Economic News

Treasury prices gave up slight gains and moved lower Monday, pushing yields higher, after the May new homes sales report showed unexpected strength and added to the case for the Federal Reserve to keep lifting rates. Traders are expected to continue pushing yields higher most of the week to keep pace with a widely-expected interest rate increase on Thursday. Treasury prices have deteriorated ...

The dollar traded mostly lower against major foreign-exchange counterparts early Monday, weighed down by news that the United Arab Emirates would shift its foreign-exchange reserves away from the U.S. currency and as traders await the Federal Reserve's interest-rate decision later this week. The central bank of U.A.E. said it would shift 10% of its reserves from dollars to euros. The country's  ...

By Nigel Davies LONDON (Reuters) - The next move in interest rates is still likely to be up, but receding inflation pressures and strong -- but unspectacular -- growth will probably keep rates on hold for months to come, a Reuters poll shows. Median forecasts in this month's survey of over 35 economists, carried out June 21-23, showed economic growth this year at 2.3 percent and rising to trend levels of 2.5 percent in 2007, identical to forecasts in last month's poll. The majority of economi ...

By MacDonald Dzirutwe HARARE (Reuters) - It is a cold winter night in central Harare, but 100 people are willing to queue on the pavement until the shops open in the morning. The glittering prize? A mobile phone SIM card. "I had no choice, this was the only way of securing a SIM card at a reasonable price," said Sam Takavada, emerging from a local dealer for Zimbabwe's largest mobile ph ...

By Laura MacInnis BASEL, Switzerland (Reuters) - Interest rate hikes should help put the world economy on a sustainable growth path as inflationary expectations intensify, the head of the International Monetary Fund said on Sunday. IMF Managing Director Rodrigo Rato, attending a three-day meeting of around 100 central bankers, said growth in the global economy was strong and should remain near 5 ...

BASEL, Switzerland (Reuters) - Growth in the global economy is strong and should remain near 5 percent for this year and next despite monetary tightening by leading central banks, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Rodrigo Rato said on Sunday. "The overall view of the global economy is one of strength. We see a rate of growth of 5 percent this year and around that figure next year," he said on the sidelines of the annual general meeting for the Bank for International Settlements (BIS ...