UK GDP growth for 2011 revised down to 0.8%

Household spending crept up 0.5% during the last three months of 2011 and government spending grew strongly, but it was not enough to prevent the wider British economy from contracting.

S&P Lowers Euro Rescue Fund Outlook to 'Negative'

Standard & Poor’s on Monday lowered its outlook on the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), the fund created for bailing out debt-laden eurozone countries.

Pressure on Europe grows at Mexico G-20 meeting

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Pressure mounted on Europe Saturday to build an even bigger financial stabilization fund to head off sovereign debt concerns, with the United States, Brazil, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development all urging an increase.

France, Belgium back combining Europe's rescue funds: source

PARIS (Reuters) - France has Belgium's support for combining Europe's rescue funds in the face of German opposition, a source close to the French presidency said on Friday.

EU executive to push for bigger rescue fund, win IMF support

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission wants euro zone leaders to agree to a bigger rescue fund to nudge the IMF into backing debt-stricken European economies, despite German resistance to boosting it, the EU's top economic official said on Thursday.

China's urban migrants hold key to domestic demand

SHANGQIU, China (Reuters) - Liu Tao knows he will never be rich enough to own one of the luxury apartments in Beijing that he has been paid to decorate for more than a decade, but he's saving hard so that in another 10 years he'll have enough for a home with indoor plumbing.

EU's Juncker: Deal Will Preserve Euro Area Financial Stability

BRUSSELS -(Dow Jones)- Euro-zone finance ministers early Tuesday agreed an ambitious EUR130 billion rescue deal that will see Greece's private creditors take an even larger loss in order to put the debt-laden country on a sustainable footing, said Jean-Claude Juncker, Luxembourg's prime minister and chairman of the Eurogroup.

China acts to crank up credit as lending, economy slow

SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) - China's central bank cut the amount of cash banks must hold in reserves on Saturday, boosting lending capacity by an estimated 350-400 billion yuan ($55.6-$63.5 billion) in a bid to crank up credit creation as the world's second-biggest economy faces a fifth successive quarter of slowing growth.

Markets back Greek bailout hopes but German schism could still derail deal

Greek hopes of winning the final go-ahead for a new €130bn (£108bn) bailout when eurozone finance ministers meet on Monday could be shattered even though Athens has agreed to further bruising savings.

Zimbabwe Central Bank, Treasury Planning Banking Reforms

JOHANNESBURG – Zimbabwe rolled out a raft of measures this week to boost stability in the country's financial sector, decimated by its economic crisis and investor flight.

US jobless rate falls to 8.3% as jobs surge: Government data

WASHINGTON: The US unemployment rate fell to 8.3 percent in January, its lowest level in nearly three years, thanks to an unexpected surge in hiring, government data showed Friday.

Canada ramps up fight against Volcker rule

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada stepped up pressure on Washington on Monday to rewrite its controversial Volcker rule to remove restrictions on Canadian bank activities that it says do not threaten the U.S. financial system.

GE to hire 5,000 veterans over next 5 years

WASHINGTON: General Electric Co plans to hire 5,000 US military veterans over the next five years and to invest $580 million to expand its aviation footprint in the United States this year.

Canada asks for exemption to Volcker rule

OTTAWA (Reuters) - New banking regulations proposed by Washington to avoid bailouts in the future also reach into Canada in a way that could hurt the government bond market and hinder progress on global financial reform, top Canadian officials said on Monday.

Airlines urge U.N. deal to avert carbon trade war

The call by the head of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) comes amid signs that the EU may be willing to soften a unilateral stance that also risks souring efforts to resolve Europe's sovereign debt crisis with Chinese support.

Greece now needs €145bn bailout to avoid collapse

Ahead of a crucial parliamentary vote to agree to a series of stark austerity measures designed to meet lenders' requirements, it emerged the so-called Troika of rescuers are preparing to plough more funds into the troubled European nation.

ET, the new alien scaring global markets

The United States is coming to be seen as a global threat, acting unilaterally with aggressive new market rules that critics say will hurt U.S. firms, foreign banks, and international markets in one swoop.

Greek euro exit less damaging now; eurozone much stronger: Dutch PM

THE HAGUE: A Greek exit from the eurozone now would be less risky than if it had happened in mid-2010 when its debt crisis first broke, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Tuesday as bailout talks in Athens went to the wire.

UBS profits slump on weak business

Profits UBS have slumped by 76% in its latest quarterly results.

Obama orders blocking of Iranian properties in US

WASHINGTON: In a move bound to rattle Tehran, US President Barack Obama on Monday issued an executive order blocking property of the Iranian government and its financial institutions in America.

Wen says Europe stability in China's interests

China's Premier Wen Jiabao said a stable Europe was key to stability at home, in comments published Sunday, at the end of a week that saw Germany's chancellor visit Beijing.

Iran threatens retaliation over oil embargo

TEHRAN: Iran's supreme leader threatened on Friday to retaliate against the West for sanctions, a day after a US newspaper said defence secretary Leon Panetta believed Israel was likely to bomb Iran within months to stop it building a nuclear bomb.

Bernanke to testify on US economy and deficit

U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will likely tell members of Congress on Thursday that the slowly improving economy may need more help from the Fed and that cutting the deficit too quickly could backfire.

Exclusive: Iran's ships stopped from shipping Ukrainian grain

(Reuters) - Traders are no longer booking cargoes on Iranian ships to transport grain exports from Ukraine because of difficulties with payments following European Union sanctions on Iran, traders said on Wednesday.

Financial Stability Board to 'name and shame' countries over financial security

Mark Carney, chairman of the FSB, has launched the process to look at how the G20 agreement on banking security following the financial crisis is working. Basel III is due to enforce new capital and liquidity rules by 2019.

FSB warns Canada over household debt

The Financial Stability Board expressed concern Tuesday about high levels of household debt in Canada leaving the country's financial system vulnerable to an economic downturn.