Economy

• Sunday, May 3rd 2009 - 12:10 UTC

  US bank failures in four months reach 32 compared to 25 in 2008

  

  Three more United States banks shut their doors Friday, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, bringing the total number of failures up to 32 in 2009. The first failure was a wholesale banking operator in Georgia that served 1,400 other lenders across the US, became the fifth biggest bank failure in terms of assets.

• Saturday, May 2nd 2009 - 10:19 UTC

  Uruguay faces critical energy situation because of insufficient rainfall

  

  Uruguay faces a serious energy situation in the coming months because of a record poor rainfall, revealed the National Energy Director Ramón Mendez. Most of Uruguay’s energy is hydroelectric, “which makes it cheaper, but also highly dependent on the climate”.

• Saturday, May 2nd 2009 - 10:13 UTC

  US car sales down but “Fusion” helps Ford increase market share

  

  United States car sales continued to struggle in April as cash-conscious consumers remained reluctant to buy new vehicles, and the industry faced turmoil. Chrysler saw a 48% drop in April sales from the same month a year ago, a day after seeking bankruptcy protection.

• Saturday, May 2nd 2009 - 09:55 UTC

  Panama Canal announces four-month rates reduction period

  

  Panama Canal Authority (ACP) has announced a temporary plan that will provide short-term cost reduction and greater flexibility to its Reservation System. The temporary measures, designed to help mitigate the impact of the economic crisis on the Canal's clients, were approved by the ACP Board of Directors earlier in the week, said spokesmen.

• Friday, May 1st 2009 - 00:28 UTC

  US government “surgical” bankruptcy of Chrysler warning for GM

  

  President Barack Obama said Thursday that Chrysler will file a historic bankruptcy shortly, backed by up to 3.5 billion US dollars in new government aid designed to allow a Chrysler-Fiat partnership to emerge from court in 30 to 60 days.

• Thursday, April 30th 2009 - 23:33 UTC

  Europe’s unemployment highest in three years: 20 million jobless

  

  Europe’s unemployment rate rose to the highest in more than three years with 20 million jobless in March and inflation held at a record low, increasing pressure on the European Central Bank to take steps to tackle the worst recession in half a century.

• Thursday, April 30th 2009 - 12:35 UTC

  Brazil lowers basic interest rate to a record 10.25%

  

  Brazil’s Central Bank cut its benchmark interest rate Selic for a third-straight time to a record low of 10.25% as it seeks to prevent the sluggish economy from contracting further this year.

• Thursday, April 30th 2009 - 05:14 UTC

  Over 100 applicants for US Treasury plan to purchase toxic assets

  

  The United States Treasury Department revealed on Wednesday that over 100 applications have been received from firms seeking to manage the government program to help purchase toxic securities from banks. The US government is relying on private investors to purchase poorly performing real estate investments currently weighing on bank balance sheets.

• Thursday, April 30th 2009 - 05:11 UTC

  US economy contracts 6.1% in first quarter of 2009; exports plunge

  

  The US economy continued to contract in the first quarter of 2009, led by the biggest fall in exports for 40 years. US GDP contracted at an annualised rate of 6.1% during the quarter, little improvement on the 6.3% fall in the last three months of 2008.

• Thursday, April 30th 2009 - 04:44 UTC

  Fed sees recession easing and reiterates expansion of money supply

  

  The US Federal Reserve has kept interest rates on hold at its current range of between zero and 0.25% and has suggested the recession may be easing. It also said it would continue with its “quantitative” current approach of purchasing long-term government debt to expand money supply.