The United State Federal Reserve tightened monetary policy Thursday for the first time in more than a year, raising by 0.25 percentage points the discount interest rate at which the US central bank lends directly to commercial banks.
The US government confirmed that one of its top diplomats for Latin America will participate this week in Havana in a new round of talks on immigration issues with Cuba.
The number of US workers filing new applications for jobless benefits tumbled last week, a government report showed Thursday, reversing a recent spike that had raised concerns about renewed labour market weakness.
The Federal Reserve could begin pulling back its unprecedented stimulus for the US economy by first removing some cash from the financial system and then raising interest rates, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said.
The new United States ambassador in Uruguay David Nelson anticipated good opportunities to promote business and investment between the administrations of President Barack Obama and incoming president Jose Mujica. He mentioned specifically livestock, forestry and agriculture.
China is to enforce anti-dumping duties on US chicken imports, accusing American poultry firms of exporting the meat at unfairly low prices. In just the latest in a series of trade disputes between the two countries, China's Commerce Department said the tariffs will start from 13 February.
The jobless rate in the US has dropped to 9.7%, marking a five-month low. The new figures suggest the labour market is improving, despite employers unexpectedly cutting 20,000 jobs in January.
While on a one mile final approach descent to Miami International Airport, an Atlas Air Flight 46, a Boeing 747, had a structural separation of a wing actuator fairing cover that fell onto the parking lot at the International Mall of Americas in Miami, Florida on Friday midday. Flight 46 was a cargo flight out of Santiago, Chile.
“The US Federal Reserve has been granted, both in law and in political tradition, considerable independence and autonomy. That independence serves important public objectives. Critically, it allows the Federal Open Market Committee to make monetary policy in the longer-term economic interests of the American people, rather than in the service of short-term political imperatives”.
A leading US academic who has been praised by the head of the Bank of England has called for banks to be barred from gambling on the world markets. Speaking on Jeff Randall Live, Professor Laurence Kotlikoff argued that the days of casino banking should be ended for good.