Economy

• Friday, May 18th 2012 - 16:43 UTC

  JPMorgan admits billions of losses from flawed trading strategy with derivatives

  

  The US mega-bank JPMorgan Chase & Co loss from derivatives trading may widen to 5 billion dollars, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. CEO Jamie Dimon personally approved the strategy that led to the trades, without monitoring how they were executed, the newspaper said.

• Friday, May 18th 2012 - 16:41 UTC

  UN independent experts call on EU to adopt a global financial transaction tax

  

  A group of United Nations independent experts called on the European Union (EU) to take the lead in promoting the adoption of a global financial transaction tax that would offset the costs of the current economic crisis and protect basic human rights.

• Friday, May 18th 2012 - 16:36 UTC

  “Let’s face it: the old (economic) model is broken: we need to create a new one”

  

  United Nations senior officials stressed the importance of establishing a new paradigm for growth that ensures social inclusiveness, job opportunities for all, and more accountability from the financial sector to tackle the ongoing global economic crisis.

• Friday, May 18th 2012 - 09:41 UTC

  Argentine former central bank chief anticipates “de facto devaluation”

  

  A former Argentine central bank president warned that if the economy follows on the current course, a “de facto devaluation” is round the corner because of the growing gap between the official and parallel exchange rates for the US dollar.

• Friday, May 18th 2012 - 09:39 UTC

  Brazil closely following events in Venezuela because of Chavez condition

  

  Brazilian Foreign Affairs minister Antonio Patriota revealed that Brasilia is following closely the situation in Venezuela because of the medical condition of President Hugo Chavez, to whom he sent a message of quick recovery.

• Friday, May 18th 2012 - 09:34 UTC

  Billionaire Buffet now believes in print media and buys 63 newspapers

  

  Billionaire Warren Buffett's company is making another foray into US newspapers, agreeing to buy 63 newspapers from Media General Inc for 142 million dollars.

• Friday, May 18th 2012 - 09:31 UTC

  Moody’s cuts credit ratings of 16 Spanish banks and four regions

  

  Ratings agency Moody's has cut the credit ratings of 16 Spanish banks, a further blow to a country that is struggling to deal with the bad debts of its banking sector. It also cut the debt rating on Santander UK, a subsidiary of the Spanish banking giant.

• Friday, May 18th 2012 - 09:24 UTC

  Chile leaves basic rate unchanged at 5% for the fourth month running

  

  Chile’s central bank kept its key interest rate unchanged at 5% for a fourth consecutive month as surging domestic demand and deterioration in the global economy leave little scope to change monetary policy.

• Friday, May 18th 2012 - 03:58 UTC

  Brazil passes bill to challenge embedded culture of secrecy and bureaucracy

  

  A freedom of information law has taken effect in Brazil, challenging an embedded culture of secrecy and bureaucracy. Proponents, including President Dilma Rousseff, said the measure is nothing short of a revolution for a system that has kept tight control over information for decades.

• Thursday, May 17th 2012 - 21:24 UTC

  Spain supports EU/Mercosur trade accord on a “region to region” basis respecting WTO rules

  

  Spain’s Foreign Affairs minister Jose Garcia Margallo said that Madrid supports negotiations for a free trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union on a “region to region” basis, back stepping from his proposal last April to exclude Argentina following the seizure of YPF from Repsol.