The Chilean peso hit a new four-month high on Wednesday, driven higher as banks and pension funds sold dollars to buy local bonds, while stocks retreated ahead of a likely aggressive central bank rate cut.
The US trade deficit fell to the lowest level in nearly six years in December as the recession depressed demand for imports. US Commerce Department said Wednesday that the deficit in December fell 4% to 39.9 billion US dollars from 41.6 billion in November.
The US budget deficit widened more than economists forecast in January as spending soared and corporate tax receipts shrank, putting the Treasury on course for a record annual shortfall of more than one trillion USD.
The global slowdown have influenced estimates of the Panama Canal Authority, CAP, which now forecasts a 5% drop in cargo tonnage going through the waterway in 2008-2009. This represents a decrease close to 19.9 million tons, leaving a total of 294.1 million.
Bad weather, violent conflict and volatile market prices could force a drop off in the global production of cereal crops this year, the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) predicted Thursday after already warning that some one billion people worldwide are going hungry.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has unveiled a comprehensive bank bail-out plan worth at least 1.5 trillion US dollars. Under the plan, the size of a key Federal Reserve lending program will be expanded to 1 trillion from 200 billion.
Visiting Argentine president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and Spanish president Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, admitted on Tuesday difficulties in the economic relations but emphasized that bilateral relations are excellent.
China's exports fell more than expected in January, down 17.5% from a year earlier, while imports plunged 43.1%, , as China's economy continued to be hit by the global economic slowdown.
The former head of risk at Britain's HBOS, who claimed he was sacked for warning about the bank's too-rapid growth, has said he stands firmly and confidently behind his allegations.
United Kingdom jobcentres were said to be creaking under the pressure of work as new figures showed unemployment surging to a 10-year high. The jobless total reached 1.97 million, confounding many experts who had predicted it would break through the two million barrier.