Ways to protect taxpayers from bearing the cost of any future banking crisis will top the agenda at a meeting of European Union finance ministers on Tuesday. European Union finance ministers are set to discuss the possibility of introducing a levy on banks and whether a tax on financial transactions can deal with another banking [...]
A Gallup poll out this week finds, among 100 nations surveyed, a very strong correlation between religiosity and poverty. Richer countries in general are less religious. But that doesn’t hold true for the United States. Sixty-five percent of Americans say that religion is an important part of their daily lives. That is compared with just [...]
Irish budget data for the first eight months of 2010 published on Thursday showed commentary suggesting Ireland was in “fiscal jeopardy” was wrong, Finance Minister Brian Lenihan said on Thursday. “Our forecasts have held up,” Lenihan told public television RTE. “The financial administration of the country is on target,” he added. Speaking on RTE’s Six [...]
Japan’s finance minister said Wednesday the government must take proper steps against the rising yen if necessary, although he left it unclear whether he is considering conducting market intervention. “We must take appropriate action when necessary,” Yoshihiko Noda told reporters at the Ministry of Finance, following the dollar’s drop overnight to a 15-year low of [...]
With renewed economic uncertainty, American investors have withdrawn a staggering $33.12 billion from stock market mutual funds so far this year. Now many are choosing investments they deem safer, like bonds. If that pace continues, more money will be pulled out of these mutual funds in 2010 than in any year since the 1980s, with [...]
The European Commission has said that Greece has met the conditions to receive the second tranche of a 110bn-euro ($145bn; £91bn) rescue loan. “We are not asking Greece to make additional spending cuts,” Commission spokesman Amadeu Altafaj said on Friday, clarifying the conclusions of a Commission communication to EU finance ministers. In total, Greece will [...]
The job market’s slow recovery was a bit uneven last month, the Labor Department’s report on state employment showed Friday. Eleven states now have double digit unemployment rates. A number of other states are close. Nevada set a new series high at 14.3% and now has the highest state unemployment rate. Michigan held the top [...]
Lending standards are showing signs of easing, according to a Federal Reserve bank survey. It’s getting easier to get a new credit card for the first time in three years. For the first time in four years, banks have loosened lending standards for small businesses. Domestic survey respondents reported having eased standards and most terms [...]
The IMF has asked Malaysia to take “decisive” action on reforms under a model program aimed at revamping a controversial four-decade-old affirmative action policy. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announced in March a ‘New Economic Model’ or NEM, aimed at reforming elements of the policy favouring the country’s majority ethnic Malays in a bid to [...]
Germany’s economy expanded at the fastest pace since reunification in the second quarter, blowing past market expectations and reaffirming the nation remains the growth engine of Europe. German gross domestic product grew 2.2 percent in the second quarter, the biggest gain since reunification, driven by investment and exports, the Federal Statistics Office said on Friday. [...]
