European services and industry data on Friday suggested the worst downturn in 80 years was easing, but a record economic decline in Britain and gloomy company outlooks cast doubt over any quick recovery. Governments have pumped trillions of dollars into corporate rescues and stimulus packages to jolt the global economy out of its downturn, but

The tech sector's road to recovery just got a lot bumpier. Microsoft Corp's billion-dollar-plus revenue shortfall in its fiscal fourth-quarter abruptly dampened hopes that demand for PCs was on the mend and sent a spate of tech stocks tumbling after-hours on Thursday. While Wall Street has rallied on better-than-expected quarterly results from chipmakers Intel Corp

Stock index futures pointed to a mixed open on Friday as disappointing results from Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) and Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) curbed sentiment a day after a rally took the Dow industrials above the key 9,000 mark. Nominal value of S&P futures rose, but fair value edged lower, indicating a lack of conviction in the

A broad meeting of working groups, preparing for the assumption of the six-monthly EU rotating presidency, in the second half of 2012, was held here today, under Andreas Moleskis, head of the Cyprus EU Presidency Office. A Planning Bureau statement said that the meeting was attended by representatives of various departments including Public Works, the

Greece urgently needs to redefine its values and restore trust after a seemingly endless series of political corruption scandals, Greek President Karolos Papoulias said in a rare intervention in politics on Friday. A probe into German engineering group Siemens' Greek subsidiary hit the headlines in recent months after a string of shipping, land-swap, sex-tape and

World stocks will rely next week on another flood of major corporate earnings results and crucial U.S. growth data to surprise on the upside in order to sustain a rally which has pushed the benchmark index to nine-month peaks. The MSCI world equity index has risen more than 6 percent this week to hit its

World stocks pushed up to 9-month highs on Friday, cutting demand for government bonds as euro zone manufacturing and services reports beat expectations, fuelling optimism about economic recovery. The euro hit a session high against the dollar and European shares reversed earlier losses to climb for a 10th session running after a better-than-expected German sentiment