The European Central Bank cut its main interest rate to a new record low on Thursday, and will buy up bonds for the first time in a bid to stem the euro zone's economic decline and shore up shaky markets. The decision is the first step on a path of quantitative easing, although the ECB
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European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said the euro-zone economy was showing tentative signs of stabilising at a very low level, after the ECB cut interest rates to a new record low on Thursday. The ECB cut another 25 basis points from its benchmark refinancing rate, taking it to 1 percent, and Trichet said inflationary
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The European Central Bank (ECB) and Bank of England took renewed action to boost growth on Thursday, even as German manufacturing data gave a further sign the downturn is bottoming out. The ECB cut interest rates to a record low of 1.0 percent and said it could spend about 60 billion euros in a corporate
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Oil rose above $58 a barrel on Thursday, hitting a fresh 2009 high, as signs of economic improvement in the United States boosted expectations of future increases in demand for oil products. U.S. light crude for June delivery rose $2.04 cents a barrel to $58.38 by 1347 GMT, off an earlier peak of $58.57, oil's
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The European Central Bank cut its main interest rate on Thursday to 1.0 percent, and financial markets are now focused on any alternative policy measures the ECB reveals to get the euro zone economy back on its feet. The ECB lowered the refi rate by a quarter percentage point, and economists will await any comments
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The number of registered unemployed rose year on year by more than 5,000 in April, having risen by more than 4,000 in March. On the last day of April, the number of unemployed registered at the District Labour Offices was 16,106, compared with 10, 462 in April 2008. The main increases compared with the year
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World stocks rose more than one percent on Thursday to their highest levels this year as investors bet on a stabilisation of the ailing world banking system, battered emerging markets and the global economy at large. UK government bonds rallied while sterling fell across the board as the Bank of England increased the size of
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The annual consumer price inflation rate fell below 1% in April, less than a year after it had consistently recorded rates in excess of 5%. Consumer prices in April rose by 0.7% over the same month of 2008, as the fall in the international price of oil put downward pressure on transport and electricity (most
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Greek bottler Coca-Cola Hellenic posted a larger-than-expected 93 percent drop in first-quarter profit on Thursday but its CEO said cost savings and lower input prices should help support profits through the rest of the year. The world's second-largest bottler of Coca-Cola drinks said its first-quarter net profit net profit fell to 1.9 million euros ($2.5
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“Never again”, is what Costas and Petros Souppouris wish for, as they prepare to bury five members of their family. The two brothers are survivors of a massacre during the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus, in the village of Palekythro. The Souppouris brothers were speaking to CNA only a few days before the funeral on
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