The Obama administration is to award $2 billion in grants and loans over the next 75 days as part of a plan to dramatically expand Americans' broadband Internet access and create tens of thousands of jobs. Vice President Joe Biden is due to make the announcement in Dawsonville, Georgia on Thursday. He will give details
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White sugar futures set a record peak and London cocoa climbed to its highest in 32 years on Thursday with investor appetite for both commodities fed by supply concerns that have created global deficits. While wider commodity markets have benefitted this year from dollar weakness against major currency rivals, soft commodities have the added impetus
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The dollar hit a three-month high against major currencies on Thursday following a slightly more optimistic assessment about the U.S. economy from the Federal Reserve. World stocks fell more than 1 percent, with banks taking a hit at the prospect of less liquidity pumping from the U.S. central bank and others. The Fed's policy-making committee
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The European Central Bank gave itself the go-ahead on Thursday to build a new 1 billion euros, 48-storey headquarters, giving it a permanent home for the first time and drawing a line under years of delays and setbacks. The proposed design in Frankfurt's rundown east end has two twisted interlocking towers built round the city's
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Britain's top share index was down 0.9 percent in mid-session trade on Thursday, with banks weighed down by comments from the U.S. Federal Reserve, and retailers weaker after a surprise fall in UK November sales. At 1157 GMT, the FTSE 100 was down 45.07 points at 5,275.19, having closed 34.49 points, or 0.7 percent, higher
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Around 4,500 passengers were stranded abroad on Thursday after the suspension of Scottish airline Flyglobespan, administrator PricewaterhouseCoopers said. The owner of the airline, Globespan, was put into administration late on Wednesday after suffering a cash crisis. All flights by the Edinburgh-based airline have been cancelled and will not be rescheduled. Most of the stranded passengers
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A flurry of British retail and consumer goods companies lifted profit forecasts on Thursday, adding to hopes of economic recovery, though many continue to bear the scars of the downturn and remain cautious about 2010. Builders' and home improvements supplier Travis Perkins, car dealer Inchcape, TV and internet shopping group Ideal Shopping Direct and McBride,
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European shares fell back from a one-month closing high in early trade on Thursday, after the U.S. Federal Reserve reiterated that its special liquidity measures would expire early next year. At 0808 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was down 0.5 percent at 1,026.01 points, having hit a one-month closing high on
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Global shipments of personal computers bounced back in the third quarter of 2009, a sign that information technology spending will pick up in the coming months, a research group reported on Wednesday. Back-to-school demand helped shipments to rise 2.3 percent after falling for three consecutive quarters, according to research firm IDC's Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker.
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The dollar hit a three-month high against the euro on Thursday and was generally stronger across the board following a slightly more optimistic assessment about the U.S. economy from the Federal Reserve. World stocks fell, with banks taking a hit at the prospect of less liquidity pumping from the U.S. central bank and others. The
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