World stocks hit a fresh 14-month high on Thursday while oil also rose after Bank of America said it would repay $45 billion of taxpayer bailout funds in a move which injected optimism into the financial sector. The low-yielding dollar came under pressure, sending dollar-priced gold to record highs above $1,225 an ounce, as BofA
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Britain's service sector grew more slowly than expected in November, a purchasing managers' survey showed on Thursday, but new business continued to pick up and firms were optimistic. The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply/Markit activity index fell to 56.6 last month from October's two-year high of 56.9. That was the seventh consecutive month above
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Britain's leading share index was up 0.7 percent in early trade Thursday as strong commodity prices boosted miners and oils, while banks were lifted by news Bank of America is set to repay U.S. government bailout funds. At 0921 GMT, the FTSE 100 was up 39.28 points at 5,366.67, having closed 15.22 points higher at
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The European Central Bank is set to begin the delicate process of phasing out its financial crisis support on Thursday, backed by new staff forecasts which should show greater economic optimism. With markets still some way from normality, all 80 economists in the latest Reuters poll expect interest rates to be kept at 1 percent.
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Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Thursday will push back at efforts to curb the Fed's power as he goes before lawmakers considering his nomination to a second term at the central bank's helm. President Barack Obama nominated the former Princeton University economics professor to another four-year stint as Fed chair in August, praising his
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Gold struck its third straight peak in as many days on Thursday because of its investor appeal as a safe asset while Asian stocks advanced as the appetite for risky assets remained strong despite Wall Street's dip. The yen extended its fall on increasing market talk that Japan may step up quantitative easing to battle
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A delegation by the Ecologists’ and Environmentalists’ Movement, headed by General Secretary of the Movement, Ioanna Panayiotou, has held a series of meetings with European Parliament officials. The delegation met Co-Presidents of the GREENS/EFA Group at the European Parliament Rebecca Harms and Daniel Cohn-Bendit, as well as President of the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee Helene
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Welcome to an orchestra of the 21st century. iPhones are being used as musical instruments in a new course at an American university. Students at the University of Michigan are learning to design, build and play instruments on their Apple Inc. smartphones, with a public performance planned for December 9. The university said it believed
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It's a story fraught with accusations of broken promises, backroom deals and deception, leaving an established Internet giant fighting to preserve its valuable stake in a well-loved classified advertising website. A lawsuit filed by EBay Inc against Craigslist heads to a Delaware state courtroom next Monday, for a trial that promises to reveal the inner
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Google offered publishers a way to attract paying subscribers without having to remove their content from Google News search results, after Rupert Murdoch and others accused it of profiting from their news. The Web search giant said it would adapt its so-called First Click Free program to prompt online readers to register or subscribe to
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