With high prices for soy and corn, which are spurring growers to plant more, the Brazilian fertilizer industry expects a record volume sales year. However fertilizers high cost could have an impact for some crops.
Anglo-Australian BHP Billiton has made a big discovery near its Escondida copper mine in Chile and has announced plans to spend 327 million US dollars to shore up the resource and two others nearby as it looks to extend the life at the world's biggest copper mine.
Moscow and Tokyo top the list of the world's most expensive locations for the third year running, according to the annual report from consultants Mercer which considers 143 cities all over the world. Asunción in Paraguay figures as the less expensive place to live.
Brazil's central bank raised interest rates by 75 basis points to 13% on Wednesday, lifting borrowing costs for the third time in four months in a bid to prevent resurgent inflation from undermining economic growth.
Productive investment and exports have been behind the sustained growth of the Uruguayan economy since the crisis of 2002, according to Fernando Lorenzo head of the Macroeconomic and Financial Advisors Office from the country's Ministry of Economy.
European cities dominate the worldwide rankings of locations with the best quality of living, according to Mercer's 2008 Quality of Living survey. Zurich retains its 2007 title as the highest ranked city followed jointly by Vienna (2), Geneva (2), then Vancouver (4) and Auckland (5).
The Euro is overvalued, while the US dollar's decline has brought it closer to its medium-term equilibrium in a decade, according to a top official from the International Monetary Fund.
President George W Bush has explained the credit crunch savaging United States financial markets by saying Wall Street got drunk.
United States says it is ready to cut its trade-distorting farm subsides to 15 billion US dollars a year in a bid to reach a global trade deal that could help boost the world economy.
Wheat, corn and soybean prices eased at the start of the week on news of favorable crop weather in the US and Europe along with Argentina's decision to repeal the export tax hike.