Economic News

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - The number of profit warnings from UK-listed companies for the first half of the year has reached the highest level since the end of the dotcom boom six years ago, research showed. Consultancy Ernst & Young said there were 191 profit warnings in H1 2007, up 13 pct from a year earlier, whereas in the second quarter these warnings were up 5 pct from the same period  ...

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Kuwait's move to allow its currency to rise against the dollar raises the stakes for other Gulf states to do likewise but no change is predicted just yet even though the odds are definitely shortening. Flush with profits from rising oil exports, inflation in the area has been rising due to higher domestic spending -- both public and private. But somewhat rigid pegs to ...

PARIS (Thomson Financial) - The OECD said Austria is on course to achieve a "soft landing", with economic growth moderating next year. "Macroeconomic prospects remain robust amid the start of the monetary tightening cycle in the euro area and a soft landing is projected over the next two years," the organisation said in a report on the Austrian economy. The OECD reiterated it ...

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Charlie Bean, the Bank of England's chief economist, said rate-setters should be wary of targeting asset prices alongside, or instead of, inflation. "Though the argument that monetary policy makers should factor in the long-term implications for output and inflation of credit/asset price boom-busts may appear persuasive in principle, there are a number of serious ...

(Adds comments on UK euro entry) BRUSSELS (Thomson Financial) - EU economic and monetary affairs commissioner Joaquin Almunia said the European Commission's 2007 growth forecast of 2.6 pct is "not very optimistic, but moderate". During a speech organised by the EPC thinktank, Almunia noted that some forecasters are predicting a higher growth rate for this year. He also said the euro z ...

HONG KONG (XFN-ASIA) - Goldman Sachs has raised its forecasts for Hong Kong's gross domestic product (GDP) growth to 6 pct for both 2007 and 2008, from 5.5 pct and 5.7 pct respectively, citing a more positive outlook for the global industrial cycle and continued buoyancy in the local labor market. "We are raising our long-held above-consensus GDP growth forecasts, on an even stronger consump ...

BEIJING (XFN-ASIA) - China needs to take "decisive" action on the monetary front to prevent the economy from overheating, even though the recent upward GDP revision for 2006 may cloud the picture somewhat because of the higher base to compare latest quarterly data with, Goldman Sachs said. China's National Bureau of Statistics said this week that it revised its reading for 2006 GDP to 2 ...

Japanese govt bond prices end morning mostly lower; track US Treasurys TOKYO (Thomson Financial) - Japanese government bond prices ended the morning session mostly lower Thursday after US bond prices dropped overnight in the wake of record highs posted on Wall Street. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 5.13 percent Thursday from 5.09 percent late Wednesday. Yesterday the  ...

SYDNEY (Thomson Financial) - The US dollar was steady against other major currencies early in Asian trading hours Friday as the market awaited new leads. Such leads may include the US retail sales report for June, to be released later in the day, which will be scrutinized for signs of the health of the US economy. At 10.01 am here (0001 GMT), the dollar was at 122.43 yen, little changed from 122 ...

MANILA (Thomson Financial) - The Philippine central bank has cut banks' overnight borrowing rate to 6.0 percent from 7.50 percent previously and the overnight lending rate to 8.0 percent from 9.75, while deciding to "maintain a neutral monetary policy stance" during its policy meeting today. Policy-makers also removed the tiered rate system for banks' placements with the central bank.  ...