Ireland has this banking advice for Spain: imagine the worst and double it. Like Ireland, Spain sought a bank bailout after being felled by a real-estate crash. Now, just as the Irish did, the Spanish are awaiting the results of outside stress tests gauging the size of the hole in the banking system.
Economics Nobel prize (2011) Thomas Sargent admitted feeling “ashamed” when some officials from the US government make recommendations to Europe, Spain and other countries on what policies they should adopt to climb out of the current crisis.
Germany's Angela Merkel regretted the lack of confidence among Euro leaders and warned against “mediocrity” as she stood firm against “growth quick fixes” to Europe's crisis.
The Brazilian economy contracted in April for the first time on an annual basis since September 2009, reinforcing economists’ expectations that Latin America’s largest economy will slow for a second consecutive year.
The Euro zone economy faces serious risks and no inflation threat, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said on Friday in comments that heightened expectations the ECB could cut interest rates or take other policy action soon.
US stock were modestly higher as optimism over a possible coordinated action by major world central banks if Sunday's Greek election causes financial turmoil was tempered by a weak reading on domestic manufacturing.
Fitch Ratings says a new round of adverse shocks centred on the Euro zone is slowing the fragile global economic recovery. In its latest quarterly Global Economic Outlook (GEO), Fitch forecasts real GDP growth of major advanced economies (MAE) to remain weak at 1.1% in 2012, before only a modest rebound to 1.7% in 2013 and 2.2% in 2014.
US consumer prices fell by 0.3% in May, the biggest monthly fall in more than three years, due largely to a sharp drop in petrol prices. Petrol prices fell 6.8%, while food prices were unchanged, the Labour Department said.
Chancellor Angela Merkel rebuffed pressure for Germany, Europe's most powerful economy, to underwrite debt or guarantee bank deposits in the euro zone.
India has invited companies from Brazil to invest in the country’s national infrastructure, manufacturing in Special Economic Zones and the food processing sector.