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 fell on Thursday after manufacturing data in the eurozone and China increased worry about a slowing global economy.
Stock index futures pointed to a lower opening on Wall Street on Thursday, with futures for the S&P 500 down 0.6 percent, Dow Jones futures down 0.57 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.58 percent at 1000 GMT.
Asian shares gave back earlier gains Thursday after data showed China's factory activity shrank for a fifth successive month, underscoring concerns about a growth slowdown in the world's second largest economy.
Greece unveiled details of payments to its two main debt restructuring advisers late on Wednesday to knock down a local website report that they had received 74 million euros.
The Federal Reserve plans to fine eight more bank holding companies for improper home mortgage foreclosures, the latest fallout from the so-called robo-signing scandal in which banks filed foreclosure documents without verifying their accuracy.
China's Cinda Asset Management Corp., which was formed in 1999 to buy bad loans from Chinese banks, received 10.4 billion yuan ($1.6 billion) from four institutional investors as the state-controlled company prepares for an IPO.
Greg Smith resignation letter describing toxic atmosphere at investment bank undermines goodwill.
Gold rose Thursday, reversing a three-day plunge that left prices beneath their critical 200-day moving average.
Bank of Communications Co., Ltd. (BoCom) will raise $8.9 billion in a share sale to current shareholders like HSBC and the Chinese Ministry of Finance. The bank's shares were suspended on Thursday in advance of the announcement.
Gold fell on Monday, under pressure from a softer euro and from dwindling expectations for the Federal Reserve to signal the need for more measures to keep U.S. rates low, although longer-term investors took their bullion holdings to a fresh record.
Call us crazy, but the two most recent major economic data releases by China -- the consumer price index on Friday and the trade balance on Saturday -- indicate there could be a case to be made for monetary stimulus in the world's second-largest economy.
China's trade balance plunged $31.5 billion into the red in February as imports swamped exports to leave the largest deficit in at least a decade and fuel doubts about the extent to which frail foreign demand or seasonal distortion drove the drop.
Leaders of China and India, two of the world's biggest economies, are responding to a decline in their nation's blistering rates of growth by focusing on virtually identical ways to stimulate bank lending and regain financial momentum.
Deutsche Bank has taken 5-10 billion euros ($6.6-$13.3 billion), of the European Central Bank's (ECB) long-term refinancing operation (LTRO), which offers three-year loans to banks at a rate of 1 percent according to a report.
HSBC announced on Wednesday an agreement to sell its insurance businesses in emerging markets for $914 million in cash, in a continuing effort to offload non-banking assets.
German factory orders unexpectedly decline in January, mirroring a sharp drop in orders from outside the euro zone, flashing an early warning sign that Europe's largest economy could be heading back into recession.
Gold prices fell more than 1 percent in Europe on Tuesday, pushing through support at $1,690 an ounce, as jitters over whether private creditors will agree to a Greek bond swap deal and wider euro zone growth pressured the euro versus the dollar.
