MARKETS / FINANCE

Investors showed growing skepticism on Tuesday that euro zone finance ministers will thrash out an agreement soon to beef up a rescue fund as part of measures to end the region's sovereign debt crisis.

China has lent more money to developing nations than the World Bank in the past two years, the Financial Times said on Tuesday, underlining Beijing's ambitions to increase its global influence.

China's central bank has cut its 2011 lending target for banks by 10 percent from last year, the official Securities Journal reported on Tuesday, citing unidentified banking sources.

Apple Inc Chief Executive Steve Jobs is taking medical leave for the third time since 2004, sending its shares tumbling more than 8 percent as the surprise revived concerns over the long-term future of the iPhone- and iPad-maker.

China's securities regulator will begin a trial programme that for the first time allows local fund houses to raise money offshore for investment in the domestic financial market, two sources said.

China's central bank has devised calibrated reserve ratios for different banks to tighten curbs on bank lending and tame quickening inflation, Chinese media said on Monday.

China's securities regulator will begin a trial programme that allows local fund houses to raise money offshore for investment in the domestic financial market, two sources said on Monday.

MasterCard Worldwide's (MA.N) partnership with China UnionPay, the country's lone bank card transaction processor, will help it become a player in China's 3 trillion yuan ($455 billion) personal consumption market in five to 10 years, the head of MasterCard in China said on Monday.

Alaska's crude oil pipeline resumed operations on Monday, restoring the flow of about 12 percent of U.S. oil production nearly a week and a half after the line was shut due to a leak.

European planemaker Airbus celebrated a surprise win in the annual orders race against Boeing with the 10,000th plane sale in its 40-year history, part of a $5 billion order from Virgin America.

Euro zone finance ministers discussed on Monday having more money in their rescue fund and cheaper emergency loans as part of a package of measures to end the sovereign debt crisis, but they made no firm decisions.

A group of senators, on the eve of Chinese President Hu Jintao's arrival in the United States, said it was vital Congress pass legislation to get tough with China over its currency practices.

Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) said that its American clients will be excluded from buying shares of Facebook through the financial services giant’s private placement mechanism.

A former Swiss private banker handed over data on hundreds of offshore bank account holders to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Monday, saying he wanted to draw attention to financial abuses.

Developing countries and economies in transition together attracted more foreign investment than developed countries in 2010 for the first time, a United Nations study showed on Monday.

Euro zone finance ministers called on Monday for an increase in the effective lending capacity of the currency bloc's rescue fund, but EU paymaster Germany said there was no urgency and it would be March before a firm plan was in place.

Monetary policy cannot speed up labor market healing or prevent asset price bubbles, and counting on it to do so may do more harm than good, a top U.S. Federal Reserve official said.

GlaxoSmithKline will record a legal charge of 2.2 billion pounds ($3.4 billion) for the fourth quarter, effectively wiping out its profit, as it settles further claims related to Avandia and sales practices.

U.S. Senator Charles Schumer, D-NY, is greeting Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit to the U.S. this week with a promise of legislation to impose tariffs on Chinese goods to combat China’s alleged currency manipulation.

I am a recent college graduate and am actively looking for a job for the first time ever. I am 34 years old and have a decent job history, but a lot of it is in the service industry.

Due to the new economy, businesses are closing in record numbers. When it comes to relatively small businesses, this means not only unemployment for the employees, but the owner as well.

European planemaker Airbus celebrated a surprise win in the annual orders race against Boeing with the 10,000th plane sale in its 40-year history, part of a $5 billion order from Virgin America.

Jeremy, an engineer, came to us with an existing résumé that was not showcasing the contributions he had made during his 15+-year career.

Alex's objective was to secure a highly coveted pharmaceutical sales rep position. His main concern, and one brought up in previous interviews, was that he lacked the business-to-business (B2B) sales experience required.

A former Swiss private banker says he plans to hand over data on hundreds of offshore bank account holders to the WikiLeaks website at a London news conference on Monday.

Ed Miliband, leader of Britain’s Labour Party, has joined a growing chorus of critics expressing reservations over BP plc’s (NYSE: BP) joint venture with Russian energy giant Rosneft to explore potentially massive oil and gas deposits on the Arctic shelf – BP’s first major deal since last year’s Deepwater Horizon catastrophe.

Chinese President Hu Jintao urged an end to a zero sum Cold War relationship with the United States and proposed new cooperation, but resisted U.S. arguments about why China should let its currency strengthen.

Brian Cowen, the embattled Prime Minister of Ireland, has said he will not resign from his office despite mounting pressure on him to do so as result of the nation’s huge deficit and massive $90-billion bailout package.

Investors remain preoccupied by the threat of further monetary tightening in China, writes Marc Ground at Standard Bank in London today. This is weighing on precious metal prices, encouraged further by a stronger Dollar off the back of lingering Eurozone debt concerns.