IMF

Daily wage workers wait for employment on a street side at an industrial area in Mumbai

Unemployment the greatest economic challenge: WTO chief

The most serious [economic] challenge today is that of unemployment, said Pascal Lamy, the director-general of the WTO. Lamy urges countries to expand global trade, instead of clamping down on it, to create more jobs for everyone.

Irish banks hammered in early U.S. trading

Bank of Ireland
Despite signs that the government of Ireland will receive a huge bailout package from the European Union (EU) and International Monetary Fund (IMF), Irish banks that trade in the U.S. as ADRs are getting hammered this morning in early trading.

IMF chief lists Europe's economic problems

IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn
As early as the 1980s, fault lines began to appear in Europe's economy and the global financial crisis tore them wide open. Now, Europe perhaps faces its greatest economic challenges since WWII.
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Ireland's Prime Minister Brian Cowen and Minister of Finance Brian Lenihan

Ireland inching closer to bailout package

Ireland is “inching closer” to some kind of bailout package from the European Union (EU) and International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to Jan Randolph, director of sovereign risk at HIS Global Insight in London.
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange

US stocks fluctuate in early trade

S&P 500 Index edged up 0.68 points, or 0.06 percent, to trade at 1,179.73 at 09:53 a.m. EDT. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 8.47 points, or 0.08 percent, to trade at 11,015.03. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.24 percent.
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange

US stock futures extend modest gains

Futures on the S&P 500 gained 3.50 points, futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average are up 23 points and Nasdaq100 futures are up 7 points.
Shoppers checkout at a Target store in Virginia

US dollar slides on weaker-than-expected CPI

The US dollar dropped against its major counterparts on Wednesday after data showed October consumer price inflation was slower than expected with housing starts data for the same month also coming in at a weaker-than-expected level.
Brian Cowen

Why doesn't Ireland want a bailout?

Ireland is open to talks with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) over a bailout program for its failed banks, EU Economics and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said after a Tuesday night meeting of eurozone finance ministers and officials in Brussels.
New $1 coins are stacked together during an event launching its circulation in New York

IMF cuts value of dollar, yen in SDR basket; euro, pound value hiked

The US dollar and Japanese yen lost a part of their weighting while that of euro and British pound increased in the basket of currencies that make up the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Special Drawing Right (SDR), the Fund said on Tuesday. The changes will be effective on January 1 next year.
Greece's Prime Minister Papandreou

Greece deficit plan under scanner; Ireland talks down crisis

Debt-stricken Greece announced on Monday its budget deficit will contract to 9.4 percent of the GDP this year and said the country has been able to manage a much greater pruning of its deficit than initially calculated, immediately after the European Union Statistical agency revised upwards the country's 2009 deficit to 15. 4 percent.
France's President Nicolas Sarkozy gestures as he addresses a news conference during the G20 summit in Seoul, November 12, 2010.

Monetary reforms are coming, Sarkozy says

France and the International Monetary Fund will work together to develop criteria for the establishment of an international monetary mechanism to establish equity among currencies, and will have something tangible to present to the G-20 nations, and the rest of the world, next year, said French President Nicolas Sarkozy, in a press briefing at the close of the Seoul G-20 Summit.
Is it fair for Brazil to brand the U.S. along with China as a currency manipulator?

Brazil: Developing Countries Got More Say, China Went Along

Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega touted the voice developing nations had in the G20 process and getting the Chinese delegation to change its mind. But he was hit with tough questions about the G20 process and whether it made any real difference to the world economy.
China's President Hu Jintao (L) talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel as they arrive at the National Museum of Korea for dinner in Seoul November 11, 2010, on the first day of the G20 Summit. World leaders are gathering in Seoul on Thursday and Frida

G20 declares currency war over but challenges remain

The leaders of the G20 countries completed their summit in Seoul, South Korea with an agreement to push for “market-determined” currency exchange rates, to enhance exchange rate flexibility, and to establish a timetable to lay out “indicative guidelines” for global economies to confront trade imbalances by the first half of next year.
Anti-G20 protesters march in downtown Seoul on November 11, 2010.

Protestors march against G-20 and Korean government

Carrying flags representing their various organizations, and hundreds of cardboard stop signs declaring Stop the G-20!, approximately 4,000 protestors marched Thursday afternoon from Seoul Station through the Dongsam-gu district shouting slogans and singing labor hymns, while thunder rolled, rain fell and a silent column of hundreds of riot police in yellow slickers and wielding neon batons kept pace along the marchers' flank.
G20 leaders near agreement, if not progress

G20 Seoul summit agenda

The global currency war will likely dominate discussions at the G20 Seoul summit. Other issues on the agenda include global financial regulation, development gaps, and dealing with disruptive capital inflow and outflows.
A man walks in front of the headquarters of National Bank of Greece in Athens

Pressure piles on Greece to harden fiscal measures

Greece's budget problems are far from over, as its deficit is likely to have narrowed much less sharply than the Government had predicted, Capital Economics said in a note. Greece will now come under heavy pressure to implement an even more draconian fiscal squeeze, Ben May, a European economist with Capital Economics, said.

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