TIMOTHY GEITHNER

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, delivering his sharpest criticism of China's exchange rate policies in months, said on Thursday the yuan's value was critically important for the world economy.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Thursday he didn't know whether American efforts to get China to change its exchange rate policies would produce results soon.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Thursday that reform of China's exchange rate is critically important to the U.S. and global economies and a more flexible yuan was in China's interest.

Stock index futures rose on Thursday, boosted by confirmation of solid China export data and a climb in the euro as investors awaited a report on the U.S. labor market.

Stock index futures pointed to a higher open for Wall Street on Thursday, rebounding from falls in the previous session, with futures for the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq up 0.9 to 1.1 percent by 0849 GMT.

European finance ministers sought to calm nervous financial markets on Monday by nailing down details of a massive financial safety net for the euro zone and working toward stricter budget discipline rules.

U.S. stocks could face more pressure this week unless investors get some relief from worries about Europe, jobs and the toll they might take on the economic recovery.

The chairman of the Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers, Jean-Claude Juncker, dismissed concerns on Sunday that Hungary might face a Greek-style debt crisis and said the current level of the euro did not worry him.

China's currency policies were spared a specific mention in the Group of 20 communique on Saturday, but U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and the IMF kept up pressure for a stronger yuan.

Europe is close to completing stress tests on its banks to gauge their ability to withstand a market slump and the results should be published to help restore market confidence, top European Central Bank officials said on Saturday.

Finance chiefs raced on Saturday to agree on ways to support growth and make global banks safer with a warning from Washington ringing in their ears that Europe and Japan must do more to boost home-grown demand.

The world's top economies were set to ditch plans for a universal global bank levy on Saturday amid signs of slippage in other reforms pledged during the financial crisis.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner urged his Group of 20 counterparts to keep stoking global growth to counteract Europe's woes and put the onus on China, Germany and Japan to boost domestic demand.

Leading policymakers spoke with unusual frankness on Friday of their fears that the euro zone's financial and banking woes could derail the global economic recovery.

Leading policymakers were unusually candid on Friday in voicing fears that the euro zone's financial and banking woes could derail the global economic recovery.

Leading policymakers expressed concern on Friday about the health of the world economy even as they closed ranks behind the euro zone's efforts to tackle a debt crisis that has rattled global markets.

G20 finance ministers and central bankers will endorse efforts to douse the euro zone's debt crisis but are far apart on the contentious issue of a global bank levy, a senior South Korean official said on Friday.

The global recovery had enough momentum before Europe's debt crisis struck to be able to weather it without being derailed, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Thursday.

The global economy had enough momentum before Europe's debt crisis struck to weather it without a sharp downturn, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Thursday.

Disagreements over how quickly to reduce billowing budget deficits and restore balance to the global economy risk straining high-level Group of 20 talks that started on Thursday.

The world's top nations will back general principles rather than a specific tax to make banks pay for their own bailouts in future, finance ministers and diplomats said on Thursday.