British government has increased its tax income by 1.4% in August, while the country's spending declined 2.2%, making the deficit to slash to 13.2 billion from 14.4 billion in August, 2012. British economy recovers faster than the Eurozone's one, therefore Britain is likely to meet its fiscal targets in 2013. Moreover, the economic recovery pushed up the rating of ruling
Pier Paolo Baretta, Italy's Finance Ministry Undersecretary said on Friday that his country must do everything to meet EU budget requirements this year, leaving budget deficit under 3% of GDP. In April the government forecasted the deficit to reach 2.9% in 2013. Meanwhile, the government will need to cut spending or raise taxes by additional 1.5 billion euros to meet
Politics experts predict that the current German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble is very likely to remain at his office, even if Angela will not preserve its coalition with Free Democrats, whose ratings point on their failure in the elections. Schaeuble played one of the key roles, solving the Eurozone's problems during the crisis and Merkel's opponents may agree to leave
Lithuania, the possible nineteenth member of the Eurozone, will ask the EU officials to approve its joining the monetary union earlier than usually. The reason for such a request lays in next year's European Parliament elections, which can put Lithuania's approval under more pressure. For example, Latvia that joins euro on January 1 in 2014 got approval of joining only
One of the biggest U.S. banks, JPMorgan Chase & Co, will have to pay a $920 million fine for providing incorrect financial information to U.S. and international regulators, as well as to its management board. Both Fed and Securities and Exchange Commission will receive $200 million each. This Thursday JPMorgan Chase & Co stocks are losing 0.56% to $53.11 per
Roche Holding AG, a Swiss based health care company, plans to acquire a California-based BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc., a company, which produces and develops drugs for treating rare diseases and cancer. A possible cost of the deal can reach $15 billion, and Roche will not borrow extra money to pay for BioMarin. On Thursday Roche Holding AG stocks add 0.03% to
The next year the ECB will start a new portion of stress tests at Eurozone's banks, introducing a new system of determining the health level of banks. This time the ECB will review banks' risks before checking their balance sheets, adding some concern to investors about success of such a control system. After last two stress tests that took place
Business outlook from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia showed a significant jump in U.S. manufacturing activity, while the corresponding index surged to its highest value since March 2011, reaching 22.3 points versus 9.3 points a month earlier. Economists predicted the index to increase slightly to 10.3 points. 36% of American firms reported a rise in activity, while only 14%
After its meeting yesterday, Fed's FOMC decided to keep stimulus amount at the current level of $85 billion per month. Almost nobody expected such a decision from the Central Bank. Fed's announcement made stocks surge, while Treasuries jumped the most since 2011. Analysts point out that Ben Bernanke wants unemployment to go down even further by maintaining current monetary policy.
Possible social-democratic government of the Czech Republic is planning to end austerity policy that began with current government, as Social Democrats are likely to win elections in October. Austerity measures taken by current government made bond yields go down, but cut the growth perspectives of the county, as the Czech Republic could be the only economy in Eastern Europe to
Asian stocks advanced as the Fed surprisingly decided to maintain its level of monthly bond purchases, with the benchmark regional index rising to a one year high. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index added 2.2% to 141.73 at 6:59 p.m. Hong Kong time, while S&P's 500 Index futures gained 0.4%. Japan's Topix Index climbed 1.9% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index
European equities advanced to the highest level in over a five years as the Fed decided to keep its monetary policy intact. U.S. Index futures and Asian stocks soared. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index climbed 0.9% to 316.19 as of 11:39 a.m. London time, while the S&P's 500 Index futures added 0.5% and the MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 2.2%.
The Sterling dropped the most in a month against the greenback after a report indicated U.K. retail sales dropped unexpectedly in August. The Pound weakened 0.5% to $1.6068 as of 10:08 a.m. in London, the most since August 22. The British currency slid 0.8% to 84.40 pence per Euro. The 10-year British government bonds lost 0.15 percentage point to 2.85%,
Global stocks advanced to a five-year peak and metals skyrocketed on the Fed's unexpected refrain from tapering. Corporate creditworthiness soared to a two-year best level. The MSCI All-Country World Index rose 1.2% as of 6:25 a.m. New York time, while S&P's 500 Index futures gained 0.5%. Meanwhile copper advanced 2% and WTI oil added 0.6%
Microsoft Corp., one of the leading software developers in the world, announced on Wednesday a 22% surge in dividend for the second quarter of 2013. Thus, Microsoft will pay its shareholders $0.28 per share, 5% more than for January-March. Company regularly pays dividend since year 2004. Microsoft Corp. stocks were trading 0.64% higher to $33.14 on Wednesday at 15:00 GMT
Inequality in the United States continues to expand, even though the economic crisis has passed its bottom point. According to the Census Bureau data, nowadays 15% of all Americans still live in poverty, and from 2007 this rate increased by 2.5%. Moreover, statisticians point out that since 1967 median income for wealthy U.S. citizens increased by 67%, but for middle
American governmental agencies and departments are preparing for a possible temporary closure, as Congress still did not approved the next financial year's budget, which starts on October 1. Moreover, the most important problem remains the debt ceiling that will hit its maximum value of $16.7 trillion in the middle of October, but Congressmen still cannot reach agreement on this issue.
Current government of Germany is going to invest more than 2.5 billion euro from budget money to support green energy and slow the climate change. This amount of money is planned to be spent by 2017. The idea of creating the energy fund is a part of country's 550-billion euro program to become the nuclear-free, closing all nuclear power plants
Portugal government issued new bonds on Wednesday with a maturity of 18 months, borrowing as much as 750 million euros. The average yield reached 2.293%, the highest since November 2011, when the government issued the similar bonds with a yield of 2.99%. Moreover, just three months ago investors asked for 1.6% in interest. Economists explain the higher rates by recent
George Osborne, the U.K. Chancellor of Exchequer, defends the high-speed rail project in the country that can possibly boost the economic growth and employment in Britain. The new rail link, which is planned to be built from the capital to Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds, will cost around 43 billion pounds. It is expected the construction to be started in 2017
The Pound advanced to eight-month high versus the Dollar and Euro as BoE minutes indicated that officials find additional monetary stimulus unnecessary as the economy improves. Sterling gained 0.4% to $1.5964 as of 1:44 p.m. in London following a growth to $1.5980, while gaining 0.4% to 83.62 pence per common currency after achieving 83.53 pence.
Soybeans dropped for a fourth consecutive day in Chicago amid speculation that weather forecast for U.S. Midwest will increase crop outlooks following recent dry weather. November delivery soybeans slid 0.4% to $13.37 per bushel as of 7:42 on the Chicago Board of Trade after the oilseed gained 6.8% from the end of June. December delivery corn was stable at $4.54
The Yen traded almost at its highest in two weeks versus the U.S. Dollar, backed by technical buying, while traders await the FOMC meeting outcome released later today. The Japanese currency added 0.2% to 98.94 Yen per Dollar at 10:06 a.m. GMT, while gaining 0.25% to 132.10 Yen per Euro but dropping to 157.99 Yen against the Pound.
West Texas Intermediate soared after decreasing for four days before Fed decision about bond purchases. Futures advanced 1.1% and crude stocks fell by 1.2 million barrels to 359 million last week. October delivery WTI gained $1.15 to $106.57 per barrel on New York Mercantile Exchange, while November settlement Brent added 5 cents to $108.24 per barrel on London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange.