Economy News

There are a few subtleties to the great euro crisis you only really pick up when you spend a bit of time on the other side of the Channel.

(Reuters) - The board of JPMorgan Chase & Co is expected to make changes to its risk-policy committee after the bank's trading losses of more than $2 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing anonymous sources. The board is expected to add either Timothy Flynn or James Bell to the committee, the Journal …

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's Bankia said on Saturday that it could sell its stakes in Spanish companies in future, a day after it asked the state for a 19 billion euro ($23.77 billion) bailout, the biggest ever bank rescue in the country. Bankia and its parent group BFA have holdings in big Spanish companies, including in …

The Government is making contingency plans to cope with a potential increase in immigration should the euro currency collapse, the Home Secretary has revealed.

LONDON (Reuters) - The late spring warmth spreading across Europe and the United States is unlikely to soothe a growing anxiety in financial markets that the global outlook is anything but balmy. An escalating euro zone crisis and weak data from China and Europe have turned investment flows ever more firmly toward safe-haven …

LONDON (Reuters) - Weak British gross domestic product data this week strengthens the case for more Bank of England stimulus, but this has to be weighed against above-target inflation, BoE policymaker Martin Weale said on Friday. Revised official data this week showed that Britain's economy contracted by 0.3 percent in …

ATHENS (Reuters) - Parties supporting and opposing Greece's international bailout are running neck-and-neck ahead of next month's repeat national election, which could determine the country's future in the euro zone, three opinion polls showed on Friday. Greece was forced to call the new June 17 vote after an election on …

(Reuters) - Central banks and companies risk making a grave error if they do not brace for a possible Greek exit from the euro zone, Belgium's foreign minister said on Friday, rattling markets already alarmed by Spain's deteriorating finances. Greek elections are scheduled for June 17 and could hasten the country's departure …

The euro extended its slide against the dollar Friday, dipping below $1.25, under pressure from uncertainty over the future of Greece in the eurozone, and the risk of contagion from its debt crisis.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks and the euro slipped on Friday as Spain's deteriorating finances and a possible Greek exit from the euro overshadowed an upbeat report on U.S. consumer confidence. Oil prices edged higher due to a lack of progress in talks with Iran over its disputed nuclear program and the rise in U.S. …

MADRID (Reuters) - Financial troubles at a big Spanish bank and one of the country's richest regions, Catalonia, piled on problems on Friday for the Madrid government and for investors who question whether it can pay its debts without help from euro zone allies. Bankia SA, Spain's fourth biggest bank and newly nationalised, …

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's troubled Bankia , which asked for a state bailout of 19 billion euros on Friday, also revealed a 2.979 billion euro (2.38 billion pounds) loss for 2011 after restating its accounts. The bank had stated in early May, before the state started a nationalisation process, that it had made a profit …

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase Chief Executive Jamie Dimon has been invited to testify before the Senate Banking Committee on June 7 to give lawmakers insight into the bank's trading loss of at least $2 billion (1.27 billion pounds), Senator Tim Johnson said on Friday. Johnson, the Democratic chairman of that Senate …

LONDON (Reuters) - HSBC said it had no appetite to take advantage of turmoil in the euro zone and make big acquisitions there or anywhere else where rivals are selling major assets. "We're good at running our own businesses, we're not so good at making acquisitions, so history suggests that we would do better to run our …

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's Bankia SA is set to ask the state for a more than 15 billion euros (12 billion pounds) bailout on Friday, marking another rise in the cost of a drawn-out rescue of the country's fourth-biggest bank. The capital shortfall at Bankia is key to a wider funding gap in Spain's banking system, which …

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's blue-chip index recorded its first weekly gain in a month on Friday but its recent rally lost momentum and the index closed flat on the day, capped by uncertainty about the euro zone crisis and an economic slowdown in China. The FTSE 100 ended up 1.48 points at 5,351.53 after a choppy trading …

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Take more cash in euros. That's the advice a leading German tour operator would offer its customers should Greece leave the euro zone. "While tourists on all-inclusive holidays would have no need to worry, others should take more cash in euros with them in case the supply of drachma was not yet fully …

PARIS (Reuters) - French banks, which are among the lenders most exposed to Greece, have stepped up their efforts on contingency plans for the debt-laden country leaving the euro zone, sources familiar with the situation said. The heightened preparations by banks, including Credit Agricole , BNP Paribas and Societe Generale …

ATHENS (Reuters) - Significantly fewer German and British tourists visited Greece in the early months of 2012, the central bank said on Friday, kept away by the political turmoil that prompted one foreign holiday operator to delay payments on hotel bookings. In further bad news for an economy mired in its fifth year of …

The head of the global banking lobby which handled the private debt write-off for Greece warned on Friday that if the country leaves the eurozone, the world economy would suffer badly.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britons' expectations for the level of inflation over the coming year fell this month to 2.8 percent after edging up to 3.0 percent in April, a monthly survey by polling company YouGov for U.S. bank Citi showed on Friday. Inflation expectations for the next five to 10 years also fell, dropping to 3.4 …

LONDON (Reuters) - A Greek exit from the euro zone would set off a "chain reaction of uncertainty" that would be strongly felt in Britain's banking sector, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said. He warned that a possible Greek exit would not resolve the present problems in the euro zone but would instead create greater …

LONDON (Reuters) - Relentless worries over a possible Greek exit from the euro zone checked European stock markets on Friday after a brief rally following sharp losses earlier in the week, and traders said markets would remain volatile over the coming month. The FTSEurofirst 300 index initially rose some 0.8 percent, but …

BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romania's new government will stick to this year's budget plan but aim to combine growth with austerity in 2013 by cutting personal income and sales taxes should it win an election in November, the prime minister said. Tapping into a Europe-wide debate over how to maintain fiscal discipline while kick-starting …

(Reuters) - NBCUniversal is in talks to buy out Microsoft Corp's 50 percent stake in joint venture MSNBC.com, media reports said. NBCU parent Comcast Corp is conducting due diligence and the partnership with NBC News could be unwound by this summer, said Adweek, which first reported the talks. "Discussions are taking place," …

MILAN (Reuters) - The euro zone needs to push ahead with its financial sector reform plans and create a centrally managed and funded body to handle troubled banks, a European Central Bank policymaker said on Friday. "Europe needs to move towards a 'financial union', with a single euro area authority responsible for the …

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungary expects the European Union to scrap its decision to freeze nearly half a billion euros worth of cohesion funds to the indebted country next year after the country took action to curb its budget deficit, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday. In March EU finance ministers suspended the central …

(Reuters) - Industrial services provider Cape Plc is to take a charge for losses on an LNG project in Algeria that will hit profit for the year. The FTSE 250 company, said it will take a one-off charge of 14 million pounds -- equivalent to a fifth of its adjusted pretax profit Cape last year -- after a review of the GL3-Z …