Economy

• Friday, March 17th 2017 - 21:55 UTC

  Unemployment in Argentina falls to 7.6%: less people looking for jobs

  

  Argentina's unemployment rate fell to 7.6% in the fourth quarter of 2016, the government's Indec statistics agency said in a report on Thursday, down from 8.5% in the third quarter as thousands of people stopped looking for work.

• Friday, March 17th 2017 - 07:38 UTC

  Macri administration faces unions' first general strike scheduled for April 6

  

  Argentina's largest union announced a one-day general strike on April 6, increasing pressure on President Mauricio Macri's conservative government six months before mid-term congressional elections. The CGT says Macri's policies, including austerity measures like reducing subsidies on fuel and electricity, are resulting in lower real salaries and lost jobs.

• Friday, March 17th 2017 - 07:15 UTC

  Bank of England cautiously leaves interest rates at the record low of 0.25%

  

  The Bank of England (BOE) held interest rates at the record low level of 0.25% and maintained asset purchases at £435 billion on Thursday. The decision, which was made by an 8-1 majority, had been almost unanimously anticipated by central bank watchers with many expecting the BOE to choose caution until more clarity emerges on the Brexit process and the U.K. economy's capacity to manage outside of the European Union.

• Friday, March 17th 2017 - 06:27 UTC

  UK government rejects Scottish independence referendum: “now is not the time”

  

  The UK government is to reject calls for a Scottish independence referendum before Brexit after Theresa May said “now is not the time”. The prime minister said the focus should be on getting the best Brexit deal for the whole of the UK.

• Thursday, March 16th 2017 - 12:12 UTC

  Temer coalition determined to pass major pension reform despite street protests

  

  Brazil's president Michel Temer and senior lawmakers were unwavering in their support for a major pension reform on Wednesday despite nationwide protests against the proposal and the dramatic expansion of a graft probe threatening the ruling coalition.

• Thursday, March 16th 2017 - 12:06 UTC

  Fed raises interest rate by a quarter of a point: second time in three months

  

  U.S. Federal Reserve raised interest rates on Wednesday for the second time in three months, a move spurred by steady economic growth, strong job gains and confidence that inflation is rising to the central bank's target. The decision to lift the target overnight interest rate by 25 basis points to a range of 0.75% to 1.0% marked a convincing step in the Fed's effort to return monetary policy to a more normal footing.

• Wednesday, March 15th 2017 - 07:56 UTC

  Two US airlines cancel flights to Cuba: excess of capacity

  

  On Monday, two US airlines announced that they have plans to cancel their flights to Cuba, one of which is Fort Lauderdale-based Silver Airways, whose representatives said they had made the “difficult but necessary” decision to cancel its services to Cuba from April 22.

• Wednesday, March 15th 2017 - 07:12 UTC

  Trump furious: media leak shows he paid US$ 38m in tax on income of US$ 150m in 2005

  

  US President Donald Trump paid US$38m in tax on more than US$150m income in 2005, a leaked tax return shows. Two pages of the tax return were revealed by US TV network MSNBC, triggering an angry response from the White House, arguing that publishing the tax return was illegal.

• Wednesday, March 15th 2017 - 06:38 UTC

  Mercosur expects to sign a trade deal with the EU by year end taking advantage of Trump's isolationism

  

  Mercosur expects to sign a framework accord this year for a trade deal with the European Union as the U.S. shift to isolationism under President Donald Trump encourages it to look outside the hemisphere for opportunities, Brazil's foreign minister Aloysio Nunes said on Tuesday.

• Tuesday, March 14th 2017 - 21:28 UTC

  Is a second OPEC cut on the Cards?

  

  OPEC's coordinated effort to curtail global supply has so far managed to put a floor under oil prices, which have been sitting modestly above US$50 since the deal was announced at the end of November last year. But resurging U.S. shale has been capping the upside, and Brent has not breached US$58 per barrel. Analysts and experts are now mostly predicting that oil prices will remain below US$60 this year.