Economy

• Tuesday, November 6th 2012 - 06:25 UTC

  Spain breaks another unemployment record in October; 52% for the under 25

  

  The number of job seekers in Spain soared to the highest level in at least 16 years in October, the Labour Ministry reported on Monday. As recession deepens the number of officially unemployed jumped by 128,242 people in October which means about 4.83m people were jobless at the end of last month, an increase of 2.7% on September.

• Tuesday, November 6th 2012 - 06:20 UTC

  US group prepares to take over debt-laden Spanish chain NH Hotels

  

  Spain's NH Hoteles has received a preliminary offer from US private equity firm KKR to buy bonds that can be converted into shares of the debt-laden hotel chain. NH Hoteles, Europe's third largest business hotel operator based on rooms, has long been tipped as a private equity target given its large debt and that of its savings bank shareholders, which together own nearly a third of the firm.

• Tuesday, November 6th 2012 - 00:40 UTC

  Landmark case in Australia rules against S&P for “misleading and deceptive” products

  

  Standard & Poor's lost a landmark case in Australia over top-flight ratings given to financial products that collapsed in the build-up to the 2008 global economic crisis. The Federal Court of Australia on Monday ruled that S&P AAA rating of constant proportion debt obligation notes created by banking giant ABN AMRO and sold to the councils of 13 Australian towns had been “misleading and deceptive”.

• Monday, November 5th 2012 - 13:45 UTC

  G20 puts the US ‘fiscal cliff’ as the biggest short term threat to global growth

  

  The leading world economies pressed the United States on Sunday to act decisively to avert a rush of spending cuts and tax hikes, warning that the so-called ‘fiscal cliff’ is the biggest short-term threat to global growth.

• Monday, November 5th 2012 - 13:02 UTC

  Argentina calls on G20 for global action against ‘predatory’ actions from ‘vulture funds’

  

  Argentine Economy Minister Hernán Lorenzino called for developed countries to set limits to ‘vulture funds’ and credit rating agencies as “promoters of the global crisis,” as he addressed the G20 Finance Ministers meeting in Mexico on Sunday.

• Sunday, November 4th 2012 - 06:40 UTC

  Argentina private sector increasingly isolated from foreign money markets

  

  Earlier in the week Standard & Poor’s ratings services lowered to ‘B-’ from ‘B’ its unsolicited long-term sovereign credit rating on Argentina and on Friday the ratings agency said it is taking a similar rating actions on four Argentine banks and 16 Argentine corporations.

• Sunday, November 4th 2012 - 06:37 UTC

  Argentine farmers claim floods are delaying sowing and threaten expected 2012/13 boom crop

  

  Fourteen million hectares are affected by floods in Argentina’s prime farm land provinces and the presence of water jeopardizes the harvest of grains, according to farming sector leaders.

• Sunday, November 4th 2012 - 06:24 UTC

  Argentina to blast ‘vulture funds’ at the G20 ministerial meeting in Mexico

  

  Argentine Economy Minister Hernán Lorenzino and Central Bank Governor Mercedes Marcó del Pont are leading the country’s delegation in the technical G20 meeting in Mexico, where they are expected to insist on the government’s criticisms against ‘vulture funds’ and credit rating agencies.

• Saturday, November 3rd 2012 - 04:20 UTC

  IMF top marks for Uruguay’s economy but beware of inflation and wage indexation

  

  An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission headed by Ulric Erickson von Allmen visited Uruguay from October 22 to November 2 to conduct the country’s annual Article IV consultation. At the conclusion of the visit, Mr. Erickson von Allmen division chief in the IMF’s Western Hemisphere Department issued the following statement in Montevideo:

• Saturday, November 3rd 2012 - 04:03 UTC

  Bank of England governance ‘defective’ with ‘centralized and hierarchical’ structure

  

  Governance of the Bank of England is “defective”, according to the chairman of the Treasury Committee following the publication of three independent reviews into the Bank's performance. Andrew Tyrie said the reviews were too little, too late.