A housing bubble? Imbalanced economic recovery? These were only the main topics among economists during the last year, as they expressed their concerns about the future prospects of the U.K. economy.
The U.S. Senate has confirmed Janet Yellen as the next Chairman of American central bank, with 56 senators voting in favour of her appointment.
The shared currency has lost some ground versus its major peers on Tuesday following a report from the Eurostat, showing inflationary pressure retreated further away from the ECB official target in December, raising concerns the region is still struggling to grow.
On January 1, 2013 the USD/CAD was traded around 0.9927 and one year after the pair was hovering above 1.07.
For most of the last year, the focus of financial markets was clearly set on debates whether the Fed will start tapering its stimulus programme, the questionable strength of the world's second largest economy as well as when and how the Eurozone will emerge from its longest-ever recession.
Following a positive 2013 year, where each economic report suggested the central bank will start raising interest rates sooner than it was planned, this year starts on a negative note, as activity in key services sector slowed to a six-month low in December.
It was not easy for Ben. It took him and his team several tries to boost growth in the world's largest economy. Finally, Ben Bernanke comes to the end of his impressive tenure as the U.S. central bank Chairman.
The single currency was little changed against the U.S. Dollar on Monday after the release of the fundamental data from Europe, while the pair inched higher after better-than-expected inflation data from Germany, and disappointing services PMI in the United States.
Many positive outlooks for economic growth of Canada in 2014, which have been supported by a better than expected performance in the third quarter of last years along with a recovery of the global economy overall, might be overoptimistic.
A gauge of Swiss economic activity rose for a ninth straight month in December, bolstering the view the economy may further gather steam going forward, according to the data from the KOF Institute.
U.K. mortgage approvals surged more than expected in November to the highest level in almost six years, indicating the property market continued to strengthen.
"The combination of financial healing, greater balance in the housing market, less fiscal restraint, and, of course, continued monetary policy accommodation bodes well for US economic growth in coming quarters" - Ben Bernanke, Fed ChairmanIn one of the final speeches Ben Bernanke, outgoing Fed Chairman, said that he was cautiously optimistic about the future of the U.S. economy, as headwinds
The number of people out of work in Spain declined by the most in 14 years, bolstering the view the country's jobs market is recovering.
British manufacturing activity rose at a slower pace than expected in December, clouding optimism about the nation's economic outlook.
The number of jobless claims in the world's largest economy fell last week to the lowest level in a month, as a typical year-end volatility waned.
Manufacturing activity in the Eurozone rose at its fastest pace in two and a half years in December; nevertheless, analysts are concerned that the data indicate a worrying divergence between core European economies.
Australia's credit growth was moderate in November, as consumers and businesses are still cautious to take on more debt.
The Bank of England's targeted unemployment rate at 7% might be reached in 2014, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development said.
U.S. consumer confidence rose more than expected in December amid better outlook for job gains and overall growth, reinforcing the view that the nation's economy is set to accelerate in 2014.
Starting from January 1, 2014 Latvia becomes the 18th member of the Eurozone, the second former Soviet state to join the currency bloc, after Estonia.
Canadian consumers have become more confident than a year ago, buoyed by optimism that jobs are more secure and real estate prices will increase.
"Even if we take a somewhat rosy view of how the economy will develop over the next few years the number of households severely exposed to debt looks as though it will double" - Matthew Whittaker, the senior economist at the Resolution Foundation John Cridland, director general of the CBI, the U.K.'s main business lobby group, believes that too many Britons
According to the Centre for Economics and Business Research, the U.S. economy will remain the world's largest until 2028, as China's rise to the world's number one economy will be much slower than initially expected, largely due to relative slowdown of China's economy and strong economic performance of the U.S. China's gross domestic product will increase to $35,513 billion in
French President Francois Hollande's controversial "millionaire's tax" has finally received an approval from the country's highest court, saying that the proposal by the Socialist President was in line with the law.