EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK

The leaders of Germany and France have promised to unveil new measures to solve the euro zone's debt crisis by the end of the month, as international pressure builds for bold steps from Europe to avert an economic backlash of global proportions.

Stocks were little changed on Friday following a three-day rally after more jobs were created than expected in September, helping to ease concerns the economy was heading back into recession.

While fear fosters headlines, cash is what creates stories. And cash is the route the European Central Bank has chosen to go.

South Africa's rand fell as much as 1.4 percent against the dollar on Thursday as a survey pointed to a decline in business confidence and in line with a weaker euro, before recouping those losses in volatile trade.

Gold fell in choppy trade on Thursday after the European Central Bank held off flagging an imminent cut in interest rates, deflating an earlier rally in assets seen as higher risk, such as equities and the euro.

The Canadian dollar weakened sharply against its U.S. counterpart in early trade on Thursday after the European Central Bank held interest rates unchanged, dashing hopes it might cut rates to stimulate growth.

Twelve years after German Chancellor Helmut Kohl pushed through the monetary union over the objections of a majority of his country's citizens, the bloc is crumbling under the burden of huge debts. And the one institution that Germans were told would ensure stability, the ECB, is in deep crisis itself. In the absence of decisive action from Europe's leaders, the bank has come under enormous pressure to fill the gap.

Gold prices rose nearly 1 percent Thursday on strong physical buying from Europe and Asia and diminished selling pressure that had arisen from the need to cover stock market losses.

The Bank of England voted on Thursday to buy 75 billion pounds ($115 billion) more in assets to shield Britain's economy from the euro zone debt crisis and keep the faltering recovery going.

Gold firmed in Europe on Thursday as a strong recovery in equity markets cut selling of the precious metal to cover losses elsewhere, and as physical buyers took advantage of lower prices to stock up.

Stock futures pointed to Wall Street rising Thursday, extending a rally into a third day, on optimism that European policymakers are making progress in their efforts to help shore up troubled banks.

The euro zone's services sector shrank for the first time in two years in September as new orders dried up, stoking fears that the region's economy could be heading back into recession.

Actually, I can understand [the protesters'] sentiment, frankly, said Billionaire investor George Soros, speaking about the protesters who have camped out near Wall Street in New York and inspired similar anti-corporate demonstrations in other major cities across the United States and Canada.

European finance ministers are considering making banks take bigger losses on Greek debt and have postponed a vital aid payment to Athens until mid-November, setting up a crunch point in the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis

European finance ministers are considering making banks take bigger losses on Greek debt and have postponed a vital aid payment to Athens until mid-November, setting up a crunch point in the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis.

Canada wants its central bank governor, Mark Carney, to become head of the Financial Stability Board, the country's finance minister said on Monday days after a highly publicized clash between Carney and one of the world's most powerful bankers.

Gold prices jumped Monday as growing pessimism over Europe's finance's drove investors out of stocks, the euro and industrial commodities and into the U.S. dollar and the yellow metal.

Gold prices climbed more than 2 percent Monday, its third daily gain in a row, as Greece's draft budget confirmed the widely held vew that default is inevitable offset.

Gold headed for its third straight daily rise on Monday, having in September posted its largest monthly slide since 2008, after Greece warned it will miss deficit targets set to avoid bankruptcy, unleashing a sell-off in equities and commodities.

Greece will miss a deficit target set just months ago in a massive bailout package, according to government draft budget figures released on Sunday, showing that drastic steps taken to avert bankruptcy may not be enough.

Greece will most likely receive the next tranche of the EU/IMF bailout loan in October, Austria's Finance Minister Maria Fekter was quoted telling German newspaper Welt am Sonntag on Sunday.