Headline
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Big US banks submit "living wills" to regulators
2012-07-03 18:25:49 UTC
Nine of the largest U.S. banks have submitted plans to the federal regulators that show how they would break up and sell off their assets if they are in danger of failing.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. released summaries of the "living wills" on Tuesday for Bank of America, Barclays, Cit...
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Airbus to build 1st US assembly plant in Alabama
2012-07-02 22:46:09 UTC
MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — European aerospace giant Airbus will start building planes in Mobile, Ala., planting its first factory on U.S. soil and aiming to compete better against archrival Boeing.
Airbus, based in France, said it plans to employ 1,000 people at the plant building its A320s, deliveri...
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Asian stocks inch higher on Europe optimism
2012-07-02 06:05:02 UTC
SINGAPORE (AP) — Asian stock markets inched higher Monday amid continued optimism over Europe's moves to ease its debt crisis and economic malaise.
Japan's Nikkei 225 index rose 0.4 percent to 9,037.95 and South Korea's Kospi gained 0.2 percent to 1,857.08. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index added ...
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Stocks rally as Europe unveils debt crisis plans
2012-06-29 16:36:19 UTC
The Dow Jones industrial average jumped more than 200 points, joining a surge in global markets, after European leaders agreed to easier bank bailouts and regional oversight for their troubled financial sector.
Leaders in Brussels unveiled a plan to funnel money to banks directly from a region...
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Merkel: no quick solution to crisis
2012-06-27 15:57:11 UTC
BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday brushed aside the latest push to pool European debt, arguing that it would be "economically wrong and counterproductive" to make such a move before governments can be made to comply with budget rules.
In the run-up to another European ...
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Stocks rise on stronger US housing, factory data
2012-06-27 15:51:39 UTC
U.S. stocks are trading solidly higher at midday after a two pieces of good news about the U.S. economy.
The National Association of Realtors said Wednesday that Americans signed more contracts to buy previously occupied homes in May. It was the latest sign of the housing market's slow recover...
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Asian stocks up slightly on improving US home data
2012-06-27 07:26:45 UTC
BANGKOK (AP) — Asian stock markets edged up Wednesday as rising home prices in the U.S. eased jitters over the robustness of the world's No. 1 economy.
A report showing that U.S. home prices rose 1.3 percent in April, indicating an uptick a sector closely tied to the health of the overall econ...
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European plan tries to convince Germany to do more
2012-06-26 18:07:30 UTC
BRUSSELS (AP) — Top European officials have called on countries that use the euro to surrender more control over their national budgets, a move apparently aimed at easing Germany's fears of sharing debt burdens with struggling governments like Spain or Italy.
The plan is meant to be a grand vi...
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Moody's cuts debt ratings of 28 Spanish banks
2012-06-26 06:16:04 UTC
Spain's battered banks have taken another hit, this time in the form of a sweeping downgrade by Moody's.
The rating agency said that it is cutting its views on the debt issued by 28 Spanish banks, including international heavyweights Banco Santander and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria.
The ...
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Spain asks for bank rescue
2012-06-26 05:44:12 UTC
MADRID (AP) — Spain has made a formal request for a loan to help clean up its troubled banking sector, the Economy Ministry said Monday.
However, the country has yet to specify how much of the €100 billion ($125.39 billion) loan package offered by the 17 countries that use the euro it will ask...
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Greece faces more woes: Finance minister resigns
2012-06-25 20:41:03 UTC
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — The banker who was chosen to be Greece's next finance minister resigned for health reasons Monday three days after he was rushed to the hospital, while the country's prime minister was confined to his home, recovering from serious eye surgery.
Greece's debt woes took a ba...
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Royal Bank of Scotland protests downgrade
2012-06-24 10:10:10 UTC
LONDON (AP) — Royal Bank of Scotland, one of four big British banks to be downgraded by Moody's Investors Service, complained Friday that the rating is "backward-looking."
Part-nationalized RBS was downgraded Thursday along with HSBC, Barclays and Lloyds Banking Group as well as other banks li...
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Negotiators closing in on student loan deal
2012-06-23 18:09:27 UTC
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional bargainers appeared to be closing in on a compromise that would head off a July 1 doubling of interest rates on federal loans to 7.4 million college students and end an election-year battle between President Barack Obama and Congress.
Senate aides from both part...
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Greek outlines issues it wants renegotiated
2012-06-23 18:03:21 UTC
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece's new coalition government said Saturday it will seek to repeal some taxes, halt layoffs and extend by two years the deadlines for tough austerity measures imposed under its international bailout agreement.
The policy statement issued by the three-party coalition c...
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European leaders push for $163 bln in measures
2012-06-22 16:02:19 UTC
ROME (AP) — The leaders of France, Germany, Italy and Spain have agreed to push for a €130 billion ($163 billion) growth package at a key European Union summit next week.
Italian Premier Mario Monti told a news conference after the four-way summit that the leaders recognize that steps taken so...
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Stocks plunge after weak manufacturing reports
2012-06-21 19:55:37 UTC
NEW YORK (AP) — A quiet start on Wall Street quickly turned into a rout Thursday as the bad news piled up.
Commodity prices slumped in early trading after a report said manufacturing in China fell this month. Then, around 10 a.m., the Philadelphia branch of the Federal Reserve reported a sharp...
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China defends curbs on rare earths
2012-06-20 06:07:17 UTC
BEIJING (AP) — China on Wednesday defended its curbs on rare earths mining and exports amid a World Trade Organization challenge brought by the United States, Europe and Japan.
The government said its controls are meant to protect the environment and preserve dwindling resources and are in lin...
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Europe's relief from Greek vote likely fleeting
2012-06-18 19:33:38 UTC
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece's election result has eased fears of imminent financial disaster for Europe, but the continent's leaders are still searching for a way to contain a debt crisis that threatens the global economy.
A narrow victory for the New Democracy party in Greece means that the ...
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Obama, world want bold signs from Europe at G-20
2012-06-18 00:13:14 UTC
CHICAGO (AP) — With global anxiety rising, President Barack Obama is searching for bolder, swifter signals from Europe that it will contain its financial mess and keep it from torpedoing the U.S. economy and his re-election chances along with it.
Yet as he prepares for summit talks beginning M...
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European leaders discuss continent's debt crisis
2012-06-15 18:31:29 UTC
LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister David Cameron's office says European leaders have held a video conference on the continent's worsening debt crisis.
Cameron's office said Friday that German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande, Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti, Sp...
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Following fallout from a Greek euro exit to the US
2012-06-15 08:36:26 UTC
NEW YORK (AP) — The unthinkable suddenly looks possible.
Bankers, governments and investors are starting to prepare for Greece to stop using the euro as its currency, a move that could spread turmoil throughout the global financial system.
The worst-case scenario envisions governments defau...
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Asia stocks rise amid hopes for central bank help
2012-06-15 07:20:42 UTC
BANGKOK (AP) — Asian stock markets rose Friday as investors waded back into riskier assets amid hopes that central banks in the U.S. and elsewhere were gearing up for action to help their beleaguered economies.
Jobs data out of the U.S. Thursday led investors to speculate that the U.S. Federal...
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US unemployment aid applications rise to 386K
2012-06-14 16:50:42 UTC
WASHINGTON (AP) — More Americans sought unemployment aid last week, suggesting hiring remains sluggish.
The Labor Department said Thursday that weekly unemployment benefit applications rose 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 386,000, an increase from an upwardly revised 380,000 the previous week.
...
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Merkel firmly behind euro, but will she act?
2012-06-14 07:10:45 UTC
BERLIN (AP) — Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel has insisted repeatedly that "if the euro fails, Europe fails."
Now the crisis in the 17 countries that use the euro is coming back to the boil, with Spain admitting it needs help to rescue its banks and voters in Greece deciding whether to back...
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Lower gas prices not enough to lift US economy
2012-06-13 19:32:07 UTC
WASHINGTON (AP) — Cheaper gas has yet to cause consumers to spend enough on other goods to boost the slumping economy.
Americans barely increased their spending at retail businesses this spring, leading economists to predict slower economic growth in the April-June quarter.
But the news fro...