Economy jitters swept financial markets on Wednesday, weakening stocks, propelling the Japanese yen to a six-week high and dragging oil down to around $62 a barrel. Wall Street, however, looked set for small gains after sharp losses the previous session. Investors have begun worrying that global economic recovery will not be as quick or robust

Britain set out plans on Wednesday to strengthen regulation of financial markets, including making banks hold higher levels of capital and increase liquidity to prevent a re-run of the credit crunch. Finance minister Alistair Darling also set out plans to police banking pay packages and for a new Council for Financial Stability to bring together

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a flat open on Wednesday, after hitting a 10-week low the previous session, as anxious investors awaited the start of quarterly earnings season. After a rally that took the S&P 500 index up 40 percent from 12-year lows in early March, traders are looking for hard evidence that the

Moody's Investors Service has downgraded the foreign and local currency issuer ratings of Jebel Ali Free Zone FZE ("Jafz") in Dubai and the rating for Jafz Sukuk Limited AED 7.5 bln (USD 2.04 bln) Trust Certificates due in 2012 to A2 from A1 and placed the ratings under review for further possible downgrade. The downgrade

Leaders from the Group of Eight major industrial nations will warn against complacency over economic recovery on Wednesday at a world summit that will also tackle trade, climate change and food security. Chinese President Hu Jintao pulled out of the meeting at the last minute because of unrest in northwestern China in which 156 people

Sony Corp Chief Executive Howard Stringer brushed off concerns that the PlayStation 3 video game console is too expensive, and said the company is unlikely to sell parts of its business amid the recession. Stringer, arriving at the Allen & Co conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, on Tuesday, described recent comments about PlayStation's price by

Google Inc is declaring war on Microsoft Corp by seeking to unseat the software giant's globally dominant Windows operating system for personal computers. Google, which already offers a suite of e-mail, Web and other software products that compete with Microsoft, said on Tuesday it would launch a new operating system for computers ranging from ultra-compact

Chinese President Hu Jintao abandoned plans to attend a G8 summit in Italy on Wednesday, returning home early to deal with ethnic violence that has left at least 156 dead in China's northwestern region of Xinjiang. The Foreign Ministry said Hu had left for China due to the "situation" in isolated, energy-rich Xinjiang, where 1,080