Economy

• Thursday, February 10th 2011 - 23:24 UTC

  Bank of England at a crossroad leaves interest rates on hold at 0.5%

  

  Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has kept UK interest rates on hold at 0.5%, and unveiled no new quantitative easing (QE) measures.

• Thursday, February 10th 2011 - 23:06 UTC

  Japan’s public debt and fiscal deficit “unsustainable” warns IMF

  

  The weight of Japan's public debt, the highest in the world, is unsustainable in the medium and long term warned this week Naoyuki Shinohara, Deputy Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund.

• Thursday, February 10th 2011 - 22:42 UTC

  “Currencies war”, new challenge for EU/Mercosur trade agreement

  

  The European Union Trade Commissioner Karen De Gucht anticipates a full trade agreement with Mercosur will be reached in a “short time” given the negotiations “unusual” speed but also cautioned about new challenges such as currencies over or under appreciation.

• Thursday, February 10th 2011 - 07:02 UTC

  Brazil poised for another record crop of soybeans: 69/70 million tons

  

  Brazil could harvest a record crop of 70 million tons of soybeans in 2011 because of improved climate conditions and expansion of the area planted according to Hamburg based Oil World consultants.

• Thursday, February 10th 2011 - 06:39 UTC

  Uruguay has the highest per capita milk consumption: 230 liters annually

  

  Uruguay has the highest per capita consumption of milk in Latin America averaging between 225 and 230 liters. This compares favorably with Argentina’s 220 liters, Brazil’s 110 and Chile’s 100.

• Thursday, February 10th 2011 - 06:22 UTC

  NYSE Euronext and Deutsche Boerse announce merger proposal

  

  Two of world's leading exchanges, Deutsche Boerse and NYSE Euronext, are in advanced talks about a merger. The deal would create the world's biggest stock exchange firm by revenue and profits and would be jointly based in New York and Frankfurt.

• Thursday, February 10th 2011 - 05:55 UTC

  London and Toronto tie-up plan to create world’s largest mining and energy stock market

  

  The London Stock Exchange is to buy Canada's TMX to claw back lost market share and create the world's fourth-largest bourse trading 4.1 trillion US dollars of stock a year.

• Thursday, February 10th 2011 - 05:50 UTC

  Bernanke warns US job creation too weak and calls for budget discipline

  

  US unemployment remains too high for policymakers' comfort despite signs of strength in the economic recovery, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said. In testimony to the US House of Representatives' Budget Committee that largely echoed a speech he delivered last week, Bernanke also warned about the dangers of unsustainable budget deficits.

• Thursday, February 10th 2011 - 01:06 UTC

  Hong Kong residential property the “most expensive in the world”

  

  The Global Cities Survey, published by Savills PLC, reported last week that Hong Kong residential property is now the most expensive in the world. Based on the property price index contained in the survey, residential property in Hong Kong is 55% more expensive than property in London.

• Thursday, February 10th 2011 - 00:54 UTC

  Chile extends foreign exchange market intervention program to tame strong peso

  

  The Chilean central bank announced Tuesday it would maintain the pace of a 12 billion US dollars foreign exchange intervention to tame the strong peso between Feb. 9 and March 8, and continue to buy 50 million of US currency daily.