Economy

• Saturday, January 28th 2012 - 09:56 UTC

  Argentina has “phenomenal” tight natural-gas prospects and “explosive output” is forecasted

  

  Exxon Mobil Corp and Americas Petrogas Inc have “phenomenal” tight natural-gas prospects in Argentina and expect “explosive” output growth in 5 years, said Guimar Vaca Coca, managing director of Americas Petrogas.

• Saturday, January 28th 2012 - 09:44 UTC

  US economy expands 2.8% in fourth quarter but with too much inventory building

  

  The US economy grew at its fastest pace in one and a half years in the fourth quarter of 2011, but a strong rebuilding of stocks by businesses and a slower pace of spending on capital goods hinted at softer growth early this year.

• Saturday, January 28th 2012 - 07:13 UTC

  Drought in Argentina and Brazil cuts significantly corn crops’ volumes

  

  Corn advanced heading for the biggest weekly gain in five as concerns that a renewed heat wave in Argentina and south Brazil may damage crops boosted demand for US grain. Soybeans were little changed.

• Friday, January 27th 2012 - 11:05 UTC

  Moody’s raises Uruguay’s credit rating to Ba1, one level below investment grade

  

  Uruguay’s credit-rating outlook was raised on Thursday to positive by Moody’s Investors Service, which cited the government’s commitment to keeping its budget deficit in check.

• Friday, January 27th 2012 - 10:55 UTC

  Proposing financial transaction tax now is “simply madness”, says PM Cameron

  

  United Kingdom’s Prime Minister David Cameron urged the European Union to take a “bold and decisive action” to curb the economic crisis hovering over the Euro Zone and also described the plan for a financial transaction tax as “simply madness”.

• Thursday, January 26th 2012 - 19:12 UTC

  Soros says German-driven austerity plans could splinter the European Union

  

  Billionaire investor George Soros said that German-driven austerity plans in Europe risk creating tensions that could splinter the region as it struggles with a debt crisis entering its third year.

• Thursday, January 26th 2012 - 05:28 UTC

  Fears UK economy might have entered a mild recession at the end of 2011

  

  Britain's economy may have entered a mild recession in the last three months of 2011, hampering the government's core policy aim of spurring growth and raising the chances that the Bank of England will inject more cash soon.

• Thursday, January 26th 2012 - 05:22 UTC

  Japan posts first annual trade deficit in more than 30 years

  

  Japan has announced its first annual trade deficit in more than 30 years, a setback for a country known for its exports including cars and electronics. The deficit came in at 2.49 trillion yen (32bn dollars) for 2011, the finance ministry said.

• Thursday, January 26th 2012 - 05:11 UTC

  Global crisis reaches Argentina’s shores “but we are going to have a good year”

  

  Argentina’s Economy Minister Hernán Lorenzino admitted on Thursday that the global economic crisis has had an impact on the country but nevertheless “we are going to have a good year”.

• Thursday, January 26th 2012 - 05:02 UTC

  As demands pile up, Venezuela requests to leave World Bank arbitration court

  

  Venezuela’s government officially requested this week to leave the World Bank’s arbitration court as demands pile up from abroad for compensation following a decade of nationalizations under President Hugo Chavez.