European shares fell early on Thursday to snap a five-day winning run after the United States deflated hopes of an early economic recovery by cutting growth forecasts and Standard & Poor's cut its outlook on the United Kingdom. At 0846 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was down 1.9 percent at 859.28
More
Ratings agency Standard & Poor's lowered its outlook on Britain to negative on Thursday, citing government debt that would be hard to rein in and political uncertainty about the policy response with an election looming. The agency affirmed Britain's 'AAA' long-term and 'A-1+' short-term sovereign credit ratings. "We have revised the outlook on the UK
More
Britain's top share index fell 1.8 percent early on Thursday, pulled back by weakness in heavyweight oils, miners and banks, after the Federal Reserve cut its outlook for the U.S. economy. At 0805 GMT, the FTSE 100 index was 80.52 points lower at 4,387.89 having closed 13.84 points lower on Wednesday. "The Fed comments have
More
British retail sales rose much more than expected in April with most sectors doing well, official data showed on Thursday, in a sign that consumer spending is still holding up in the face of economic recession. But government borrowing hit a record high for the month of April — the first month of the new
More
World stocks slipped from this week's six-month peak and the dollar fell to its lowest in almost five months on Thursday after the Federal Reserve lowered its forecast of U.S. economic growth for the next three years. Minutes from its April meeting showed the Fed projected the world's biggest economy to contract by up to
More
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said the U.S. economy and financial markets had improved but warned that banks faced a capital shortfall, which could stall lending and obstruct a recovery, Bloomberg reported on Thursday. "Things have unquestionably improved," Greenspan was quoted as saying in an interview published on Bloomberg's website. "They've improved everywhere in
More
Americans could face higher unemployment for some time to come, President Barack Obama warned on Wednesday, underscoring the tough challenges the country faces even as the economy shows signs of stabilizing. Obama, speaking to a meeting of his 16-member Economic Recovery Advisory Board headed by former Federal Reserve chief Paul Volcker, said he was encouraged
More
Italian industrial group Fiat SpA (FIA.MI) has more than a 50 percent chance of succeeding with its plan to tie up with Opel, La Stampa said on Thursday, citing Fiat chief executive Sergio Marchionne. "With Opel we have a chance of over 50 percent of doing it," the paper cited him as saying. On Wednesday
More
Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) wants to pay back $45 billion in bail-out funds by the end of the year, accelerated by a program to raise capital, the Financial Times reported on its website late on Wednesday. The largest U.S. bank by assets is on track to raise more than $35 billion in capital by
More
Japan's Nikkei average fell 0.9 percent on Thursday, dented by Honda Motor Co and other exporters as the yen climbed to a two-month high on the dollar and after the Federal Reserve cut its outlook for the U.S. economy. Tech shares fell in the wake of losses by their U.S. peers, with Sony Corp edging
More