Stories for March 6th 2008
Colombian assessing impact of trade loss with neighbors
Colombia is assessing the economic impact of the current diplomatic conflict with Ecuador and Venezuela which represented 9 billion US dollars in trade last year and a significant boost for the country's economic expansion.
Hard times for some of Europe's leading financial institutions
Some of Europe's leading banks are also facing problems as a consequence of the downfall from the US credit crisis and for having possibly breached US rules banning banks from doing business with countries on a terrorist blacklist.
France's biggest retail bank Credit Agricole made a loss in the last three months of 2007, hit by a hefty charge at its Calyon investment banking arm.
McCain ready to take Hillary-Obama or Obama-Hillary ticket
Encouraged by her big primary victories Hillary Clinton hinted on Wednesday at the possibility of sharing the United States Democratic presidential ticket with Barack Obama as vicepresident hopeful. But Obama stressed that he still holds the lead in number of delegates.
Conflict with the US is “inevitable” warns President Chavez
Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez said on Wednesday that a conflict with the government of United Sates is “inevitable” since it has consistently supported economically “the oligarch states of Latinamerica” that are not interested in the equality of peoples.
OPEC freezes oil output and blames US for high crude prices
OPEC accused the United States on Wednesday of economic “mismanagement”, which it said is pushing oil prices to new record highs and rejected calls to increase output. Oil prices surged for the first time past 104 US dollars a barrel after OPEC's announcement and a US government release showing a surprise drop in crude stockpiles.
Euro zone and UK leave interest rates unchanged
The European Central Bank (ECB) kept interest rates unchanged at 4% on Thursday as concerns about inflation persist. Earlier in London the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee adopted a similar decision keeping interest rates on hold at 5.25%.
