Economy

Friday, October 31st 2008 - 20:00 UTC
Argentina reacts angrily to S&P debt rating downgrade

Argentina Economy Ministry sources reacted angrily to a debt ratings downgrade by Standard & Poor's on Friday saying it was “another mistaken decision”. S&P downgraded Argentina's foreign-currency rating to “B-” from “B”.
Thursday, October 30th 2008 - 20:00 UTC
Heavy fine on BT for fixing MoD phone calls

BT has been forced to pay the UK Ministry of Defence £1.3m in compensation after some of its staff met call-answering targets by phoning each other. The Audit Commission found they fixed figures to help the company avoid fines for not answering calls quickly enough.
Thursday, October 30th 2008 - 20:00 UTC
IMF announces 100 billion emergency fund; Argentina out

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is creating an emergency fund for emerging market economies to help them weather the global credit crisis. The Group of 24 developing countries, which includes nations from Latin America, Asia and Africa, had requested such a development earlier this month.
Thursday, October 30th 2008 - 20:00 UTC
Fed swap lines with Brazil, Mexico, South Korea and Singapore

The US Federal Reserve agreed on Wednesday to provide 30 billion US dollars each to the central banks of Brazil, Mexico, South Korea and Singapore, expanding its effort to unfreeze money markets to emerging nations for the first time.
Thursday, October 30th 2008 - 20:00 UTC
US economy shrinks 0.3%; crisis effects reaching jobs market

The United States economy shrank at an annualised rate of 0.3% between July and September, according to figures from the Commerce Department. GDP figures were better than expected, although they show the sharpest contraction of the economy since 2001.
Thursday, October 30th 2008 - 20:00 UTC
Brazil leaves rates unchanged in spite of inflation fears

Brazil's central bank left the basic SELIC rate unchanged for the first time in six months on Wednesday. The Copom monetary council led by Henrique Meirelles voted unanimously to keep the benchmark interest rate ”for the moment'' at a two-year high of 13.75%.
Thursday, October 30th 2008 - 20:00 UTC
Argentine bank stabilizes Peso but uncertainty prevails

Argentina's peso closed Thursday trading at 3.39 to the US dollar, similar to Wednesday when the Central bank intervened with a billion US dollars in support of the local currency to stem a two-week slide sparked by concern the country will default.
Thursday, October 30th 2008 - 20:00 UTC
Favourable 2009 beef export prospects for Brazil and Argentina

Beef exports are forecast to rise nearly 2% during 2009 as gains by Brazil, Argentina and the United States outweigh downturns in Australian and New Zealand shipments according to the US Cattle network
Thursday, October 30th 2008 - 20:00 UTC
Chile's stock market looses 9.57% in Oct.; Peso down 26% in 08

Chile's stock market climbed 1.93% on Thursday but finished the turbulent October 9.57% down. As with most global markets Chile's bounced back following on a better performance in Wall Street and the Sao Paulo Bovespa index.
Thursday, October 30th 2008 - 20:00 UTC
EU business and consumer confidence falls to 15-year low

Business and consumer confidence in the 15 nations of the Euro zone fell to a 15-year low in October, the European Commission said Thursday, as a credit crunch hits consumer spending and forces companies to shed jobs.