Economy

• Thursday, July 22nd 2010 - 09:10 UTC

  Outlook of US economy remains “unusually uncertain” says Bernanke

  

  US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke has warned that the outlook for the US economy remains “unusually uncertain”. In testimony before the Senate Banking Committee, Mr Bernanke said record low interest rates would still be needed to support economic recovery.

• Wednesday, July 21st 2010 - 05:49 UTC

  BP sells assets in US, Canada and Egypt to pay clean up bill

  

  British Petroleum is to sell assets in Texas, Canada and Egypt, to part-fund the clean-up cost of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The oil giant said it had reached a 7 billion US dollars deal with US-based oil production firm Apache Corp.

• Tuesday, July 20th 2010 - 04:07 UTC

  China buys controlling stake of New Zealand milk processor

  

  Bright Dairy & Food Co., a unit of Shanghai’s biggest food company, agreed to buy a controlling stake in Synlait Milk Ltd., a New Zealand milk processor planning to double capacity at its South Island plant.

• Tuesday, July 20th 2010 - 03:37 UTC

  US Fed names list of chairs with no representatives from financial services

  

  There are no representatives of the banking or financial services industry on the list of chairs and deputy chairs designated by the United States Federal Reserve Monday to serve on the boards of the 12 regional Fed banks for 2011.

• Tuesday, July 20th 2010 - 03:35 UTC

  Moody’s cuts Ireland’s credit rating; warns of slow recovery

  

  Risk rating agency Moody’s cut on Monday Ireland's credit rating, warning the country faces a slow climb out of recession as the cost of a rescue of its banking sector mounts.

• Monday, July 19th 2010 - 04:24 UTC

  Positive sustained growth prospects for Latin America in 2010, forecasts IMF

  

  The Latin American economy could grow by as much as 5% this year, more strongly than previously expected (4%), driven by Brazil's vigorous expansion, according to a senior International Monetary Fund official.

• Monday, July 19th 2010 - 04:21 UTC

  Portugal, Ireland, Greece, Spain, the Euro and now Hungary: who’s next?

  

  The IMF and EU suspended a review of Hungary's funding program, set up in 2008 to save the country from financial meltdown, saying it must take tough action to meet targets for cutting its budget deficit.

• Monday, July 19th 2010 - 04:14 UTC

  China promises Germany’s Merkel support for the Euro

  

  Chinese Premier, Wen Jiabao, has said that China will continue to invest in European markets, despite the debt problems affecting many Euro zone countries. He was speaking in Beijing alongside the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel. She described his pledge as an important signal that China has confidence in the Euro.

• Monday, July 19th 2010 - 02:45 UTC

  EU almost free of ‘mad-cow’ plans to soften 1996 regulations

  

  The nightmare of BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalitis – or Mad Cow Disease) is mercifully almost forgotten in the EU now. In total almost 200,000 cases of BSE were discovered in the EU. But there were only 67 cases last year and those were in very old animals probably infected many years ago.

• Monday, July 19th 2010 - 00:24 UTC

  Brazil to begin Mercosur talks with Dominican Republic

  

  Brazilian Foreign Trade Secretary Welber Barral flies Monday to Dominican Republic to promote bilateral and advance towards a road map for an agreement with Mercosur.