BEIJING China has room to increase its fiscal deficit ratio to between 4 and 5 percent to more effectively boost the economy, official media quoted a central bank official as saying. China’s current fiscal deficit target is 3 percent of gross domestic product ... More »
FRANKFURT European Central Bank President Mario Draghi is likely to plead for governments to do more to boost the euro zone’s economy in the coming week as the fallout of Britain’s vote to leave the EU and weaker global growth threaten the bloc’s fragile recov... More »
TOKYO The Bank of Japan will factor in the government’s planned fiscal stimulus package in producing new quarterly projections this month, which will help moderate any cuts to its inflation forecasts, sources familiar with its thinking said. The boost to growt... More »
KUALA LUMPUR Malaysia’s central bank surprised markets on Wednesday by cutting its key interest rate for the first time in seven years, saying the move would help the country remain on a “steady growth path”. Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) cut the overnight policy... More »
SYDNEY The sharp rebound in U.S. job growth last month eased concerns that the country’s labor market had regressed, a top Federal Reserve official said on Wednesday, repeating she continues to expect gradual interest rate rises. Cleveland Fed President Lorett... More »
SYDNEY A change in interest rates will be on the table at every meeting of the Federal Reserve, but the timing of any move will depend on how the economy performs, a top Fed official said on Wednesday. Answering questions after a speech in Sydney, Federal Rese... More »
LONDON/BERLIN German Chancellor Angela Merkel sought on Saturday to temper pressure from Paris, Brussels and her own government to force Britain into negotiating a quick divorce from the EU, despite warnings that hesitation will let populism take hold. Eurosce... More »
BEIJING/TIANJIN, China China’s finance minister and leading economists on Sunday voiced concerns about Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, with the policymaker saying it has heightened market uncertainty, though some expect a limited impact on the Chin... More »
DUBAI Growth in Saudi Arabia’s non-oil gross domestic product is expected to slow to 2.8 percent in 2016 from 3.4 percent in 2015, Saudi central bank governor Ahmed al-Kholifey told state television station Ekhbariya. Kholifey, speaking in an interview broadca... More »
ZURICH Central banks are ready to cooperate to support financial stability in the wake of Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, the Bank for International Settlements said on Saturday. Central bankers gathered at the organization’s global economy meeting... More »
LONDON Britain’s 2.2 million financial industry workers face years of uncertainty and the risk of thousands of job cuts after the country voted to quit the European Union, an upheaval that threatens London’s dominance of finance. The ‘Vote Leave’ campaign fron... More »
NEW YORK J.P. Morgan expects the Federal Reserve would raise U.S. interest rates at its December policy meeting, three months later than its earlier call for such a move, in the wake of Thursday’s Brexit vote that stunned investors, a J.P. Morgan economist sai... More »
SINGAPORE Singapore’s central bank, which has ordered Swiss private bank BSI to close its local operations, said on Friday BSI’s appeal to a Swiss court against a decision by Switzerland’s financial watchdog has no bearing on regulatory action in Singapore. In... More »
FRANKFURT The European Central Bank is planning to give euro zone banks non-binding guidance by the end of 2016 or early 2017 to cut their bad debt pile, raising the heat on lenders but not forcing their hand, sources said. The ECB, which supervises 129 of the... More »
LUXEMBOURG Britain could not rejoin the European Union after leaving because membership requirements would be too onerous, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said on Monday. He said Thursday’s referendum on EU membership offered “no way back”. Since becoming a m... More »
ATHENS Greece could lift most or all capital controls imposed at the height of the euro zone crisis by the end of the year, the head of the country’s banking association said on Saturday. The controls, which restricted the amount of cash that can be withdrawn ... More »
NEW YORK Safe-haven German Bund yields fell below zero on Tuesday for the first time and global equity markets slid for a fourth day running on rising worries about a potential British exit from the European Union. Polls and bookmakers’ odds showed a growing c... More »
FRANKFURT The European Central Bank would publicly pledge to backstop financial markets in tandem with the Bank of England should Britain vote to leave the European Union, officials with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. The preparations illustrate the hei... More »
FRANKFURT Central banks around the globe are preparing financial backstops to mitigate market turmoil in case Britons vote next week to leave the European Union, hoping to buffer the real economy from any short-term impact. Operating with so-called swap lines,... More »
TRENTO, Italy Excessive capital requirements can backfire, Italy’s economy minister said on Saturday, defending a joint French-Italian proposal to cap the amount of reserves that euro zone banks should have to wipe out before they can be rescued. Rules in forc... More »
OTTAWA Governments and central banks need a certain amount of coordination so they can discuss policies and consider the implications on debt levels and financial stability over the medium-term, Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz said on Saturday. One good ... More »
TRENTO, Italy Britain’s exit from the European Union would likely trigger turmoil on financial markets prompting the European Central Bank to act, Governing Council Member Francois Villeroy de Galhau said on Saturday. Villeroy de Galhau told an economic confer... More »
STOCKHOLM The latest disappointing U.S. jobs number has not changed the overall economic picture and gradual rate hikes remain appropriate, Cleveland Federal Reserve President Loretta Mester said on Saturday. The Fed raised rates in December for the first time... More »
NEW YORK With a June Federal Reserve interest rate hike likely off the table following Friday’s dismal jobs data, U.S. equity investors may shift their focus again to whether the economy is losing too much steam to allow stocks to advance. Investors will comb ... More »
DHAKA/NEW YORK Hours before the Federal Reserve Bank of New York approved four fraudulent requests to send $81 million from a Bangladesh Bank account to cyber thieves, the Fed branch blocked those same requests because they lacked information required to trans... More »
WASHINGTON The U.S. economy created the fewest number of jobs in more than 5-1/2-years in May as manufacturing and construction employment fell sharply, which could make it harder for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates. Nonfarm payrolls increased by o... More »
WASHINGTON A U.S. congressional committee has launched an investigation into the Federal Reserve’s cyber security practices after a Reuters report revealed more than 50 cyber breaches at the U.S. central bank between 2011 and 2015. The House Committee on Scien... More »
ATHENS Greece’s government trumpeted a debt relief deal with other euro zone countries on Wednesday as the beginning of the end of its bruising six-year financial crisis but Greeks remained skeptical and markets were cautious. After years of austerity demanded... More »
ATHENS Greece’s parliament will vote on a new package of tax hikes and reforms demanded by its international lenders on Sunday, two days before euro zone finance ministers assess whether Athens qualifies for much-needed bailout loans. The bill would increase v... More »
LONDON The yen fell on Monday as Japan, readying to host a Group of Seven meeting, again signaled its willingness to intervene in the market, driving the currency to erase early gains made on disappointing Chinese data. Vice finance minister for international ... More »
LONDON Europe is becoming “a bad word” due to the strains of the migrant crisis and growing inequality among euro zone countries that risk driving the continent apart, Italy’s Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan said on Wednesday. Speaking at an event hosted by... More »
TOKYO Japan would intervene in foreign exchange markets if the yen firmed to between 90-95 per dollar, even if it upset the United States, a key economic adviser to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Tuesday, asserting the right to curb currency volatility. Koi... More »
LAGOS Nigeria’s central bank (CBN) and law enforcement agencies have launched an investigation into various banking deals after allegations of illegal transactions, it said on Tuesday, and authorities are questioning top executives at several banks. President ... More »
BEIJING China’s consumer inflation remained modest in April, while producer prices’ four-year slump moderated as commodity prices rebounded, easing concerns about deflationary risks to the world’s second-largest economy. But analysts disagreed on whether the p... More »
HONG KONG Asian stocks slipped to two-month lows on Tuesday as weak oil prices weighed on sentiment while the dollar got a lift against its peers as the differences in policy directions between the world’s top central banks became starker. MSCI’s broadest inde... More »
SWIFT on Monday rejected allegations by officials in Bangladesh that technicians with the global messaging system made the nation’s central bank more vulnerable to hacking before an $81 million cyber heist in February. The comments were in response to a Reuter... More »
DHAKA/BOSTON Bangladesh’s central bank became more vulnerable to hackers when technicians from SWIFT, the global financial network, connected a new bank transaction system to SWIFT messaging three months before a $81 million cyber heist, Bangladeshi police and... More »
BERLIN A batch of Greek economic reforms must be reviewed by euro zone finance ministers before any additional debt relief can be decided on, German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said Monday. Seibert said there was a clear process for determining furthe... More »
LONDON Greek banking stocks could rise 90 percent from current levels and yield premiums over German benchmark bonds narrow if Greece and its creditors can reach a deal on releasing new bailout funds and debt relief, Morgan Stanley said on Wednesday. The broke... More »
ROME Talks on concluding Greece’s bailout review to unlock new funds and debt relief are progressing only slowly and no deal is likely at a special meeting of euro zone finance ministers on May 9, two sources close to the talks said on Monday. The sources said... More »
BENGALURU/SYDNEY Asian factories barely grew in April and those in the euro zone did little better despite heavy discounting, setting a sluggish tone on Monday for the global economy in the second quarter. Japanese manufacturing activity shrank last month at t... More »
BRUSSELS/BERLIN Overcoming years of poor health and crisis, the euro zone economy grew at its fastest pace in five years in the first quarter, driven by unlikely stars such as France and Spain. It now stands larger that in did at its peak before the financial ... More »
BRUSSELS Euro zone finance ministers will not meet on Thursday and need more time to discuss Greek reforms that would unlock new loans, signaling significant differences remain between Athens and its lenders on bailout targets. The meeting was a possibility be... More »
TOKYO Asian shares and the dollar dropped on Monday as investors took profits from the currency’s recent gains ahead of central bank meetings in the United States and Japan this week. Financial spreadbetters expected mixed openings for European markets, with B... More »
TOKYO Japan’s central bank is likely to cut its price forecasts on Thursday and debate whether a strong yen, weak global demand and soft consumption have hurt inflation expectations enough to warrant another blow of stimulus. The policy decision will be a clos... More »
The attackers who stole $81 million from the Bangladesh central bank probably hacked into software from the SWIFT financial platform that is at the heart of the global financial system, said security researchers at British defense contractor BAE Systems. SWIFT... More »
NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO U.S. Federal Reserve policymakers are expected to hold interest rates steady when they meet this week, but may tweak their description of the economic outlook to reflect more benign conditions, leaving the path open for future rate rises... More »
JAKARTA A tax amnesty program planned by Indonesia’s government could potentially attract home 560 trillion rupiah ($42.38 billion) of assets stashed offshore, the central bank governor told a parliamentary commission on Monday. The amnesty program could also ... More »
HANOVER, Germany U.S. President Barack Obama said the European Union and United States must move forward with a trade free trade accord still under negotiation which supporters say could boost each economy by some $100 billion. “It is indisputable” that free t... More »
VIENNA Europe and Japan’s central bank policies of negative interest rates are a “horror” and will run counter to the desired effect, Jeffrey Gundlach, the widely followed investor who runs DoubleLine Capital, said in an interview with a Swiss newspaper. Gundl... More »
DHAKA Bangladesh’s central bank was vulnerable to hackers because it did not have a firewall and used second-hand, $10 switches to network computers connected to the SWIFT global payment network, an investigator into one of the world’s biggest cyber heists sai... More »
AMSTERDAM Greece should prepare a package of additional measures to guarantee it will reach fiscal targets agreed with international lenders to conclude the bailout reform review, the head of euro zone finance ministers said on Friday. “We came to the conclusi... More »
FRANKFURT There is ongoing growth in the euro zone economy and this should continue, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said on Thursday. “We expect the economic recovery to proceed,” Draghi told a news conference, although he added that global risks... More »
BERLIN The next president of the European Central Bank should come from Germany, members of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Bavarian allies said on Monday. German conservative politicians have complained loudly in recent weeks that the ECB’s ultra-low rates are cre... More »
NEW YORK Jeffrey Gundlach, the widely followed investor who runs DoubleLine Capital, said on a webcast on Tuesday that the Federal Reserve’s rate hike cycle “increasingly likely” looks like a one and done scenario this year. Gundlach, who oversees $95 billion ... More »
FRANKFURT Almost a month after stoking a divisive debate about how far it should go in pumping money into the flagging euro zone economy, the European Central Bank is trying to soothe relations with Germany after unusually strong criticism from Berlin. Late la... More »
LIMA Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of a jailed former president, led Peru’s election on Sunday but she likely faces a tight run-off against centrist economist Pedro Pablo Kuczynski in a vote that would protect the country’s free-market economic model. Fujimori,... More »
BRUSSELS In Athens, walls have ears. The leaking of a conference call of International Monetary Fund officials on Greece’s latest bailout review has further undermined mutual trust in fraught debt talks, embarrassed the European Commission and infuriated the I... More »
SYDNEY/TOKYO Demand for the yen showed little signs of abating on Monday, with the currency reaching a fresh 17-month high, prompting the Japanese government to warn that it could take steps to weaken the exchange rate. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga t... More »
HONG KONG The Bank of Italy is carrying out an on-site inspection at the Italian offices of Bank of China Ltd (601988.SS), a Chinese state-owned bank already facing accusations of aiding illicit money flows from Italy to China, a source familiar with the situa... More »
WASHINGTON President Barack Obama will meet with U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen on Monday to discuss the economy and Wall Street reform, the White House said on Sunday. Vice President Joe Biden will also attend the meeting. The president and the Fed c... More »
ST PETERSBURG, Russia Russian President Vladimir Putin said a friend of his named in the “Panama Papers” leaks had done nothing wrong and spent the money he earned from business on buying expensive musical instruments which he was donating to public institutio... More »
ATHENS/WASHINGTON International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde denied on Sunday that IMF staff would push Greece closer to default as a negotiating tactic on a new Greek bailout deal, which she said was “still a good distance away.” Lagarde ... More »
From his seat atop the Fed’s smallest bank, in a region known for fracking, farming and ranching, Neel Kashkari wants to make sure he’s heard well beyond the northern plains. Since becoming president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis this year, the 42... More »
BRUSSELS Euro zone finance ministers are likely to start discussing debt relief for Greece on the sidelines of the IMF’s spring meetings in mid-April, if there is a deal by then with Athens on a reform package, euro zone officials said. Representatives of Gree... More »
NEW YORK The U.S. Federal Reserve will not raise short-term interest rates more than twice, if at all, in 2016, on expectations of slowing hiring in the second half of the year, a top bond manager at BlackRock, the world’s top asset manager said on Friday. Des... More »
TOKYO Driving interest rates below zero, the Bank of Japan has turned a comatose government bond market into an enormous free-for-all, complicating the central bank’s own efforts to kick-start growth and end deflation. The $9 trillion market for Japanese gover... More »
Presidential candidate Ted Cruz says he is the most consistent conservative left in the Republican race. The senator from Texas promises to cut taxes, slash regulations, crack down on illegal immigration and stick up for gun owners if he wins the White House. ... More »
TOKYO Bank of Japan policymakers engaged in heated debate during their policy review in March on the pros and cons of their decision in January to adopt negative interest rates, with one even saying it was preferable to roll it back. A summary of the March 14-... More »
SYDNEY The dollar advanced for a fifth straight session on Thursday, pressuring commodities and Asian shares after yet another Federal Reserve official talked up the chance of more than one increase in U.S interest rates this year. If the dollar .DXY can keep ... More »
NEW YORK The dollar rose to a one-week high against a basket of currencies on Wednesday as Federal Reserve officials talked up the likelihood of more interest rates later this year, perhaps as early as April. The dollar index .DXY, which tracks the U.S. curren... More »
TOKYO Asian shares began a central-bank focused week on firm footing on Monday, buoyed by gains on Wall Street as well as glimmers of strength in weekend data from China. Financial spreadbetters expected Britain’s FTSE 100 .FTSE to open 0.3 percent higher. Ger... More »
SAN FRANCISCO The Federal Reserve won’t raise interest rates this week, but will likely make clear that as long as U.S. inflation and jobs continue to strengthen, economic weakness overseas won’t stop rates from rising fairly soon. That will be a big change fr... More »
TOKYO Bank of Japan (BOJ) officials have been scurrying to commercial banks to explain and apologize for its surprise adoption of negative interest rates in January, while Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has distanced himself from a decision that is proving unpopula... More »
ACAPULCO, Mexico BlackRock Inc Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink said on Friday that China may be the biggest hurdle to global financial markets and that central bankers are adding to risks with negative-interest rate policies. “China does represent maybe mor... More »
NOTTINGHAM, England The Bank of England (BoE) is still more likely to raise interest rates than to cut them over the next two years, but it has plenty of scope to stimulate the economy if needed, one of the bank’s policymakers said on Tuesday. Martin Weale, in... More »
DUBAI Saudi Arabia’s government has asked banks to submit proposals to extend it a five-year, U.S. dollar loan of between $6 billion and $8 billion, with an option to increase the size, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday. Earlier this m... More »
WASHINGTON Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby on Tuesday started to ease the backlog of 16 Obama administration nominees stalled before the panel, scheduling a March 15 confirmation hearing for two Securities and Exchange Commission nominees. The... More »
NEW YORK Stocks “can go up five, 10 percent, maybe” despite a slowing U.S. economy, BlackRock Inc’s chief investment officer of global fixed income Rick Rieder said on Tuesday. The market’s negative attitude towards the high-yield corporate debt market – relat... More »
The 2016 U.S. presidential election may succeed where the world’s central banks have failed, but not as they would wish: in bringing back inflation through protectionism. One of the most striking aspects of the election campaign is the way in which Donald Trum... More »
BRUSSELS A team of international lenders from the euro zone and the International Monetary Fund is likely to return to Athens in the coming week to begin to finalize a review of reforms, paving the way for more loan payouts and debt relief talks, officials sai... More »
LONDON Yanis Varoufakis, the self-described “erratic Marxist” who took Greece to the brink of a euro zone exit by battling creditors over the conditions for a bailout, has got a new role: advising Britain’s opposition Labour Party. The former Greek finance min... More »
NEW DELHI The government unveiled a budget for the poor on Monday, announcing new rural aid schemes and skimping on a bank bailout, in a strategy shift that seeks to boost Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party in coming state elections. Finance Minister ... More »
SHANGHAI Financial leaders of the world’s 20 biggest economies agreed to inform each other in advance about policy decisions that could lead to devaluations of their currencies, the chairman of euro zone finance ministers Jeroen Dijsselbloem said on Saturday. ... More »
SHANGHAI Investors hoping for a grand plan from the world’s top financial officials to stabilize shaky markets are set for disappointment, insiders say, when finance ministers and central bankers gather this week in Shanghai to discuss the troubled global econ... More »
HOUSTON It is still unclear whether the recent downturn in global financial markets will have any substantial impact on the U.S. economy, Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer said on Tuesday, suggesting the episode may still pass without much effect o... More »
TOKYO The yen gained against key peers like the dollar and euro on Wednesday as sagging stocks and crude oil drove bids for the safe-haven currency. Undercutting upward momentum for equities, oil prices retraced earlier gains made at the week’s start and tumbl... More »
FRANKFURT It doesn’t look like much, but a boxy wooden vintage Swedish footstool isn’t just a place to rest your weary feet after cross-country skiing. It is the latest competition to hedge funds or high end real estate. And that means it will cost you $17,000... More »
PARIS Distracted by an unresolved migration crisis and negotiations on keeping Britain in the European Union, euro zone leaders could be caught unprepared by a new storm on financial markets. Global market turmoil since the start of the year has helped set war... More »
BRUSSELS International lenders are concerned with the quality of reforms in Greece, in exchange for which Athens is getting loans, the chairman of euro zone finance ministers Jeroen Dijsselbloem told the European Parliament’s economic committee on Thursday. Di... More »
LONDON The dollar turned lower against the euro in Europe on Monday as stock markets resumed their decline, wiping out gains based on Friday’s U.S. jobs report. A rise in oil prices during Asian trading helped commodity-linked currencies like the Australian an... More »
TOKYO The Bank of Japan could confuse markets and trigger a global competition to push interest rates deeper into negative territory by cutting its rates below zero, dissenters to the move told a rate review last month, underscoring Governor Haruhiko Kuroda’s ... More »
LONDON Global markets have been in turmoil since the start of the year, with stocks and commodities prices reeling, eroding inflation and making central banks increasingly dovish – a trend that could continue with more weak economic data. China, a focus of muc... More »
SHANGHAI Chinese shares stumbled lower on Monday after an official measure of activity in the giant factory sector fell to its lowest since mid-2012, offering no respite for markets from the country’s economic drift. The Shanghai Composite Index .SSEC eased 1.... More »
SYDNEY January updates on Asia’s mammoth factory sector released on Monday showed the new year began much as the old one ended – with too much capacity chasing too little demand. China was again the epicentre of disappointment as its official measure of manufa... More »
TOKYO/SYDNEY The yen nursed broad losses on Monday and the euro struggled for traction after the Bank of Japan adopted negative interest rates, heightening expectations that the European Central bank will ease policy too, making European bond yields slide. The... More »
NEW YORK Mohamed El-Erian, the chief economic advisor at Allianz, said on Friday the Bank of Japan’s shocking move to take one of its main interest rates into negative territory underscored the country’s hope to weaken the yen to re-inflate its economy. “Count... More »
SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON In the U.S. Federal Reserve’s arsenal of tools the characterization of economic risks is heavy artillery, used to flag the moments when major events like the 2003 Iraq war or the near crack-up of the euro zone in 2011 make forecasting ... More »
LONDON European stocks succumbed to another slide in oil prices on Wednesday as markets waited cautiously to see what the Federal Reserve’s reaction will be to what has been a brutal start to the year for world markets. Asian and particularly Chinese bourses .... More »
SHANGHAI Chinese highly volatile shares ended lower again on Wednesday after plunging on Tuesday, taking losses in 2016 to about 22 percent or 12 trillion yuan ($1.8 trillion). The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index ended down 0.5 percent, having been up in th... More »
