The currency markets have not been a restful place over the past few months, and that was particularly true last week, note Barclays Wealth analysts. Foreign exchange trading has become very volatile, driven by the extreme stances on monetary policy being taken in the US and Europe, and worsened by low liquidity in the markets
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U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Christopher Cox, responding to heavy criticism, said in an interview published on Wednesday he takes pride in his response to the U.S. financial crisis. "What we have done in this current turmoil is stay calm, which has been our greatest contribution — not being impulsive, not changing the rules
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A French executive who invested with accused swindler Bernard Madoff was found dead in an apparent suicide on Tuesday, reportedly distraught over losing up to $1.4 billion in client money. The death added a chapter to the widening story of the Wall Street fund manager who authorities say confessed to running a $50 billion fraud
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Sales of U.S. existing homes fell by a record amount last month as the recession picked up pace, although a collapse in gasoline prices gave consumer sentiment a rare lift, data showed on Tuesday. "The bottom line: Bah humbug. Recession, recession, recession," said Jennifer Lee, an economist with BMO Capital Markets in Toronto. The solitary
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The dollar fell against the yen on Wednesday as weak U.S. housing data signalled a prolonged recession for the world's top economy, while Asian stocks edged up, but without much conviction, ahead of the Christmas break. Despite tentative signs that the worst sell-off in global markets may be running its course, investors are still holding
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– Bleak housing data showed the United States and Britain were sinking deeper into recession and authorities from Washington to Tokyo worked hard to spend their way out of the worst downturn in decades. Japan's government on Wednesday approved its biggest-ever budget to revive its economy while U.S. President-elect Barack Obama sought to clinch a
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Cyprus government plans to increase its golf courses to 14 in a bid to enrich its tourist product, Cypriot Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism Antonis Paschalides said. Paschalides met with Cypriot businesspeople to discuss the government decision to increase the number of golf courses to 14. ''The proposal stipulates that there will be up
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Governments should be ready to increase their spending on economic stimulus programmes if circumstances require it, the International Monetary Fund's chief economist Olivier Blanchard said in comments published on Tuesday. Here are some details of the stimulus packages already announced by European governments: * EUROPEAN UNION — The European Commission first made proposals on Nov.
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The U.S. economy shrank at a 0.5 percent annual pace in the third quarter as expected after consumers and businesses cut spending and the country's recession gathered steam, government data showed on Tuesday. The U.S. economy entered a recession last December which deepened after the failure of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers in September, which
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Subordinated bank debt, the riskier end of the debt spectrum, may take a further hit on worries banks will miss interest payments. Bayerische Landesbank looks set to become the first major bank to defer a coupon, or interest payment, on a Tier 1 debt issue in the credit crisis. Subordinated debt prices have sunk in
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