoon (3 pm GMT), Baghdatis, number 37 in world tennis rankings, will face Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, number 2 in the world,
More
Retail sales in Cyprus dropped in volume terms by 3.3% over the year earlier in December 2009, according to provisional figures from the Statistical Service. This was a milder drop than the fall of 6.6% in November and the 4.2% in October. For the period January-December 2009 retail sales volume is provisionally estimated to have
More