Economy

• Sunday, August 2nd 2009 - 11:46 UTC

  Number of failed banks in the US reached 69 so far this year

  

  United States banks in New Jersey, Ohio, Florida, Oklahoma and Illinois were shut, pushing the toll of failed US lenders to 69 this year. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation was named the receiver of the five banks, the regulator said in e-mailed statements.

• Sunday, August 2nd 2009 - 11:42 UTC

  Cuba faces harder times; Castro willing to talk with US about everything

  

  Cuban President Raul Castro said he remains ready to talk about everything and anything with the United States but that Cuba’s political system was not on the negotiating table.

• Sunday, August 2nd 2009 - 11:40 UTC

  China expected to recover strongly in second half of 2009

  

  China's economy would continue to recover from the world financial crisis in the latter half and expand at the rate of 8.5% for the whole year, said a report from the Bank of Communications on Sunday.

• Saturday, August 1st 2009 - 17:28 UTC

  British Airways reports £148m loss but cuts debt

  

  British Airways (BA) reported a larger-than-feared loss this morning, but provided some joy for investors after revealing that traffic was starting to stabilise and debts were falling.

• Friday, July 31st 2009 - 12:30 UTC

  Japanese rating agency upgrades Uruguay’s debt to stable BB

  

  The Japanese Rating and Investment agency has upgraded Uruguay’s debt rating from BB- to BB with a stable outlook according to the latest release this week. This is two slots below investment grade and recognized among other factors the light public debt service burden until 2011.

• Friday, July 31st 2009 - 06:58 UTC

  Brazilian interest rates forecasted to remain unchanged until end of 2009

  

  Brazil’s monetary policy makers said the benchmark interest rate (8.75%) is at a level that will spur economic growth without sparking inflation, signalling that they are prepared to keep borrowing costs unchanged through the end of the year.

• Friday, July 31st 2009 - 04:07 UTC

  Chilean copper industry recovers and regains over half lost jobs

  

  The Chilean mining industry has regained more than half of the jobs lost in the recent recession and is anticipating further growth, spurred in large part by a growing value for copper, according to the latest numbers from the Minister of Mining.

• Friday, July 31st 2009 - 03:32 UTC

  Spanish Central bank warns about budget deficit and market confidence

  

  The Spanish economy contracted 0.9% in the second quarter of the year, an improvement over the 1.9% fall of the previous quarter but still 4% below the same quarter a year ago, according to the latest release from the Central Bank.

• Thursday, July 30th 2009 - 14:02 UTC

  The US dollar to remain as world’s reserve currency says IMF chief

  

  The US dollar is likely to remain as the world’s reserve currency said on Wednesday International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn interviewed by France 24 television.

• Thursday, July 30th 2009 - 06:36 UTC

  Unemployment in metropolitan Santiago down to 11.9%

  

  A report released by the University of Chile placed the unemployment rate of Santiago’s greater metropolitan area at 11.9%. The number marks a nearly one percentage point decrease from March, when the unemployment rate climbed to 12.8% in the metropolitan area.