The crisis now gripping world financial markets should be less serious than that of 1929, Nobel Prize laureate Joseph Stiglitz said on Monday because new monetary and fiscal instruments could prevent a Great Depression.
Bank of America is to buy Merrill Lynch in a deal worth 50 billion US dollars that will create a new financial giant. The deal came amid a hectic weekend on Wall Street, with Lehman Brothers announcing that it would file for bankruptcy protection.
Executives at United States investment bank Lehman Brothers are racing to meet a deadline of Sunday night to find a new owner for the troubled bank, the BBC has learned.
The impact of Spain's housing market crash has a new chapter: construction company Sacyr Vallehermoso SA is considering selling its 20% stake in oil major Repsol-YPF, as it struggles with a sinking property market and soaring financial costs, according to an announcement released Friday by Spain's Markets Commission, CNMV.
Brazil confirmed that the 2007/08 was the greatest grain and oilseed crop ever, 143.8 million tons. The Ministry of Agriculture said it was 9.2% above the previous season and could further increase when the final volumes of the northeast second corn harvest are completed.
US investment bank JP Morgan said the expected deceleration in Argentina will have an impact for the performance of neighboring Uruguay's economy, according to reports published in the Montevideo press.
The Brazilian Monetary Policy Committee (Copom) of the Central Bank (BC) raised the base interest rate (Selic) by 0.75 percentage point, from 13% to 13.75% a year. This is the fourth consecutive hike in Selic and the highest is almost two years.
United Kingdom is forecasted to fall into recession by the end of the year alongside Spain and Germany after a sharper than expected slowdown, the European Commission has predicted.
A senior United Nations food agency official on Thursday predicted a bumper harvest of cereal crops in Russia and Ukraine for this year and said the region possesses significant untapped agricultural potential.
Rising oil prices swelled the United States trade deficit in July to its widest level since March 2007, according to the latest government figures. The trade deficit widened to 62.2 billion US dollars from an upwardly revised estimate of 58.84 billion in June.