GDP

Ireland's gross domestic product recorded a marginal rise of 0.5 percent in the third quarter on a sequential basis, but the small improvement in growth will do little to alter analysts' view that the country still faces an uphill task managing its debt.

Eurozone manufacturing PMI touched an 8-month high in December while composite output index fell, according to a survey.

China has been on a commodity price-control overdrive in the past few months in a bid to tame inflation, allay fears of shortages and crack down on hoarding and price-gouging. However, the Chinese commodity boom may not last forever and the prices could likely fall, an analyst has said.

Social unrest in China has significantly increased this year, with people in small towns and rural areas particularly unhappy with their lives, according to a study by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), a Chinese think-tank.

Many experts in the private sector favor expanding the size of the 750-billion euro European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), which was created to bail out European countries under sovereign debt pressures.

Greek unions have again staged strikes and demonstrations to protest the government’s austerity measures, including changes in labor laws and widespread cuts in wages.

Roubini Global Economics (RGE) has predicted that global economy's growth next year will be marginally weaker than this year, with eurozone holding the biggest risk to global growth, and that the U.S. will not emerge any time soon from the worst unemployment crisis it has faced in decades.

The Bank of Japan's Tankan business survey showed on Wednesday business confidence among large manufacturers dropped in December, the first decline in seven quarters, and that the prognosis going forward was gloomier.

Some of the so-called emerging markets have advanced to a point where they might be considered “developed” -- or not, depending on one’s views and criteria. Further complicating this picture is the arrival of “frontier” markets – countries even less developed than the emerging markets, but boasting even greater long-term growth potential.

The rise in income uncertainty and the 1997 pension reform measures have been largely responsible for the recent rise in China's savings rate. Other factors include health care costs and astronomical real estate prices.

After some seemingly hawkish moves in the past few weeks, Chinese policy makers adopted a dovish tone on Tuesday by easing the consumer inflation target to 4 percent for 2011.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimated that airlines will earn net profit of $15.1-billion this year – a 70 percent jump from its previous forecast made only three months ago when it forecast profits of $8.9-billion. But the group warned that net profit margins in the airline industry are pathetic

U.S. retail sales continued to rise in November for the fifth month, boosted by holiday shopping as well as fuel prices, the U.S. Commerce Department said.

As Congress considers a broad tax deal proposed by President Barack Obama and Republicans, high tech and manufacturing businesses are particularly favorable to a provision that would extend research and development tax credits.

A survey conducted by Association for Financial Professionals showed the executives do not believe that additional fiscal stimulus is necessary or desirable at this stage.

German economic sentiment rose more than expected in December, posting an increase for a second consecutive month.

The finance minister of debt-troubled Portugal is in Beijing, China to try to convince Chinese government authorities to purchase Portuguese government bonds.

China is stepping up its efforts to contain inflation, even as the latest economic report indicates that inflation hovers around a 28-year high of 5.1 percent in November.

Economists are more positive about economic growth in 2011 in the United States, according to a survey by the Wall Street Journal.

China has stubbornly refused to cede to U.S demands to let the yuan rise against the dollar. The question is, among the US and China who will gain and who will lose if China ever agreed to appreciate its currency?

Jim Chanos, arguably the most well-known short-seller in the world, is setting his sights on China's troubled real estate construction-driven economy.