October inflation in Argentina jumped 0.7% reaching 6.6% so far this year, while wholesale prices increased 0.9% and 12.7% in the last ten months according to the official release from Statistics and Census Institute.
Amid protests from farmers' organizations, Argentina increased taxes on exports of soybeans, corn and wheat an average of five percentage points to boost government revenue from surging crop prices and limit domestic food inflation.
Mercosur will request this week before the World Trade Organization, WTO, a 16% expansion in the number of sensitive industrial goods to be excluded from the consolidated tariff expected to be agreed during the Doha Round negotiations, which to all practical effects will mean an overall drop in external tariffs for out of the region imports.
Oil prices have risen to a record high above $97 a barrel, amid concerns over tight fuel stocks and a weak US dollar.
The chairman and chief executive of the Citigroup bank, Charles Prince, has resigned and will be replaces by former US Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin it was announced.
The United States bank Merrill Lynch said that CEO Stan O'Neal had retired with immediate effect, in a move that followed intense media speculation following calls for his departure after the firm was forced to admit a 7.9 billion US dollars exposure to bad debt.
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani became the richest person in the world, surpassing American software czar Bill Gates, Mexican business tycoon Carlos Slim Helu and famous investment guru Warren Buffett, courtesy the bull run in the stock market.
Magallanes in the extreme south of Chile remains as the region with the lowest unemployment in the country, 3.2% in the July-September quarter. This is considerably less than Chile's 7.7% national average or Greater Santiago's 8%.
China has raised fuel prices by almost 10% in an effort to ease the country's worsening supply crisis. Officials hope the extra revenue will make refiners increase production, easing the long queues and rationing at filling stations.
World markets plunged on Thursday amid renewed fears about the credit crisis, sending shares in finance firms sharply lower. On Wall Street the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed more than 360 points or 2.6%, after two leading banks were downgraded earlier in the day.