Economic News

NEW YORK (Dow Jones) -- Not many Wall Streeters have been on top for a good 40 years. Not many, almost whenever they come out with a significant pronouncement, cause investment analysts in many parts of the world to sit up and take notice. Not many have an influential investment advisory firm that carries their own name, and fewer still have an eleven-story business school building also emblazoned ...

SYDNEY (XFN-ASIA) - The US dollar was weaker against the yen and euro in midafternoon trade, as investors await tonight's US economic data releases which include durable goods and existing home sales for October, as well as a speech by Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, dealers said. At 1.30 pm (0237 GMT), the dollar was at 115.95 yen down from 116.12 in morning trade, while the euro was at 1 ...

NAGOYA (XFN-ASIA) - Bank of Japan governor Toshihiko Fukui repeated his mantra that the central bank will raise short-term interest rates slowly to help support sustained growth under price stability. Fukui also told a business community in Nagoya, central Japan, that the Japanese economy is "expanding moderately" and that a string of strong and weak data are not implying a change to th ...

(updating with comments on economic policies) PARIS (AFX) - The OECD voiced concern over the aggressive expansion of Russian state-controlled energy giant Gazprom. "Of particular concern is the state-owned gas monopolist OAO Gazprom's seemingly insatiable appetite for asset acquisitions, often at the expense of a focus on its core business," the organisation said in a report on the Rus ...

BRUSSELS (AFX) - EU finance ministers will make a fresh attempt to reach a deal on minimum duties on alcohol tomorrow at their regular monthly meeting, officials said. They failed at their last gathering, earlier this month, to agree on a European Commission proposal to raise minimum excise duties on alcohol, with the exception of wine, for the first time since 1992. The commission proposes incr ...

Robert Lea, Evening Standard27 November 2006 Gordon Brown is to face the wrath of business leaders who blame him for higher taxes and an ever more complex taxation system, and say his party has failed to break down economic protectionism by the UK's European partners. WARNING: The UK has become 'less attractive as an international business location', says CBI chief Richard Lambert WANT TO KNOW MORE? Firms need to brush up on the internet CBI boss fears foreign threat to UK ...

OSAKA (XFN-ASIA) - Bank of Japan governor Toshihiko Fukui repeated that the central bank will raise short-term interest rates slowly to support sustained, non-inflationary growth, offering no specific hints on the timing for the next rate hike. Fukui also reiterated the bank's recent outlook in a speech to a business community in Osaka, western Japan, concluding that the Japanese economy remains  ...

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones) -- Data on tap for the week ahead will help to answer the question of whether the economy is speeding up or slowing down but won't do anything to alter the Federal Reserve's near-term stance on interest rates, economists say. The numbers, including data about durable goods orders, personal income and spending and home sales, will "begin to paint a clearer picture of an ec ...

SYDNEY (XFN-ASIA) - The Australian government's budget surplus forecast of 10.8 bln aud for the current fiscal year to June is too optimistic, with a result around 8.06 bln aud more likely, according to Access Economics director Chris Richardson. The independent economic advisory firm said the difference in forecasts is due partly to a shortfall in tax collections, predominantly company taxes, an ...

SHANGHAI (XFN-ASIA) - The US may start cutting interest rates next year and that is likely to add upward pressure on the yuan, a central bank official said. Wang Yu, a senior official at the People's Bank of China, also said domestic interest rates and the yuan's exchange rate should be more market-driven to maintain the health of economy. "I think the US is going to cut its (benchmark) int ...