Economy

• Wednesday, February 25th 2015 - 04:38 UTC

  German court rules against Argentina on bonds' interest payments

  

  Argentina lost a ruling at Germany’s top civil court over interest payments on bonds it sold to investors in the European country that don’t have terms that allow for restructuring by a majority vote of creditors, according to a report from Bloomberg at Karlsruhe.

• Wednesday, February 25th 2015 - 04:33 UTC

  HSBC reports 17% fall in annual pretax profit; 3.7bn provision for settlements and fines

  

  HSBC reported a 17% fall in annual pretax profit and cut its profitability target, saying allegations its Swiss business had helped customers to dodge taxes had brought shame on the bank. Results from Europe's biggest bank reflected the cost of past misconduct and of protecting itself against the impact of further scandals.

• Wednesday, February 25th 2015 - 04:23 UTC

  HSBC singles Brazil, Mexico and U.S. as 'problem areas': 12/24 months to prove their worth

  

  HSBC singled out three large markets in the Americas, Brazil, Mexico and the U.S., as problem areas in which its businesses need to shape up or face restructuring, including possible asset sales. “We're talking of 12 to 24 months”.

• Tuesday, February 24th 2015 - 04:46 UTC

  Brazil expects to bolster growth with fiscal discipline starting 2016

  

  Brazil needs to act quickly to stabilize its finances and get rid of measures used to stimulate growth during the global downturn in order to bolster expansion in 2016, Finance Minister Joaquim Levy said on Monday.

• Tuesday, February 24th 2015 - 04:03 UTC

  Argentine 50-Peso bill in March dedicated to “Malvinas Islands. A sovereign love.”

  

  Argentina's Central bank will make available next March the new 50-peso bill paying tribute to Argentina’s sovereignty over the resource-rich archipelago, under the slogan “Malvinas Islands. A sovereign love.”

• Saturday, February 21st 2015 - 05:17 UTC

  Argentina suggests Judge Griesa to remove Pollack, since he favors 'holdouts'

  

  Argentina's Economy minister Axel Kicillof suggested on Friday that no negotiation is possible with the holdout funds as long as 'special master' appointed by US Judge Thomas Griesa continues in his post, since ”he clearly favors 'vulture funds' (holdouts)”.

• Friday, February 20th 2015 - 05:05 UTC

  UK inflation 0.3% in January on cheaper petrol and food prices

  

  The rate of UK Consumer Prices Index inflation fell to 0.3% in January, its lowest level since records began. Cheaper petrol and lower food prices, helped by a supermarket price war, cut the rate from 0.5% in December, Office for National Statistics figures show.

• Friday, February 20th 2015 - 05:00 UTC

  Negative inflation in France adds to Euro-zone stagnation and deflation fears

  

  Inflation in France, the Euro zone's second-biggest economy, was negative in January for the first time in more than five years, the national statistics agency said on Thursday.Prices declined by 0.4% in January compared to the same month last year, INSEE said, noting that France has not seen negative inflation since October 2009.

• Friday, February 20th 2015 - 04:34 UTC

  Fed latest minutes indicate “patience” prevails before a rise in interest rates

  

  Officials at the United States Federal Reserve are unlikely to raise interest rates soon, the latest minutes from the bank's January meeting have revealed. Policymakers worried about lower-than-expected inflation as well as slow wage growth in the US economy, the world's largest.

• Thursday, February 19th 2015 - 06:02 UTC

  GeoPark scales down operations in Magallanes because of falling oil prices

  

  Oil company GeoPark which operates in Magallanes, extreme south of Chile, reiterated its commitment and long term investment in the region but also announced the redundancy of 30 staff, first time in twelve years, because of a restructuring of the company to the new global oil industry scenario.