Economy

• Saturday, December 5th 2015 - 06:42 UTC

  Positive US jobs data paves the way for the Fed to raise interest rates

  

  US jobs growth remained solid in November as the economy added 211,000 jobs, slightly above expectations. The data, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, also showed the jobless rate held at its seven-and-a-half year low of 5%. Construction, food services and retail sectors all saw healthy job increases.

• Friday, December 4th 2015 - 07:25 UTC

  Dragui's fresh Euro stimulus measures don't convince markets

  

  The European Central Bank announced on Thursday fresh stimulus measures in a bid to boost inflation and the Euro zone’s recovery but the market response reflected disappointment. Mario Dragui said the bank was extending the quantitative easing program by six months, March 2017, or beyond if necessary, but at the current rate of 60 billion Euros a month.

• Friday, December 4th 2015 - 05:55 UTC

  Mercosur waiting for EU proposal; summit to be held at Conmebol convention centre

  

  Mercosur is waiting for the European Union to decide when to begin the exchange of tariff-reduction proposals with the purpose of reaching an encompassing trade and cooperation agreement, despite France's objections to the move, said Rigoberto Gauto, Paraguay's deputy foreign minister. Paraguay currently holds the Mercosur chair and leads negotiations with Brussels.

• Friday, December 4th 2015 - 05:33 UTC

  Uruguay could be heading to recession because of the government's political stalemate

  

  Uruguay faces seven conditions which are creating a complex scenario and if they are not modified by government, it's most possible the economy is heading for a recession, according to economist Juan Carlos Protasi, a former central bank president.

• Friday, December 4th 2015 - 05:23 UTC

  Uruguayan government unable to keep inflation below two digits

  

  Inflation in Uruguay during the first eleven months of 2015 was double digit, 10.04%, a figure which if confirmed by the end of the year, could trigger a rash of labor review demands from unions. According to the country's stats office INE, in November retail prices climbed 0.43%, and in the last twelve months reached 9.46%, ahead of October's 9.15%.

• Friday, December 4th 2015 - 05:07 UTC

  Agriculture can boost production by 40%/50% with measures announced by Macri's team

  

  Gustavo Grobocopatel, head of the agro-business Grobo group anticipated that with the measures announced by the team of president elect Mauricio Macri and to be implemented from next 10 December, Argentina's grains and oilseed crop “it going to increase by 40% to 50%”, meaning dollars for industry, jobs and services.

• Wednesday, December 2nd 2015 - 08:52 UTC

  RBS and Standard Chartered, weakest in Bank of England stress test

  

  Royal Bank of Scotland and Standard Chartered were the weakest of Britain's seven largest lenders in a Bank of England stress test. For the second year, the central bank has subjected the UK's biggest lenders to tests to measure whether they would survive a financial shock.

• Tuesday, December 1st 2015 - 08:11 UTC

  India outpaces China in economic growth boosted by domestic demand and manufacturing

  

  India's economic growth picked up in July-September, outpacing China on improving domestic demand and manufacturing activity, and the acceleration could persuade the country's central bank to keep interest rates unchanged at its Tuesday meeting.

• Tuesday, December 1st 2015 - 07:53 UTC

  Yuan joins the exclusive club of IMF's basket of reserve currencies

  

  The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has announced that China's currency, the Yuan, will join the fund's basket of reserve currencies. Currently just the US dollar, the euro, the yen and the pound are in the group.

• Tuesday, December 1st 2015 - 07:35 UTC

  Brazil's economy expected to further contract, according to the Central bank

  

  Analysts expect Brazil's economy to contract by 3.19% this year, with inflation hitting 10.38%, the Central Bank said Monday. GDP and inflation estimates come from the Boletin Focus, a weekly Central Bank survey of analysts from about 100 private financial institutions on the state of the national economy.