Argentina’s attempts to return to global credit markets nine years after its 2001/02 default received this week mixed results. New York Federal Judge Thomas Griesa has issued a ruling urging Argentina to pay 54.33 million Euros (US$75.1 million) to the Capital Ventures International Fund.
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff will discuss with her U.S. counterpart Barack Obama ways to counteract the threat posed by an undervalued Yuan and cheap imports from China, a Brazilian official said.
The US economic recovery still needs help from the Federal Reserve despite signs of improvement, the central bank's chairman Ben Bernanke said.
France and the U.N. food agency FAO warned on Friday about the risk of a new global food crisis and ensuing riots, calling for greater regulation to curb speculation on commodities markets.
The European Union Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht will travel next week to Paraguay and Uruguay to reinforce bilateral relations and to advance on the ongoing EU/Mercosur negotiations to reach an overall trade and cooperation agreement.
Copper hit a record price of 10,000 USD per ton on Thursday on the back of growing worldwide economic optimism and concerns about the impact of an Australian cyclone on stretched global supplies.
The world is going into a period of food volatility and supply disruptions due in part to weather related problems and a backdrop of rising prices, the UN World Food Program's executive director said.
The collapse of the Spanish property prices helped pull annual profit down 8.5% at the Euro zone largest bank Santander. Solid results from Brazil and Britain, which each account for more profit than Spain at the diversified bank, failed to calm fears about exposure to a stagnant domestic economy, struggling to shake off the worst recession in half a century.
Competition with top trading partner China is costing Brazilian industry valuable market share, the National Confederation of Industry (CNI) in South America's largest economy said on Thursday.
European Central Bank (ECB) has kept interest rates in the Euro zone unchanged at a record low 1%, despite fears of increasing inflation. Speaking at a press conference after the rate decision, the ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet claimed that inflation pressures remained contained.