Uruguay economy braces for growth

Besides its long-standing political and juridical stability, the richness of its natural resources and the high social and educational level of its inhabitants, a sustained process of economic growth experienced in recent years has turned Uruguay into the “jewel of the region”. The Oriental Republic of Uruguay, a small country located in the south east…

Autonomy sees upside to 2011 EPS consensus

British software firm Autonomy said it was confident there was upside for earnings consensus for 2011, even after organic growth slowed in the third-quarter as some contracts were delayed. The company, whose software searches and organises unstructured information such as emails, phone conversations, documents and video, reported a 10 percent rise in revenue to $211m,…

Japan questions South Korea G20 leadership over FX

Japan has called into question South Korea’s leadership of the Group of 20 forum because of Seoul’s interventions to stem the won’s rise and insisted its own currency action was qualitatively different. “As chair of the G20, South Korea’s role will be seriously questioned,” Yoshihiko Noda told a parliamentary panel when asked about South Korea’s…

GM posts gain amid still-slow US auto market

General Motors Co posted an annual sales gain of 10.5 percent in September amid evidence that the U.S. auto market remained stuck in a slow-moving recovery at the start of the fourth quarter. GM was the first of the major U.S. automakers to report sales for the month. Analysts and industry executives expect auto sales…

Iraqi banks need $10bn in three years

Iraq has signed multi-billion deals with oil firms to boost output capacity to 12 million barrels a day in seven years. This could give Iraq the money to rebuild after decades of war, sanctions and economic degradation, opening opportunities to the banking sector in financing projects. Today, Iraqi banks are hardly lending to private companies…

Switzerland scrambling to keep wealth crown

Switzerland, at risk of losing its crown as the world’s top wealth management hub to Singapore, is seeking a deal on billions of dollars of untaxed money hidden at its banks, under pressure from cash-strapped foreign nations. Last year Europe and the US, hungry for tax revenues after numerous bank bailouts, forced Switzerland to weaken…

Nikkei up on window dressing, yen clouds outlook

The Nikkei average clawed up 0.7 percent on Wednesday on window-dressing before the end of Japan’s financial first half, but it pared earlier gains as the yen’s strength revived and resistance held strong. An additional boost came from a poor December outlook in the Bank of Japan’s “tankan” survey of business sentiment, which some market…