Economic News

SEOUL (XFN-ASIA) - US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said he feels "very comfortable" with the strength of the world economy despite the recent stock market rout. "What I have been making very clear is that we have a very strong global economy," he told reporters during a brief visit to South Korea. "We have a global economy with low inflation and a high level of liqui ...

SYDNEY (XFN-ASIA) - Australia's economy is expected to be underpinned in the short-term by still solid world economic growth, especially resource exports to China and India, according to Reserve Bank of Australia assistant governor Malcolm Edey. Speaking at an Australian Industry Group meeting in Sydney today, the central banker said the domestic economy is now at an advanced stage in an expansio ...

LONDON (AFX) - The Bank of England's three interest rate increases since last August have impacted upon consumer confidence in the UK, the country's biggest building society said today. In its monthly survey of consumer confidence, the Nationwide said consumers have responded to the three hikes with all measures below the levels recorded before the first interest rate rise in August. Though the  ...

LONDON (AFX) - Further evidence of mounting pay pressures in the UK has emerged this morning and just ahead of the Bank of England's (BoE) monthly rate-setting meeting. The monthly 'Report on Jobs' from the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) and consultancy firm KPMG found rising demand for staff and shortages of skilled candidates drove inflation of permanent staff pay to an eight- ...

US factory orders dropped by their largest amount in six-and-a-half years in January, official figures showed. Orders for big-ticket items fell even faster, the data from the Commerce Department showed - down 8.7%, even wose than an earlier 7.8% estimate. The news came as other figures showed productivity gains in the US had slowed, while labour costs soared. Both sets of data point to a slowdown in the world's largest economy, and could fuel inflation concerns. The Commerce Department data  ...

LONDON (AFX) - European government bonds were steady as fixed income bulls decided to take a breather as some risk appetite returned to the markets and ahead of Thursday's latest interest rate decision from the European Central Bank. Analysts said a calmer Asian session overnight helped European and US stocks to recover solidly from recent setback, even if the bounce back has been anything but sp ...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Orders to U.S. factories fell by the largest amount in 6 1/2 years in January, reflecting widespread declines across a number of industries. The Commerce Department reported that total orders dropped by 5.6 percent in January, the biggest decline since July 2000, a period when the economy was slowing sharply in advance of an actual recession which began in 2001. The government  ...

GENEVA (AP) - European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet is known to exercise the same strong vigilance over his language as he pledges to do toward inflation. But markets may be particularly interested in hearing from him this week after the global stock selloffs that followed former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan's comment that the United States could be in a recession by the e ...

PARIS (AFX) - The French finance ministry said it expects the country's public sector deficit to narrow sharply over the next two years, dropping to 2.4 pct of GDP this year from its previous forecast of 2.5 pct and then to 1.7 pct in 2008. The government estimates the 2006 deficit at below 2.7 pct of GDP. This is already below the 3 pct ceiling set by the euro zone's Stability and Growth Pact.  ...

Sam Fleming, Daily Mail6 March 2007 Reader comments (7) Homeowners were warned last night that the property market is 'overvalued' and could be heading for a slump. GOING DOWN? House prices could be set to slump warns the IMF WANT TO KNOW MORE? DATA: Latest house price figures ADVICE: Should you risk a 100% mortgage? MORTGAGE FEES: Reclaim yours COMMENT: Greenspan sounds alarm POLL: What will happen to house prices in 2007? OTHER STORIES Should you take a 100% loan?  ...