With three months to the end of 2009, third-quarter corporate earnings — due in the next couple of weeks — will hold the key to whether risky assets can sustain their rapid recovery since March. On Wednesday, Alcoa, the largest U.S. aluminium maker, will kick off the Q3 reporting season which is expected to show
More
Deflation in Cyprus deepened in September, as the consumer price index fell by 1.23% compared with the same month of 2008, having fallen by 0.99% in August and 0.80% in July. Compared with the previous month, however, prices leapt by 1% as the summer sales came to an end. The Statistical Service said that the
More
European shares extended losses on Friday afternoon after U.S. jobless numbers for September were higher than forecast. At 1236 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was down 2.2 percent at 960.46 points, a new low for the day and the lowest in four weeks. Banks took most points off the index. BNP
More
World stocks extended falls while the dollar jumped versus the euro on Friday after a report showed U.S. non-farm payrolls fell more sharply than expected in September. U.S. employers cut 263,000 jobs, lifting the unemployment rate to 9.8 percent, the highest since June 1983, the Labour Department said. Payrolls have now dropped for 21 consecutive
More
U.S. employers cut a deeper-than-expected 263,000 jobs in September, lifting the unemployment rate to 9.8 percent, according to a government report on Friday that fueled fears the weak labor market could undermine economic recovery. The Labor Department said the unemployment rate was the highest since June 1983 and payrolls had now dropped for 21 consecutive
More
Equity markets across the globe tumbled and the U.S. dollar broadly held firm on Friday as doubts grew about the pace of economic recovery and the week's major data on U.S. jobs loomed large. European shares hit a four-week low, following steep losses in Asia and on Wall Street overnight as investors moved to the
More
By Adrian Croft British opposition leader David Cameron, widely expected to be prime minister after an election next year, will face pressure to flesh out his plans to cut a soaring budget deficit and consolidate economic recovery. Cameron's centre-right Conservatives will be subjected to a new level of scrutiny in Manchester next week at the
More
Cameron in the spotlight Britain's opposition Conservatives would face a series of thorny issues if they beat the ruling Labour Party in a national election due by next June. They include: PUBLIC FINANCES If elected, the centre-right Conservatives would inherit what leader David Cameron calls a "catastrophic" budget deficit. Public borrowing is forecast to reach
More
Greeks will elect a new parliament on Sunday. Here are some key facts about how they will vote, who is running and how the results will be announced: VOTERS & CANDIDATES: – About 9.8 million Greeks aged 18 and above have the right to vote, out of a total population of about 11 million. Some
More
Minister of Finance Charilaos Stavrakis and Vice President of the European Investment Bank (EIB) Ploutarchos Sakellaris signed an agreement of guarantees on Thursday, providing for a loan of 30 million EUR from the EIB to the Electricity Authority of Cyprus (EAC). The agreement was signed on the sidelines of a meeting of Commonwealth Finance Ministers,
More