United States

• Saturday, July 27th 2013 - 20:13 UTC

  US largest bank moving out of the commodities business; Congress investigation

  

  New York-based JPMorgan, the largest US bank, said that it’s “pursuing strategic alternatives,” including the sale or spin-off of its commodities business, after an internal review. The statement came three days after a US congressional hearing investigated whether deposit-taking banks should be allowed to trade raw materials such as oil and industrial metals.

• Friday, July 26th 2013 - 05:48 UTC

  US global spy dragnet and PRISM confirmed in narrow vote at the Lower House

  

  The US House of Representatives has narrowly voted to continue collecting data on US phone calls, in the first legislative move on the program. In a 205-217 vote, lawmakers rejected an effort to restrict the National Security Agency's (NSA) ability to collect electronic information.

• Thursday, July 25th 2013 - 02:25 UTC

  Aerolineas Argentinas announces daily flights to New York after five years of absence

  

  Argentina’s state-run airline and flag carrier Aerolíneas Argentinas announced this week it will resume its direct flights to New York that were terminated five years ago. On December 15, the company will be offering a daily flight from Ezeiza airport to New York’s John F. Kennedy airport.

• Wednesday, July 24th 2013 - 06:59 UTC

  IMF backs down from siding with Argentina before the US Supreme Court on hedge funds case

  

  The International Monetary Fund no longer plans to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review Argentina's case in its decade-old legal battle with holdout creditors due to a lack of support from the U.S. government, the IMF said on Tuesday.

• Wednesday, July 24th 2013 - 06:56 UTC

  Fed expected to trim bond buying to 65bn in September, says Bloomberg survey

  

  Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke in September will trim the Fed’s monthly bond buying to 65 billion from the current pace of 85 billion dollars, according to a growing number of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

• Monday, July 22nd 2013 - 06:29 UTC

  Mercosur chair not interested in restoring normal relations with US

  

  Venezuela says it's ending talks with the United States to restore normal relations because Washington's UN ambassador-designate criticized its human rights record. Venezuela currently holds the chair of Mercosur.

• Saturday, July 20th 2013 - 06:03 UTC

  Argentina/hedge funds dispute: US will not file ‘uninvited’ brief to Supreme Court

  

  The Barack Obama administration won’t file a brief next week urging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear Argentina’s appeal in a clash with implications for tens of billions of dollars in defaulted debt, according to a Justice Department spokesman.

• Friday, July 19th 2013 - 06:17 UTC

  Motor City files for bankruptcy; city offers 10cents for every dollar of debt

  

  The US city of Detroit in Michigan, once renowned as ‘Motor City’ has become the largest American city ever to file for bankruptcy, with debts of at least 15bn dollars. State-appointed emergency manager Kevyn Orr asked a federal judge to place the city into bankruptcy protection.

• Wednesday, July 17th 2013 - 22:12 UTC

  Fed says asset purchases will remains above all flexible to market conditions

  

  Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Wednesday the US central bank still expects to start scaling back its massive asset purchase program later this year but left open the option of changing that plan in either direction if the economic outlook shifted.

• Tuesday, July 16th 2013 - 21:12 UTC

  American offshore accounts in foreign banks with more than 50.000 dollars have to be reported

  

  The US Treasury Department said it will postpone enforcement of a new law that cracks down on offshore tax avoidance by Americans by six months until July 1, 2014, giving foreign banks more time to determine how to comply.