China's annual growth target for 2012 looks increasingly in jeopardy as demand at home falters and Europe's debt crisis worsens, complicating matters for Beijing as the country heads into a once-in-a-decade leadership transition.
Walgreen Co. (NYSE: WAG), the largest U.S. drugstore operator, is facing challenges it has never seen in its 111-year history, and this week it responded to those challenges with a high-stakes strategic move.
Thursday's downgrade contained a veiled threat that pointed at politicians in Germany, the United Kingdom, France and the United States and plainly stated, Stop talking about making the banks responsible for their own follies -- or else.
Chinese market regulators announced Thursday they could be easing the rules that currently allow only a small group of foreign banks to invest in the national equity and bond markets, a move that is seen as part of a wider campaign to open the country's financial system to global competition. Whether by design or by coincidence, however, the move also takes a tremendous amount of pressure off the country's central bankers, who are between a rock and a hard place in deciding whether or n......
Biosante Pharmaceuticals Inc., Tesla Motors Inc., Barclays PLC, Bank of America Corp., Adobe Systems Inc., Michael Kors Holdings Ltd and Procter & Gamble Co. are among the companies whose shares moved in pre-market trading Wednesday.
Housing starts fell 4.8 percent in May to an annual rate of 708,000, but building permits climbed 7.9 percent to the highest level in nearly four years, the U.S. Commerce Department said Tuesday. Economists surveyed by Reuters had forecast a reading of 720,000.
This week's data releases highlight Wednesday's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) statement, which will likely present a dovish tone. However, those who are expecting for the announcement of renewed asset purchases will likely be disappointed.
The Reserve Bank of India disappointed the industry as it left the repo rate and cash reserve ratio unchanged at 8 percent and 4.75 percent, respectively, in its mid-quarter policy review Monday. The reverse repo rate, at which banks lend money to the RBI, also remains unchanged at 7 percent.
European markets rose Friday amid expectation that central banks around the world would coordinate to announce stimulus measures to rejuvenate the global economic growth.
This week's data releases could reignite hopes that the Federal Reserve will soon provide more policy stimulus. May's producer price index and consumer price index should show that inflationary pressures are easing, with the latter falling below the Fed's 2 percent target rate. Retail sales and industrial production figures for May are likely to come in on the soft side, as well.
Standard & Poor's said on Monday that India could become the first of the so-called BRIC economies to lose its investment-grade status, sending the rupee and stocks lower, less than two months after cutting its rating outlook for the country.
While the euro zone fiscal crisis has grabbed the spotlight, the U.S. faces its own fiscal crisis. The simultaneous onset of tax increases and spending cuts scheduled for Jan. 1 -- which will trigger unless Republicans and Democrats can agree on a balanced budget solution -- will likely send the economy plunging off a $720 billion fiscal cliff and into the arms of another recession.
Italian banks appear close to joining Spanish banks as the euro zone's latest contribution to the financial world's endangered species list.
The April trade data is likely to garner the most market attention, while the Fed Beige Book will set the tone for the upcoming Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. On Thursday, markets will also be watching Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's testimony to Congress, which could provide clues on whether the Fed is ready to take additional steps to support growth.
Asian shares and the euro extended losses Friday as China's factory activity data delivered its weakest reading this year, highlighting concerns the worsening euro zone debt crisis will further undermine global economic growth.
Asian shares eased Friday, with China's factory activity data and a U.S. jobs report due later in the day making investors cautious as the escalating euro zone debt crisis threatened to further undermine growth worldwide.
After ditching Super Bowl ads, General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) pivoted away from the NFL and instead entered into a five-year advertising partnership for its Chevrolet brand with the popular British soccer team Manchester United, a move meant to bolster the brand's global awareness, the company announced Thursday.
India's economic growth slumped to its lowest level in nine years in the first three months of 2012, marking a dramatic slide in the fortunes of a country whose economy was boasting nearly double-digit growth before the global recession.
The Q4 GDP data for India plunged the volatile rupee further in the morning trade Thursday, as the Indian currency hovered near an all-time low of 56.52 against the dollar. The rupee was trading at 56.38/39 at 10 am IST, after testing the 56.52 level in early trade.
Japanese trading house Marubeni Corp. (Tokyo: 8002), which has been on a global shopping spree in recent years so it can become a dominant grain supplier to China, just took a strategic step toward that goal.
The economic calendar is quite full this week, with most of the focus on the U.S. nonfarm payrolls report. The Institute for Supply Management, or ISM, manufacturing index and the second estimate of U.S. first-quarter gross domestic product also will draw a lot of attention.
Sam Zell, the Chicago real-estate mogul, has become so well-known for feasting on distressed assets that he's been called the grave dancer. This week, Zell took the nickname to the next level: He's about to receive $70 million from a ghost.
