Japan’s finance minister said he would like to see price growth of one percent and urged the Bank of Japan to cooperate in beating deflation, putting fresh pressure on the central bank for more action to support a fragile economy. BOJ Governor Masaaki Shirakawa said the central bank was willing to cooperate, but he offered…
The Indian government’s first full-year budget since its resounding re-election may signal that increasing populism and ruling coalition infighting will triumph over policies to liberalise the economy and cut record borrowing. This could be the year for India. The world is looking for motors of growth in Asia, the $1.2trn Indian economy is recovering faster…
Europe’s post-recession recovery has hit a roadblock as German economic growth unexpectedly ground to a halt in the final quarter of 2009, though France made up for some of the damage. The news comes at a hard time for Europe’s single currency bloc as governments struggle to sort out Greece’s debt difficulties and contain financial…
The term non-correlated asset class covers a whole range of potential investments, including venture capital, real estate, private equity and commodities, as well as other alternative investment strategies. In today’s economy of crashing public equity markets, defaulting hedge funds and non-existent real estate plays, one company believes investing in film slates, including theatrical distribution, offers…
US mortgage foreclosure filings dropped in January but the decline may prove only temporary as housing-rescue efforts fall short of addressing current drivers, a report released on Thursday showed. Foreclosures are by far one of the biggest threats to the US housing market, which remains highly vulnerable to setbacks and heavily reliant on government intervention….
A nine-month interim agreement went into force provisionally at the start of February but deputies from the assembly’s Liberal, Socialist and Green groups opposed it on the grounds it failed to protect the privacy of EU citizens. Washington will now have to seek other ways to access information on money transfers in Europe until it…
The firm, which has about eight percent of the global market and capacity some three times greater than nearest rival Nippon Steel, said it expected core profit or EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) of between $1.8 and $2.2bn in the first quarter. The figure compared with an average forecast in a Reuters…
Additional criminal charges have been filed against Galleon hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam as prosecutors alleged he and his co-defendant reaped $49m from illegal insider trading, up from an earlier claim of $40m. In the parallel civil case against Rajaratnam and co-defendant Danielle Chiesi, a judge ordered the two defendants to turn over wiretaps to…
European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet is cutting short a trip to Australia to attend a special EU summit, prompting market speculation initiatives are in the works to help resolve Greece’s debt problems. EU heads of state are due to meet this week in Brussels for a special summit on the economy under pressure to…
But measures to support troubled institutions will need to be unwound carefully to avoid distorting competition, the WTO said in a restricted report to members, dated February 3. “The financial crisis does not seem to have prompted a widespread introduction of trade restrictions in financial services,” said the report by the WTO secretariat, prepared at…
