The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) is expected to report stronger first-quarter profit as the world's largest soft-drink maker tries to offset higher commodity prices by undertaking a new cost-cutting program and continuing to target emerging market growth.
Asian stock markets declined Monday, following a slump in the US and European stocks last week on renewed eurozone concerns.
Britain's top share index rose around midday on Friday with banks leading the gainers after being boosted by a positive broker comment.
Asian stock markets declined Wednesday, following an overnight slump in Wall Street as surge in Spain’s borrowing costs reignited concern over the eurozone debt crisis.
Airport retailer Dubai Duty Free has mandated banks for a $1.1 billion multi-tranche loan facility to help fund the expansion of Dubai's international airport.
King concedes that quitting the euro zone and reintroducing its drachma currency would likely lead to financial and economic turmoil, but the move would ultimately benefit the Mediterranean country.
The head of China's national pension fund called for a bigger role for the Chinese currency in the international monetary system, saying the yuan could someday account for 10 percent of global reserves.
The U.S. economy is expected to expand at a disappointing pace in 2012, similar to the tepid 1.7 percent growth rate achieved in 2011, despite recent job gains, according to economists at HSBC, who said wages have failed to keep up.
Claims for jobless benefits fell to 357,000 last week, building up toward a solid March nonfarm payroll report that is scheduled to come out on Friday. Some economists though still fear that the improvement in the U.S. economy seen so far this year could be just another false start.
China's official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index, a gauge of manufacturing sector performance, unexpectedly jumped to the highest level in a year, while a rival index by HSBC showed further weakening in the sector.
Friday, the Dow gained 66.22 points, or 0.50 percent, to 13,212.04 at the close. The S&P 500 Index gained 5.19 points, or 0.37 percent, to 1,408.47, while the Nasdaq Composite dipped 3.79 points, or 0.12 percent, to 3,091.57. The uptick capped U.S. stocks' strongest quarter in more than two years.
China's manufacturing sector expanded rapidly in March, confounding expectations of a contraction and easing fears about a potential hard landing for the world's second-biggest economy.
(Reuters) - Asia's manufacturers stepped up the pace in March to fill an influx of new orders as Europe's debt crisis subsided and U.S. growth picked up, dispelling some of the gloom that had shrouded the global economy.
China's big factories were surprisingly busy in March as a stream of new orders lifted activity to an 11-month high, but credit-constrained smaller manufacturers struggled, suggesting that the economy is still losing steam.
Gold prices rose on Friday as the dollar fell to a one-month low against a basket of currencies, including the euro, after European finance ministers agreed to boost the euro zone's debt crisis firewall to roughly 800 billion euros ($1.1 trillion).
German unemployment rate fell to a record low in March, in contrast to many other nations in the eurozone which suffer from rising unemployment levels, while also showing evidence that growth in the Europe’s largest economy is picking up.
Gold prices slid below $1,680 an ounce on Wednesday, extending the previous day's retreat from two-week highs as the momentum sparked by expectations for further monetary easing faded after the metal failed to break through key resistance.
The manufacturing division activity in China shrank in March successively for the fifth month, as showed by the preliminary HSBC survey. Purchasing Managers Index (PMI), the indicator of China's industrial activity, fell from 49.6 in February to 48.1, raising a lingering concern about an imminent hard landing.
The reserve requirement for 379 branches of state-run Agricultural Bank of China Ltd., the country's third-biggest lender, will decline by two percentage points below that of other Chinese banks.
China's factory activities slumped for the fifth consecutive month as weakening domestic demand continued to weigh on growth. Spooked investors moved quickly out of riskier assets while hoping for further easing from Beijing.
Stock index futures briefly extended their losses on Thursday after the latest reading on jobless claims.
Stock index futures fell on Thursday after manufacturing data in the eurozone and China increased worry about a slowing global economy.
