Finance news

Former U.K. finance minister Norman Lamont, who drew fire during the 1990s recession for announcing the “green shoots” of recovery, said he wouldn’t use the phrase again now because the banking system remains broken.
“There are some optimistic signs but I wouldn’t call them green shoots,” Lamont said today at the Banking Outlook 2009 […]

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ST. THOMAS, Ont.–Timken Canada is idling its St. Thomas plant in Southwestern Ontario for the next two weeks, affecting 355 workers.
The company says the shutdown is due to the struggling economy and a lack of orders for its bearings, which are used by automakers.
The company has also offered its St. Thomas employees early […]

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Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said policy makers may need to expand aid to the banking system beyond the $700 billion already approved and take other aggressive measures even at the cost of soaring fiscal deficits.
“Without a reasonable degree of financial stability, a sustainable recovery will not occur,” the Fed chairman said […]

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International banks such as Citigroup and Royal Bank of Scotland will see new competition in China as Taiwanese banks enter the market, leveraging their cultural ties and links to local firms.
The Taiwanese could quickly reap profits in their giant neighbor this year, helping underpin their battered shares over the coming months, and at the […]

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The number of Americans filing for first-time unemployment benefits surged last week to a level not seen since October 1982, according to a government report released Thursday.
The number of initial jobless claims jumped to a much-higher-than-expected 626,000 in the week ended Jan, 31, according to the Labor Department. That’s up from a revised 591,000 […]

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Swiss manufacturing contracted for a fourth month in December as stalling global growth hurt demand.
The SVME purchasing managers’ index rose to 36.9 from 35.2 in November, Credit Suisse Group AG said today. A reading below 50 signifies contraction. Economists expected the index to drop to 35.0, the median of 11 forecasts in a […]

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I hope you’re hungry. Porsche’s extremely, sublimely updated 2009 911 Targa 4S is quite a meal. It’s haute meat-and-potatoes, a fusion of rare and raw (in the right places), comfort and spice, complexity and simplicity - a high-end palate pleaser that’s mmm-mmm good.
I have to admit I had my doubts before I boarded […]

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Vietnam cut the benchmark interest rate for the third time in a month to protect the economy against the global financial crisis.
The central bank reduced the key rate to 11 percent from 12 percent, effective tomorrow, according to an e-mailed statement from the State Bank of Vietnam. Policy makers also trimmed the refinancing […]

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U.K. unemployment rose the most in 16 years last month, and Prime Minister Gordon Brown's government said the nation should prepare for worse as the economy heads for its first full-year contraction since 1991.
The number of people receiving jobless benefits rose 36,500 to 980,900, the highest level since March 2001, the Office for […]

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Insurance companies may be next to get capital from the government as part of the $700 billion bailout approved by Congress, but The Travelers Cos. won’t be one of them.
The St. Paul insurer sent a letter Tuesday to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to inform him that it would neither seek nor accept any money under […]

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