Economy

• Monday, April 11th 2011 - 05:07 UTC

  China posts surprise quarterly trade deficit of 1.02 billion USD, first in six years

  

  China on Sunday reported a surprise quarterly trade deficit of 1.02 billion US dollars, the first in six years as it settles to rebalance its export oriented economy to boost domestic consumption in the next five years.

• Saturday, April 9th 2011 - 07:56 UTC

  Oil prices surge to a 2.5 year high on concerns about supply and the dollar

  

  Oil prices have surged to a two-and-a-half-year high on concerns about supply and a weaker dollar. Brent crude topped $126, while US crude was at $112.79.

• Saturday, April 9th 2011 - 07:55 UTC

  US Congress reaches agreement on budget deal to fund government

  

  United States congressional leaders have agreed on a budget deal to fund the US government for the rest of the fiscal year, just before a midnight deadline. It will reportedly cut 39 billion USD from the budget over last year's levels between now and 30 September.

• Friday, April 8th 2011 - 23:30 UTC

  Brazil’s Real at a new high; investors brush aside government measures

  

  Brazil’s currency climbed again on Friday trading at its best levels in more than two years, as investors brushed aside another Brazilian government measure to limit credit consumption in an attempt to tame inflation.

• Friday, April 8th 2011 - 23:26 UTC

  Argentina promotes meat production with subsidized loans

  

  Argentina plans to extend the equivalent of 750 million US dollars in subsidized loans to meat producers to spur increased production of beef, chicken and pork.

• Friday, April 8th 2011 - 22:45 UTC

  Peru/Mexico sign trade agreement, fist step for a regional expansion towards Asia

  

  Peru and Mexico signed this week a trade agreement with the aim of jointly reaching out to Asia, an undertaking that they want Chile and Colombia to join

• Friday, April 8th 2011 - 22:41 UTC

  Chinese think-tank forecasts BRIC countries to overtake the US economy by 2015

  

  BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) are expected to contribute one-third of the world's GDP increase in 2015, by which time their total economy will surpass United States, according to a leading Chinese think tank.

• Friday, April 8th 2011 - 22:10 UTC

  Shell moves heavily into bio-fuels from sugar cane bagasse in Brazil

  

  Royal Dutch Shell Plc, the world’s biggest distributor of bio-fuels, is shifting research to waste from sugar-cane farming after ending an algae project in Hawaii. Shell, Iogen Corp. and Codexis have been researching enzymes to produce cellulose ethanol from wheat stalks and sugar-cane bagasse, a sugar industry waste product.

• Friday, April 8th 2011 - 20:08 UTC

  Argentina imports’ hurdles create ‘uncertainty’ to EU/Mercosur trade negotiations

  

  Argentina’s hurdles to imports don’t help European Union /Mercosur trade negotiations and generate “uncertainty” warned the EU head of delegation in Argentina Alfonso Diez Torres. He also criticized the “one to one” Argentine policy that forces the local assembly plants to match every import-dollar with export dollars.

• Friday, April 8th 2011 - 20:06 UTC

  US military Unified Command Plan reflect the growing importance of the Arctic

  

  Changes made to the US military’s Unified Command Plan shift geographic boundaries and stress the growing importance of the Arctic, US Pentagon officials said in an American Forces press service