Economy

• 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.

• Wednesday, February 9th 2011 - 23:20 UTC

  Riding on commodities boom, Peruvian exports reached 35 billion USD in 2010

  

  Peruvian exports in 2010 reached 35 billion US dollars, up 30% from 2009, said Foreign Trade and Tourism minister Enrique Ferreyros. He also pointed out in nine years the number of Peruvian companies involved in exporting jumped from 4.086 to 7.200 and markets from 155 to 178 markets.

• Wednesday, February 9th 2011 - 20:55 UTC

  Brazilian January inflation highest since April 2005

  

  Brazilian officials say inflation in January was the highest monthly jump in almost six years. The government's IBGE statistics bureau said that January inflation was 0.83%, the biggest monthly jump since April 2005, when inflation was 0.87%.

• Wednesday, February 9th 2011 - 20:42 UTC

  Brazil to trim budget and fight inflation by eliminating all 2009 stimuli

  

  Brazil announces 50 billion Real (30 billion US dollars) cuts from this year’s budget as President Dilma Rousseff seeks to help the central bank contain inflation and lower some the world’s highest real interest rates.

• Wednesday, February 9th 2011 - 19:59 UTC

  Uruguay solid candidate for “investment grade” rating says JP Morgan

  

  Uruguay is considered a solid candidate to obtain “investment grade” given its strong economic fundamentals and these same factors make the country’s bonds issued in indexed units, UI, an attractive investment, according to a report from the investment bank JP Morgan published in the Montevideo press.

• Tuesday, February 8th 2011 - 19:53 UTC

  Australia natural disasters costs forecasted to wipe growth in two quarters

  

  Floods in Australia have dragged business conditions particularly in Queensland to depths not seen since the global financial crisis, according to a local analysis that offered a more pessimistic view than the government’s assessments.

• Tuesday, February 8th 2011 - 19:47 UTC

  In less than a decade Asia will account for 65% of all vehicles sold

  

  India is likely to take the fourth position in the global automotive market by 2015, according to a study conducted by Booz & Co. Currently that spot is held by Brazil, another emerging market, which is likely to give India a challenge.