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The euro held firm against the dollar, while European shares and gold moved higher on Thursday, after the U.S. Federal Reserve set out an unambiguously easier policy stance, but fears of a messy Greek debt default still haunt the markets.

The Federal Reserve is expected to break new ground this week by providing a clearer window into official thinking on monetary policy and is expected to signal that interest rates will be held near zero into 2014.

The Federal Reserve is expected to break new ground this week by providing a clearer window into official thinking on monetary policy and is expected to signal that interest rates will be held near zero into 2014.

Insider Thorsten Heins, the new chief executive at BlackBerry maker RIM, is a surprise choice for those looking for a transformational leader from outside to turn around the Canadian group's fortunes.

Italy's goal of refinancing some 90 billion euros of long-term debt by the end of April is beginning to look within reach after months when the weight of its debt burden looked likely to tip the euro zone even deeper into crisis.

Asian shares rose to a two-month high and the euro firmed Thursday after news that the International Monetary Fund was seeking to boost its resources to tackle the euro zone debt crisis helped ease worries about Europe's funding difficulties.

European shares hit a 5-1/2-month high on Tuesday before closing above a key resistance level, boosted by automobile and mining stocks after Chinese economic data raised hopes the country would further ease its monetary policy to stimulate growth.

China's economy grew at its weakest pace in 2- years in the latest quarter, and it appeared headed for an even sharper slowdown in the coming months as export demand fades and the housing market falters.

The five-year slide in U.S. home prices will stop this year, followed by the start of a weak recovery next year, according to a Reuters poll that also showed economists split on whether the government would make new efforts to support the market.

A deteriorating European with slower growth and the longer we go without economy and weak global growth will keep the Bank of Canada from raising rates for at least another year, though an interest rate cut looks highly unlikely, according to a Reuters survey.

One of the biggest imbalances in the global economy could soon be a thing of the past: China's super-sized trade surplus is melting away.

European shares hit a one-week closing high on Tuesday after encouraging comments from some leading U.S. companies and hopes for more policy easing in China gave cyclical stocks a boost, with autos and miners among the top sectoral gainers.

European shares rose on Tuesday, with miners gaining after aluminum producer Alcoa got the U.S. reporting season off to a positive start, with its top line indicating strong demand for commodities.

Germany and France warned Greece on Monday it will get no more bailout funds until it agrees with creditor banks on a bond swap and pressed for an early deal to avert a potential default in the Eurozone's most debt-stricken nation.

Stocks firmed on Friday on hopes that U.S. jobs data due later in the day will show a stronger outlook for the world's biggest economy, but the euro hit a 16-month low on worries over the region's economic health and further debt sales due next week.

Samsung Electronics (005930.KS), the world's top maker of memory chips and smartphones, reported a record quarterly profit on Friday, aided by one-off gains and best-ever sales of high-end phones.

Samsung Electronics, the world's top maker of memory chips and smartphones, estimated on Friday its October-December profit would jump 73 percent to a life-time high, aided by one-off gains and record-smashing sales of smartphones.

Europe's market slid on Thursday, with banks the biggest fallers on worries that some of them will have to follow UniCredit and offer deep share price discounts when they recapitalize to shore up ravaged balance sheets.

France was expected to draw solid demand for its 10-year bonds at an auction on Thursday, despite the lingering threat of a downgrade to its AAA credit rating, as yields offer an attractive premium to benchmark German bunds.

European governments have agreed in principle to ban imports of Iranian oil, EU diplomats said Wednesday, dealing a new blow to the Islamic Republic.

The largest shareholders of Middle East jeweller Damas International have appointed a financial adviser ahead of a potential sale of some of their shares, the firm said in a regulatory filing on Wednesday.

Samsung Electronics, the world's top maker of memory chips and smartphones, is set to report a robust quarterly profit rise on Friday, starting 2012 on an upbeat note aided by record-smashing sales of smartphones.

European stocks were higher early Tuesday afternoon, hitting a two-month high on sharp gains in cyclical mining shares, while simmering concerns over the Eurozone crisis sent French and Spanish markets lower.

Out with the old year, in with the new and for investors uncertainty is likely to be the only certainty once more.

South Korea's Samsung Electronics aims to raise its global handset sales by 15 percent next year by boosting its smartphone sales, putting it in a closer race with bigger rival Nokia.

The half a trillion euros the European Central Bank pumped into the financial system buys hard-hit banks valuable time but will not in itself protect them from threatened rating downgrades, one of Standard and Poor's top executives said.

The half a trillion euros the European Central Bank pumped into the financial system buys hard-hit banks valuable time but will not in itself protect them from threatened rating downgrades, one of Standard and Poor's top executives said.

The inflows into gold-backed exchange-traded funds that helped drive bullion demand sharply higher during the financial crisis have more than halved this year, according to Reuters data, and are unlikely to recover in 2012 as appetite grows for other assets.

Nokia's long-awaited Windows phones may be too little, too late in the smartphone war dominated by Apple and Google, despite positive reviews by handset critics.