Economic News

By Adrian Croft LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Gordon Brown got a boost from an opinion poll on Sunday and said his priority for 2008 would be steering Britain's economy through the fallout from the global credit crunch. The Sunday Times poll showed Brown's Labour Party lagging the Conservatives by five points -- a sharp improvement from a 13-point deficit two weeks ago, perhaps reflecting a le ...

TOKYO (Thomson Financial) - The Bank of Japan is considering slashing the nation's economic growth forecast for the fiscal year to March to as low as 1.3 percent from 1.8 percent currently, the Mainichi Shimbun reported Sunday. The expected downward revision is mainly due to an overall slowdown in the economy led by a slump in the nation's housing sector, the newspaper said. It said the central  ...

By Adrian Croft LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Sunday his 2008 priority would be dealing with the global credit crunch and steering a stable course through the financial turbulence. "The global credit problem that started in America is now the most immediate challenge for every economy and addressing it the most immediate priority," he said in a New Year's message setting o ...

SINGAPORE (Thomson Financial) - (Updates with closing figures throughout) Asian stocks closed higher Monday as investors cheered Friday's strong performance on Wall Street, although volumes were subdued in the holiday-shortened week with some markets closed and most others finishing off early. The Japanese, Philippine, Indonesian and Thai markets were closed today. The South Korean Kospi was th ...

HANOI (Thomson Financial) - Vietnam's economy grew at about 8.4 percent this year, but inflation rose even faster, with prices shooting up 12.6 percent in 2007, state media quoted the communist government as saying Monday. The economic growth estimate sets a new record for Vietnam, which joined the World Trade Organisation at the start of the year, Planning and Investment Minister Vo Hong Phuc to ...

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Bank of England rate setter David Blanchflower said UK earnings growth remains benign and is set to remain so for the foreseeable future. Writing in The Guardian, the dovish Monetary Policy Committee member said the "fear" of unemployment has reduced workers' bargaining position, in part because of the influx of workers from Eastern Europe. "I take the ...

FRANKFURT (Thomson Financial) - Bert Ruerup, chairman of the "wise men" five-member panel of economic advisors to the German government sees German wages increasing by 1.5 pct in 2008, the largest annual increase in the last 13 years, according to an article in Bild magazine. Hans Werner Sinn, president of the IFO institute made similar predictions to the newspaper but said the increase ...

MUMBAI (Thomson Financial) - Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said further deterioration in economic conditions, inflation pressures, tightening lending standards, a significant slowdown in the US, weakening property markets in the UK, Ireland, Spain and the effects of strong European currencies against the US dollar will pressure the ratings of Europe's top 50 corporate borrowers in 2008.  ...

HONG KONG (Thomson Financial) - The dollar was little changed against the euro and yen in listless afternoon trade in Asia Monday ahead of the release of Christmas retail sales data, a key gauge of US economic performance. "Investors are focused on Christmas sales figures," said Mark Wan, chief analyst at Hang Seng Investment Services Ltd. "We have to wait until after the first wee ...

SINGAPORE (Thomson Financial) - Asian stocks rose Monday as investors cheered Friday's strong performance on Wall Street, although volumes were subdued in the holiday-shortened week and with some markets already closed and most others due to finish early. The Japanese, Philippine, Indonesian and Thai markets are closed today. The Korean Kospi was the best performer of the session, climbing 2.1 p ...