The IMF is likely to revise up its 2010 growth forecast for the world economy, a senior fund official said on Friday, while European Union leaders were set to back the creation of a cross-border system of bank supervisors. U.S. jobs and factory data offered hope that the economy may be clawing its way out
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European Union leaders will on Friday back plans for swift disbursement of the next instalment of EU aid for Latvia, according to a final draft of a summit declaration. Latvia is waiting for a decision by the IMF and the European Commission, the EU's executive, on whether it will receive the second, 1.2 billion euro
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Asian stocks snapped a four-day slide on Friday and government bond yields climbed after upbeat U.S. factory and jobs data provided more evidence that the global economy is recovering from its deep recession. A slowing pace of contraction in the Philadelphia Federal Reserve's regional gauge of manufacturing and a rise in the expectations index to
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Microsoft Corp is willing to invest up to 10 percent of its operating income in its Internet search business for up to five years, Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said on Thursday, as its "Bing" search engine starts to gain ground with Web surfers. Bing — part of Microsoft's perennially money-losing online services unit — has
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Software giant Microsoft Corp is launching a free PC security service next week in what could be the biggest challenge to date for anti-virus companies with billions of dollars in annual revenue. Industry analysts who previewed the service, Microsoft Security Essentials, said its features and quality are on par with anti-virus products from Symantec Corp,
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LG Electronics will start selling this month flatscreen monitors that can function as virtual computers, saving costs by allowing multiple users to run programs off a single standard PC. LG's new liquid crystal display SmartVine N-series monitors will include embedded "virtualization" technology from U.S.-based NComputing Inc. Users can connect a keyboard and mouse directly to
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Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner urged Congress to act quickly on the Obama administration's regulatory reform proposals, saying past efforts had started too late after the will to act had faded. Geithner, in prepared testimony to the Senate Banking Committee, said the administration considered a full range of options and "decided that now is the time
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The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits rose last week but the number of people staying on the benefit rolls after collecting an initial week of aid fell for the first time since January, a government report showed on Thursday. Initial claims for state unemployment insurance rose 3,000 to a higher-than-expected
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The Dow industrials and the S&P 500 added to gains while the Nasdaq turned positive on Thursday after a reading of business conditions in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region came in much better than expected, suggesting a more stable manufacturing sector. The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) gained 55.17 points, or 0.65 percent, to 8,552.35. The
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European Union leaders will approve tighter bank supervision rules at a summit starting on Thursday, a day after President Barack Obama unveiled a sweeping reform of U.S. financial supervision. EU leaders will also back Jose Manuel Barroso for a second five-year term as head of the European Commission, although his critics say the EU reacted
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