| Wall Street flat in wake of weak consumer sentiment data Posted: 07 Dec 2012 07:28 AM PST  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks were little changed on Friday after a weak consumer confidence survey for December overshadowed earlier gains triggered by a better-than-expected employment report. Wall Street had opened higher after Labor Department data showed nonfarm employment increased more than expected by 146,000 jobs in November. But major U.S. stock indexes gave up their gains, with the Nasdaq turning negative, after a separate report showed U.S. ...
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| Employment shrugs off Superstorm Sandy Posted: 07 Dec 2012 08:13 AM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Employers hired more workers than expected in November, with the labor market showing little apparent impact from Superstorm Sandy and jobs growth remaining on a steady but slow path. At the same time, the jobless rate fell to a near four-year low, but that was only because so many Americans gave up the hunt for work, tempering the surprising news on jobs growth. A big plunge in consumer confidence in December also offered a cautionary note on the economy's health. ...
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| Consumer confidence plunges on "fiscal cliff" fears Posted: 07 Dec 2012 08:37 AM PST  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Americans' outlook on the economy and their finances took a turn for the worse in early December, likely due to anxiety about the potential for higher taxes resulting from contentious discussions in Washington over fiscal issues, a survey released on Friday showed. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's preliminary reading of its index of consumer sentiment plunged to 74.5 in early December, the lowest level since August. It was far below November's figure of 82.7 and the median forecast of 82.4 among economists polled by Reuters. ...
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| ECB rate cut possible following "serious" debate Posted: 07 Dec 2012 06:35 AM PST  BRATISLAVA/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - A European Central Bank policymaker said on Friday the bank had had a "very serious" debate about cutting interest rates this week and that a cut was possible next year if the euro zone economy does not pick up. The German and Austrian central banks separately suggested such a pick up is unlikely, forecasting scant growth in their economies in 2013. The ECB kept interest rates on hold on Thursday, but Governing Council members held "a wide discussion" about cutting interest rates from their current record low of 0.75 percent. ...
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| China nod clears way for Glencore's Viterra purchase Posted: 07 Dec 2012 08:20 AM PST  (Reuters) - Glencore International Plc won approval from China's Ministry of Commerce on Friday for its C$6 billion ($6 billion) purchase of Canadian grain handler Viterra Inc, clearing the last regulatory hurdle for the long-delayed deal. The takeover, one of the largest in the global agriculture industry in years, was originally expected to close by late July. ...
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| Greek banks get board approval for debt buyback Posted: 07 Dec 2012 08:31 AM PST  ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's three biggest banks won board approval to take part in the country's debt buyback which expires on Friday, putting Athens on track to meet targets set by international lenders. The buyback scheme, in which investors must declare their interest by Friday, is central to efforts by Greece's euro zone and International Monetary Fund lenders to cut its debt to manageable levels and unlock aid for the stricken country. ...
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| EU's Rehn says leaders must agree on bank supervision Posted: 07 Dec 2012 07:38 AM PST  HELSINKI (Reuters) - The EU's top economics official, Olli Rehn, said on Friday that it was important that European leaders meeting in Brussels next week reach an agreement on plans for pan-EU banking supervision. European finance ministers and leaders meet later next week to try to bridge their differences over how to supervise banks around the European Union in the wake of the global financial and euro zone debt crises. ...
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| Airbus orders surge in November but lag Boeing Posted: 07 Dec 2012 08:18 AM PST PARIS (Reuters) - Airbus confirmed on Friday it had sold 186 aircraft in November, putting it on the verge of meeting its goal for the full year but failing to close a gap with rival Boeing . Between January and November, Airbus sold 646 aircraft, or a net total of 585 after adjusting for cancellations. Airbus delivered 516 aircraft in the same period. The European planemaker announcement confirms figures reported by Reuters on Monday. Airbus has set a target of 650 plane sales in 2012. ... |
| Barclays to invest in Spanish "bad bank": source Posted: 07 Dec 2012 08:10 AM PST  LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Barclays will invest in Spain's so-called 'bad bank' as a signal of its commitment to helping fix the country's banking troubles, a person familiar with the matter said on Friday. Spain has set up the bad bank, known as SAREB, to take toxic property assets from banks' balance sheets so they can lend more to individuals and businesses. Its creation was a condition for Spain to get money from Europe to clean up its financial sector after a 2008 property crash. The country is looking for private sector investors to stump up 2.2 billion euros ($2. ...
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| Euribor rates fall after ECB says discussed rate cut Posted: 07 Dec 2012 02:26 AM PST  FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Key Euribor bank-to-bank lending rates fell on Friday, a day after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said the bank discussed cutting interest rates at its December meeting but in the end decided to leave them unchanged at 0.75 percent. Draghi said on Thursday there had been "a wide discussion" on rate cuts during the Governing Council meeting, which fuelled expectation that the ECB was ready to lower rates further in the coming months. The central bank also announced a six-month extension to its full-allotment policy in all liquidity operations. ...
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| US economy adds 146K jobs, rate falls to 7.7 pct. Posted: 07 Dec 2012 07:18 AM PST  The U.S. economy added a solid 146,000 jobs in November and the unemployment rate fell to 7.7 percent, the lowest since December 2008. The government said Superstorm Sandy had only a minimal effect on the figures.
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| APNewsBreak: Dhaka factory lost fire certification Posted: 07 Dec 2012 06:19 AM PST  The factory where 112 garment workers died in a fire should have been shut down months ago. The fire department refused to renew the certification it needed to operate, a top fire official told The Associated Press. And its owner told AP that just three of the factory's eight floors were legal. He was building a ninth.
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| Stocks mixed as investors work through jobs report Posted: 07 Dec 2012 07:58 AM PST  The stock market was mixed Friday after the government released its latest jobs report.
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| Apple's softer side emerges under CEO Cook Posted: 07 Dec 2012 08:47 AM PST  "Those jobs aren't coming back."
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| Boehner: No progress in fiscal cliff talks Posted: 07 Dec 2012 08:36 AM PST  House Speaker John Boehner said Friday there has been no progress in negotiations to avert a "fiscal cliff" combination of automatic tax increases and spending cuts in January and called on President Barack Obama to produce a new offer.
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| Oil prices fall slightly after upbeat jobs report Posted: 07 Dec 2012 07:42 AM PST The price of oil is bouncing between small gains and losses after the latest report on hiring in the U.S. offered a mixed picture of the economy. |
| UN climate talks go into overtime in Qatar Posted: 07 Dec 2012 08:20 AM PST  Nearly 200 countries haggling over how to stop climate change — and how to pay for it — failed to reach a deal on schedule Friday, setting the stage for the wrangling to continue late into the night.
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| German central bank cuts 2013 growth forecast Posted: 07 Dec 2012 04:42 AM PST Germany's central bank sharply cut its 2013 economic growth forecast to 0.4 percent on Friday, while poor industrial production figures underlined expectations of a weak winter for Europe's biggest economy. |
| Italy's Berlusconi puts pressure on new PM Monti Posted: 07 Dec 2012 08:13 AM PST  Although Italy's Silvio Berlusconi resigned in disgrace a year ago, has since been convicted of tax fraud and now faces plunging poll numbers, the media baron is showing he still has the power to put pressure on his successor, Premier Mario Monti.
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| Gazprom starts building Europe-bound pipeline Posted: 07 Dec 2012 08:29 AM PST  After years of delays and negotiations, Russian gas company Gazprom on Friday formally started construction of its €16 billion ($20.65 billion) Europe-bound South Stream pipeline, key to its strategy of strengthening its supply to its most important export market.
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