The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development added to a grim outlook from the World Bank on Monday, saying major economies will contract throughout 2009 and the problem of unemployment will linger. "We see a very difficult 2009, with negative growth in the OECD area. Unemployment problems are going to continue to linger," Angel Gurria,

European shares were lower at midday on Monday, as energy stocks suffered from lower crude prices, with miner Anglo American among the few heavyweight risers after a merger approach from Xstrata. At 1057 GMT, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares was down 1.4 percent at 849.72 points, after gaining 1.3 percent on Friday.

Moody's Investors Service has downgraded three Ukrainian banks: Privatbank, Savings Bank of Ukraine and Ukreximbank. Moody's has refined its assessment of the ability of the Ukrainian state to provide systemic support as the erosion in the local economy's underlying credit fundamentals and the resulting reduced policy flexibility has adversely affected the government's ability to support

World stocks slipped on Monday while government bonds and the dollar rose as a decline in oil prices below $70 a barrel and caution ahead of this week's data and Federal Reserve meeting weighed on risky assets. A closely-watched German Ifo survey showed investor morale improved in June, with its business climate index rising to

Britain's top share index fell 0.8 percent early on Monday, as energy producers and miners were dragged lower by falling commodity prices, but Anglo American gained as Xstrata proposes merger talks. By 0802 GMT the FTSE 100 was down 33.77 points at 4,312.16 after gaining 1.5 percent to close at 4,345.93 on Friday. Anglo American

The Federal Reserve is considering creating a utility to replace the Wall Street banks that handle U.S. repo market transactions, the Financial Times reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter. The proposal is partly motivated by concerns that the structure of the U.S. overnight repurchase market may have exacerbated the financial turmoil that

Apple Inc's latest iPhone hit stores on Friday with new features and faster speeds, drawing plenty of fans, if not the crowds that had swarmed the previous iPhone debuts. Several hundred shoppers lined up outside Apple's stores in New York and San Francisco before their 7 a.m. opening, but the queues were shorter and moved

T-Mobile USA will begin selling a new smartphone using Google Inc's Android operating software in August, facing off against high-end devices such as Apple's latest iPhone and the Palm Pre. T-Mobile, an arm of Deutsche Telekom and the No. 4 U.S. mobile service, said the myTouch 3G phone is a slimmer and more advanced version