Economy

• Thursday, February 24th 2011 - 16:40 UTC

  Quake’s knock to NZ economy estimated in 9 to 12 billion US dollars

  

  The Prime Minister of New Zealand, John Key, says emergency teams in Christchurch are now focusing on recovering bodies, rather than finding survivors of the earthquake.
  He has confirmed that 98 people are known to have been killed in the recent earthquake, and more than 200 others are still missing.

• Thursday, February 24th 2011 - 07:44 UTC

  Boudou announces strong increase in government tax revenue and surplus

  

  Argentina’s primary surplus rose 103.7% and reached 2.1 billion Pesos (522 million US dollars) during January year-on-year, according to Economy Minister Amado Boudou. Tax revenue in January set a new record of 40.7 billion Pesos due to booming economic growth and rising inflation.

• Thursday, February 24th 2011 - 07:38 UTC

  Spanish fishing vessels abandon Montevideo because of costly labour demands

  

  Fifteen Spanish flagged fishing vessels will no longer operate in Montevideo because labour claims disputes with crew members can include vessel seizures or significant collateral deposits demands by the Uruguayan justice before they can return to sea.

• Thursday, February 24th 2011 - 07:16 UTC

  Nasdaq reacts to spate of deals in the stock markets industry

  

  Nasdaq OMX Group Inc could launch a rival bid for NYSE Euronext to avoid being left on the sidelines, a source said, as traditional exchanges race to merge to see off upstart electronic rivals.

• Thursday, February 24th 2011 - 07:06 UTC

  Argentina’s industrial output up 10.3% in January over a year ago

  

  Argentina’s industrial output climbed 10.3% during January compared to the same month in 2010, according to the Indec national statistics bureau. The volume reported was higher than the one expected by analysts, who had announced an 8.1 percent increase of the Industrial Monthly Estimator (EMI) in January.

• Thursday, February 24th 2011 - 06:55 UTC

  Mining companies increase investments in Chile in spite of rising costs

  

  Two major mining companies, Barrick Gold and Collahuasi, both plan to dramatically increase investments in their northern Chile gold and copper operations despite rising inflation and increased production costs.

• Thursday, February 24th 2011 - 03:35 UTC

  Moody cuts Japan’s credit rating to “negative” citing concern over debt levels

  

  Moody's Investor Services has cut its outlook on Japan's credit rating to “negative” from “stable” citing concerns about debt levels. Moody's currently rates Japan's government debt at an Aa2 level.

• Thursday, February 24th 2011 - 03:27 UTC

  Argentina insists trade restrictions “in no way represent an obstacle for Mercosur partners”

  

  Argentine Industry Ministry officials assured Wednesday that non-automatic licenses currently being applied to imports “in no way represent an obstacle for our Mercosur partners” and they have been implemented to monitor imports from outside the region.

• Thursday, February 24th 2011 - 00:16 UTC

  Airlines face “very serious challenge” because of soaring oil prices, says IATA

  

  Surging oil prices due to political turmoil in the Middle East spell “very, very big challenges” for airlines, said International Air Transport Association chief Giovanni Bisignani on Wednesday.

• Wednesday, February 23rd 2011 - 07:25 UTC

  Brazil’s Bovespa and Shanghai Stock Exchange sign link agreement

  

  The Shanghai Stock Exchange and Brazil's BM&F Bovespa signed this week an agreement that could lead to closer ties between the two. Bovespa said it was looking for cross-listing across both exchanges, although this would not happen immediately.