German parliament approves an expansion of the EFSF

Japan retail sales dive in August

“Consumer spending was recovering after the quake, but that rebound is pretty much over”- Yoshiki Shinke, a senior economist at Dai-Ichi Life Research InstituteImpact: MediumYear on year retail sales in Japan plummeted 2.6% in August, after 0.6% increase in July, said the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Indus-try on Thursday. Economists expected the reading to decline moderate 0.6%.“Consumer spending was