Economy

• Thursday, September 3rd 2009 - 10:08 UTC

  US loss of jobs slowing but unemployment still above 9.5%

  

  A report from a private researcher in United States established that August saw US employers cut the smallest number of jobs in nearly a year. ADP reports 298,000 non-government jobs were cut during August, which is considerably less than the prior month (360.000).

• Thursday, September 3rd 2009 - 10:06 UTC

  Fed pleased with latest data but US recovery is still fragile

  

  Federal Reserve policymakers were increasingly pleased by signs of improvement in the US economy but added that the recovery is still fragile, according to the minutes of their most recent meeting.

• Thursday, September 3rd 2009 - 07:10 UTC

  China first to buy 50 billion USD in IMF bonds

  

  China has agreed to buy the first International Monetary Fund bonds for about 50 billion dollars, the IMF said Wednesday. IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn and the deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China, Yi Gang, signed the agreement in Washington.

• Wednesday, September 2nd 2009 - 13:16 UTC

  Unemployment in Punta Arenas remains the lowest in Chile: 4.6%

  

  Magallanes in the extreme south of Chile remains as the region with the lowest unemployment in the country, 4.4% according to the latest release from the regional branch of the Statistics Office.

• Wednesday, September 2nd 2009 - 07:49 UTC

  China confirms stimulus and credit policies to prop economy

  

  Chinese top leaders reaffirmed on Tuesday the country’s stimulus program and easy credit policy following one of the worst monthly performances of the Shanghai and Shenzhen markets fearing recovery efforts could be loosing steam.

• Wednesday, September 2nd 2009 - 07:41 UTC

  Euro zone record in July: 15.1 million jobless

  

  Unemployment in the 16-member Euro zone hit a 10-year high in July, data released Tuesday showed. EU statistics office Eurostat said that another 167,000 people were unemployed in the Euro zone during July, pushing the jobless rate up to 9.5% from 9.4% in June which takes the total to 15.1 million people.

• Wednesday, September 2nd 2009 - 07:35 UTC

  IATA: air transport sector a “disaster”; airlines set to loose 9 billion USD

  

  ”The global situation of the air transport sector is a disaster” said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s Director General and CEO in a speech to JURCA, the association of airlines operating in Argentina.

• Wednesday, September 2nd 2009 - 07:16 UTC

  Penny-saving Brits in July pay back more than they borrow

  

  The amount of debt Britons owe fell for the first time since records began during July, figures show. People repaid £635 million more than they borrowed during the month, reducing outstanding lending to £1.456 trillion.

• Wednesday, September 2nd 2009 - 07:09 UTC

  Scrappage program boosts Ford, Toyota and Honda sales in the US

  

  US car sales responded positively to the government's 3 billion US dollars “Cash for Clunkers” program, led by a 17% sales jump at Ford and higher sales from Japan auto makers Toyota and Honda. However General Motors, Chrysler and Nissan still reported lower sales.

• Tuesday, September 1st 2009 - 12:28 UTC

  Chile launches trucks’ scrappage plan to boost economy and fight pollution

  

  The Chilean government will subsidize the purchase of more fuel-efficient trucks for citizens through a program set to start later this year. The program, called “Cambia tu Camión,” or “Change your Truck,” will offer a bonus of 4, 8 or 12 million pesos (7.200, 14.500 or 21.700 US dollars respectively), toward the purchase of a new, more fuel efficient car, with the trade-in of a truck over 25 years old.