The US economy expanded as expected in the fourth quarter while personal income grew at a much faster pace than previously thought, according to the Commerce Department final estimate released Thursday.
A US judge threw out claims by bondholders on up to 2.21 billion dollars of Argentine funds held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, but criticized the country’s “continued intransigence” in refusing to pay creditors holding defaulted debt.
The Argentine Ambassador to the US, Jorge Argüello, assured on Wednesday that despite reactions to trade barriers put up this week by the US to Argentina, there was “nothing to worry about” regarding the relationship between the countries.
The US government said on Tuesday that their recent decision to suspend Argentina from the Generalized System of Preferences, GSP, program, which waives import duties on thousands of goods from developing countries “is a serious bump in the road”, but “should not come as much of a surprise.”
President Cristina Fernández questioned US president Barack Obama’s recent decision to suspend trade benefits for Argentina, while complaining that “we can’t even manage to get one of our lemons to enter the US market.”
Global stocks rallied on Monday while the dollar retreated after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said that in order to reduce unemployment, easy monetary policy should stay in place. The benchmark S&P 500 index closed at its highest level since May 2008.
Buenos Aires released a statement on Monday regretting US President Barack Obama's decision to suspend Argentina from the US Generalized System of Preferences program, which waives import duties on thousands of goods from developing countries.
Jim Yong Kim, the US nominee to lead the World Bank, will win broad international support despite an unprecedented challenge by candidates from emerging economies, US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said in an interview.
The US administration of President Barack Obama is loosing its patience with Argentina and in coming days is expected to finalize special tariff benefits for certain Argentine exports.
The United States has nominated a public health expert of South Korean origin as its candidate for the World Bank presidency, a job emerging market economies are contesting for the first time.