Economy

Friday, January 9th 2009 - 20:00 UTC
US unemployment 7.2%; 08 job losses highest since 1945

More US workers lost jobs last year than in any year since World War II, with employers axing 2.6 million posts and 524,000 in December alone. The US jobless rate rose to 7.2% in December, the highest in 16 years according to the US Labor Department release.
Thursday, January 8th 2009 - 20:00 UTC
Bank of England cuts rates to lowest in 315 year history

Bank of England on Thursday cut interest rates to 1.5%, the lowest level in its 315-year history, as it continues efforts to aid an economic recovery. The half percentage point reduction brings interest rates below 2% for the first time since the Bank of England was founded in 1694.
Thursday, January 8th 2009 - 20:00 UTC
Brazil expects lower corn and soy crop because of drought

Brazil's crops of corn and soybean has been downgraded from previous forecasts because of the persistent drought in the southern states, said on Thursday the country's Ministry of Agriculture.
Wednesday, January 7th 2009 - 20:00 UTC
Women's clothing icon Viyella goes into administration

Britain's women's clothing firm Viyella, which dates back to 1784, has become the latest well-established retail firm to call in administrators. There has been speculation for days that the future of the company, one of the UK's longest established clothing manufacturers, was uncertain.
Wednesday, January 7th 2009 - 20:00 UTC
Obama takes off with 1,2 trillion budget deficit, 8.3% of GDP

The sharp slowdown in the US economy will push the federal budget deficit to more than one trillion US dollars, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) announced Wednesday. The 1.186 trillion USD deficit for the fiscal year ending on 30 September would be the largest on record.
Wednesday, January 7th 2009 - 20:00 UTC
Uruguay, Peru, Brazil best performing economies

Brazil's economy, Latin America's largest, will likely end 2008 with an expansion of 5.9%, according to new estimates from the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
Wednesday, January 7th 2009 - 20:00 UTC
Accounting fraud (Enron style) rocks Indian markets

A four-day relief rally on India's stock market ended abruptly on Wednesday after the chairman of Satyam Computer Services Ltd resigned with a confession of accounting fraud in India's biggest corporate governance scandal.

Satyam's shares collapsed 78%, leading the bellwether Sensex index on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) down 7.3%.
Tuesday, January 6th 2009 - 20:00 UTC
Chile's December inflation negative; twelve months, 7.1%

Consumer inflation in Chile during December was negative, 1.2%, the lowest since 1996, helping the overall consumers' prices index (CPI) to close 2008 at 7.1%, according to the latest release from the country's Statistics Institute, INE.
Tuesday, January 6th 2009 - 20:00 UTC
Japan's Toyota to halt production 11 days in its 12 factories

Toyota is to halt production at all 12 of its Japanese factories for 11 days in February and March as it tries to reduce its stock of unsold cars. It had already announced a three-day halt for January, but before that it had not cut production since 1993, when it did so for one day.
Tuesday, January 6th 2009 - 20:00 UTC
With inflation under control, Euro rates cut forecasted

The Euro has slipped against the pound and the dollar as expectations rise that the European Central Bank will cut interest rates again on 15 January.