The United States economy lost 247,000 jobs in July, far fewer than analysts had expected, official figures show. With fewer workers being laid off, the unemployment rate fell to 9.4%, down from 9.5% in the previous month, the first drop since April 2008.
China's job outlook remains very grave and could deteriorate further, a senior official has said. The government is under enormous pressure to create jobs, said Wang Yadong at the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security
Germanys’ carmaker BMW has said it sees few signs of a lasting economic recovery after it reported profits down by three-quarters for the April to June period. Net profit was 121 million Euros, down 76% from a year ago, with car sales down by nearly a fifth.
Chilean winemakers nearly swept an international wine contest in July, winning all but a few accolades at the event. The contest, Vinalies Cata d’or América Latina 2009, was held at the Hyatt Hotel in Santiago The competition, put on by Italy, Spain and Portugal, as well as Brazil, Uruguay and Bolivia.
The European Central Bank (ECB) has said on Thursday it expects to see growth returning to the global economy next year as it kept interest rates on hold at 1%. However economic activity is likely to remain weak this year.
The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee decided on Thursday to maintain the official bank rate paid on commercial bank reserves at 0.5% and voted to boost the money supply with an additional £ 50 billion to £ 175 billion to aid the flagging UK economy. The announced program is expected to take another three months to be completed.
Argentina's car and car part manufacturers will travel to Venezuela next week to attempt to capitalize on Venezuela decision to cancel imports from neighboring Colombia. The trade mission will be led by Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, the Production Minister said in a press release Wednesday.
Lloyds Banking Group which has been partly nationalized by the British government blamed soaring bad debt charges of £13.4 billion on reckless lending at HBOS, but predicted the worst is over.
The Chinese government is to introduce a new pension scheme for the country's hundreds of millions of rural workers. The minister for social security announced that a trial scheme would be extended across China by October.
President Lula da Silva said that Brazil is climbing out, and strengthened, from the deep global financial crisis and underlined that “Brazil is now advising the International Monetary Fund, IMF”.