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The International Monetary Fund, which has mounted rescues from Iceland to Ukraine in the past year, approved a loan of about $2.5 billion to Sri Lanka, the country’s ambassador to the U.S. said in an interview.
The IMF earlier this week said it reached a staff-level agreement for a stand-by loan to help the […]
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Consumer spending probably rose in May for the first time in three months as Americans gained confidence the recession was easing, economists said ahead of reports today.
Purchases increased 0.3 percent after falling 0.1 percent in April, according to the median forecast of 76 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Other figures may show a […]
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Happy three-month birthday, stock market rally!
The S&P 500 finished on March 9 at 676.53, its lowest close of the year. (Technically, the market hit its nadir on March 6 when the S&P 500 hit the demonic level of 666.79. But you catch my drift.)
It’s hard to believe that only three months ago investors […]
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U.K. consumer confidence increased in May to the highest level in six months as shoppers became more hopeful that the economy will emerge from recession, Nationwide Building Society said.
An index of sentiment rose 2 points to 53, Britain’s biggest customer-owned lender said in an e-mailed statement today. It based the report on a […]
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Rules created by U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown in 1997 to police the financial system have failed and contributed to the most recent crisis, lawmakers said.
Responsibility for raising the alarm on potential crises should return to the Bank of England, the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee said in a report today. Currently, […]
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Indonesia’s central bank said it has room to cut its benchmark interest rate further after inflation slowed more than economists expected in May.
Bank Indonesia expects inflation to slow to between 5 percent and 6 percent in 2010, Senior Deputy Governor Miranda Goeltom told lawmakers in parliament today. Consumer prices rose 6 percent last […]
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Charter Communications Inc. owes up to $73 million in wages, current and former employees claim in a bankruptcy court filing that tries to estimate the size of a claim for 2,800 workers.
A group calling itself the "Goodell Class Plaintiffs" said the claim may be $49 million to $73 million, according to documents filed […]
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Australian consumer confidence dropped in May after the government said it will push the nation into debt to counter a recession that may swell the jobless queue to 1 million within two years.
Australia’s dollar declined after Westpac Banking Corp. and Melbourne Institute said their consumer sentiment index fell 4.3 percent from April to […]
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U.S. regulators are arguing over how much influence the government should wield over bank management, pitting taxpayer protection against concern at roiling fragile financial markets.
The clash intensified as supervisors completed last week’s stress test results on the biggest U.S. banks. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. officials sought to make top executives and boards of […]
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Japan’s record 15.4 trillion ($153 billion) stimulus package may give a short-term boost to the nation’s economy, while leaving it saddled with a debt burden that will smother future growth, economists said.
The plan unveiled yesterday by Prime Minister Taro Aso, who faces elections this year, is aimed at creating jobs in an economy […]
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