Economic News

By Steven Scheer JERUSALEM, Dec 29 (Reuters) - The Bank of Israel lowered short-term borrowing rates by three-quarters of a point on Monday on concerns of a deteriorating economy and warned of further economic fallout from fighting in the Gaza Strip. In lowering its key lending rate to an all-time low of 1.75 percent, Israel's central bank largely matched a similar move by the Federal Res ...

JERUSALEM, Dec 29 (Reuters) - The Bank of Israel cut short-term borrowing rates by three-quarters of a point to a new record low of 1.75 percent for its fifth reduction in less than three months due to worries of a sharply deteriorating economy. The move was more aggressive than the half point cut that had been expected and brings total rate cuts since Oct. 7 to 2.5 percentage points. Infl ...

Stocks on the move Real-Time Equity news U.S. stock market report 1130 ET 29Dec2008-Lehman bankruptcy wiped out $75 bln: WSJ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The emergency bankruptcy filing of Lehman Brothers wiped out as much as $75 billion of potential value for creditors, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal, which cited ...

Stocks on the move Real-Time Equity news U.S. stock market report 1146 ET 29Dec2008-Crude could reach $100/barrel again: IEA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Crude oil prices could return to triple-digit levels between 2010 and 2015, according to Fatih Birol, the chief economist at the International Energy Agency. The commodity ...

RIGA, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Latvia has got a first tranche of 589.57 million euros ($845 million) from the IMF after agreeing a 7.5 billion euro loan from the Fund and other lenders over three years, the Finance Ministry said on Monday. The Baltic state had to turn for a financial rescue to the IMF after its economy plunged into recession and it had to rescue its second largest bank, Parex Ba ...

Stocks on the move Real-Time Equity news U.S. stock market report 1055 ET 29Dec2008-Riverbed Tech falls after downgrade ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Shares of Riverbed Technology slumped on Monday after Wedbush Morgan lowered its rating on the stock to a "hold" from a "buy," citing deteriorating expectatio ...

Stocks on the move Real-Time Equity news U.S. stock market report 1120 ET 29Dec2008-Cash-rich cos better able to withstand weak economy-analyst ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Cash-rich, low-debt companies are better suited to weather the economic storm and skittish investors should look into companies like Apple Inc , Merck Inc and I ...

Stocks on the move Real-Time Equity news U.S. stock market report 1123 ET 29Dec2008-Barron's: Hewlett-Packard is recession resistant ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Barron's Sunday said that computer company Hewlett-Packard is recession-resistant, helped by a reliable revenue stream and a financial position that could help it increase  ...

Stocks on the move Real-Time Equity news U.S. stock market report 1127 ET 29Dec2008-Satyam up after directors resign ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ U.S.-listed shares of Satyam Computer rose on Monday, after three more of the company's directors resigned and it said it would consider more options to improve value. The stock has falle ...

Stocks on the move Real-Time Equity news U.S. stock market report 1048 ET 29Dec2008-Banks post $6 bln in Q3 trading revenue ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Commercial banks in the U.S. reported $6 billion in third-quarter revenue from trading foreign exchange, interest-rate and other derivative instruments, according to data fr ...