Economy

• Friday, August 26th 2011 - 03:41 UTC

  US weekly jobless claims up; fears of slowdown conditions labour market

  

  Initial US weekly jobless claims surged to 417,000 last week, dimming hopes of an imminent recovery in the jobs market, the US Labour Department said Thursday.

• Friday, August 26th 2011 - 03:22 UTC

  Mercosur/Israel trade deal comes into effect following Argentina’s signature

  

  A free trade agreement between Israel and Argentina is set to come into effect on September 9, the Israeli Industry, Trade and Labour Ministry announced this week.

• Friday, August 26th 2011 - 03:08 UTC

  Warren Buffett comes to the rescue of Bank of America

  

  US billionaire Warren Buffett's company Berkshire Hathaway has announced it is investing 5 billion dollars in Bank of America. News of the famous investor's move sent Bank of America's shares up by 25%, before moving back to 10% ahead.

• Friday, August 26th 2011 - 02:52 UTC

  Mining companies agree to pay Peru an extra billion dollars annually

  

  Peru has reached an agreement with mining companies that will raise the industry’s annual payments to the government to about one billion dollars, the government said on Thursday, fulfilling a campaign promise by President Ollanta Humala.

• Thursday, August 25th 2011 - 06:47 UTC

  Unasur agrees to greater economic coordination but remains divided on Libya

  

  Union of South American Nations, Unasur, Foreign Affairs ministers agreed Wednesday in Buenos Aires to increase economic coordination and send monitoring missions to regional elections but could not reach a common position on the Libyan situation.

• Thursday, August 25th 2011 - 06:28 UTC

  Argentine steel group Techint begins arbitration proceedings against Venezuela

  

  Steel giant Tenaris, a member of the Argentine group Techint, said on Wednesday that it initiated arbitration proceedings against Venezuela following the nationalization of steelmaker Matesi.

• Thursday, August 25th 2011 - 06:13 UTC

  Growing dissent in German government over ECB purchase of sovereign bonds

  

  The German president has fueled concerns of a split in Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats after he criticized a move by the European Central Bank to resume buying Italian and Spanish sovereign bonds.

• Thursday, August 25th 2011 - 00:34 UTC

  Uruguay expects smallest wool clip in over a hundred years: 32 million kilos

  

  Uruguay is facing its smallest clip in over a hundred years and the 2011/2012 season’s wool production is estimated to be limited to 32 million kilos according to Joaquin Martinicorena, president of the Uruguay’s Wool Secretariat, SUL.

• Thursday, August 25th 2011 - 00:09 UTC

  Uruguay’s textile industry could have to import 20 million kilos of wool

  

  Uruguay’s textile industry is short of wool and could be forced to import up to 20 million kilos, revealed Uruguayan Wool Secretariat (SUL) CEO Gabriel Capurro during the opening of an ovine industry seminar, organized by the country’s Corriedale breeders association.

• Thursday, August 25th 2011 - 00:00 UTC

  Brazilian government comes to the rescue of giant meat corporation JBS SA

  

  Brazilian meat giant JBS S.A. has announced that BNDES (Brazilian Development Bank) converted a large amount of JBS debt into equity, boosting the bank’s shareholdings in the company to 30.4% from 17% previously.