Euro Zone

Asian shares, euro spooked by Cyprus bailout details

Asian shares fell and the euro was capped on Tuesday as investors contemplated potential flow-on risks from the Cyprus bailout scheme. Large uninsured depositors and bondholders will bear heavy losses in the bailout, which Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who heads the Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers, said represented a new template for euro zone and other countries which may have to restructure their banking sectors. ...  

Cyprus girds for run on banks after sealing bailout

The president of Cyprus assured his people a bailout deal he struck with the European Union was in their best interests and would end anxiety, but he also announced "very temporary" capital controls to stem a run on the island's banks. ...  

Cyprus bailout bid goes down to the wire

Cyprus's bid to avert financial collapse will go down to the wire after the island said it would hold a crucial sitting of parliament only after finance ministers of the 17-nation euro zone meet on Sunday. Cyprus faces a Monday deadline to clinch a 10 billion euro bailout from the European Union or the European Central Bank sauys it will cut off emergency funding to the country's stricken banks, spelling...  

Cyprus closes in on EU bailout, U-turn on levy

Cyprus is expected to make a dramatic U-turn on Saturday to avert the imminent threat of financial meltdown, having signalled it is willing to tax big savers in its stricken banks to clinch a bailout from the European Union. The island's partners in the 17-nation euro zone scheduled a meeting for Sunday in Brussels, in a strong sign they believe a solution is near. ...  

Wall Street drops on uncertainty about Cyprus

US stocks fell on Tuesday on uncertainty about how Cyprus will avoid a bankruptcy and possible reverberations in the euro zone as the region struggles to emerge from economic crisis. ...  

Italy faces political deadlock after election results

Italy faced political deadlock on Tuesday after a stunning election that saw the anti-establishment Five-Star Movement of comic Beppe Grillo become the strongest party in the country but left no group with a clear majority in parliament. "The winner is: Ingovernability" was the headline in Rome newspaper Il Messaggero, reflecting the stalemate the country would have to confront in the next few weeks as sworn enemies would be forced to...  

Global markets decline on deadlocked Italy election

Asian shares took their lead from overnight plunges in global equities to fall on Tuesday as an apparently inconclusive election outcome in Italy raised fears of a resurgent euro zone debt crisis. Italy's centre-left coalition will win a majority in the lower house of parliament but the upper house will be deadlocked, the Interior Ministry said on Tuesday after almost all votes were counted. No party or coalition won a...  

UK's Cameron to deliver long-awaited EU speech

British Prime Minister David Cameron is set to deliver his hotly anticipated speech about his plans for Britain's membership of the European Union this week, Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Sunday. After months of speculation, Cameron had been scheduled to deliver the speech on Friday in the Netherlands, but it was postponed because of a hostage crisis involving Britons at a gas plant in Algeria. ...  

Signs of growth in emerging markets: HSBC survey

Emerging markets ended 2012 with a modest acceleration in economic growth thanks to a pick-up in manufacturing activity that hints at further improvement in coming months, a survey found on January 10. All four big BRIC economies posted a rise in economic activity in the last quarter of 2012, with Chinese manufacturing returning to growth for the first time in 18 months, according to HSBC's emerging markets index (EMI). ...  

Euro zone slips into second recession since 2009

Brussels: The euro zone fell into a recession in July-September, the second since the global financial crisis in 2009, as French resilience could not make up for a slump across Europe and the three-year debt crisis slowed Germany to a crawl. Economic output in the 17-country euro zone fell 0.1 per cent in the third quarter, the EU's statistics office Eurostat said on Thursday, following a 0.2-per cent drop in...  

Dollar gains, shares dip as US election relief fades

London: The dollar rose and world shares turned lower on Wednesday as investors worried about the outlook for the US and euro zone economies after President Barack Obama's re-election. Wall Street share futures, which had pointed to a higher open on relief over the clear election outcome, also reversed course as the fiscal problems of the United States and slowdown in Europe returned to haunt investors. A preservation of the...  

Moody's downgrades Italy, warns of further cut

Moody's on Friday surprised markets by downgrading Italy's government bond rating by two notches to Baa2 and warned it could cut it further, piling on pressure just hours before the country launches its latest bond sale. The move left Italy's rating just two notches above junk status and could raise already-painful borrowing costs. The stark warning from Moody's, which highlighted Italy's vulnerability to political shocks in the euro zone and...  

Euro could collapse, says Infosys CFO

Bangalore: The 17-nation currency euro could collapse as there is no unified fiscal or political union among member-countries of the European Union, Infosys CFO V Balakrishnan said on Thursday. He said that it was very difficult to have a single monetary policy across multiple member-countries of the EU. "Each member country has got different levels of growth, different challenges and different levels of unemployment," he added. "The euro could collapse...  

ECB cuts rates to aid flagging euro zone economy

Frankfurt: The European Central Bank cut interest rates to a record low on Thursday to breathe life into a deteriorating euro zone economy and back up measures agreed by government leaders last week to tackle the bloc's debt crisis. The quarter-point cut in the ECB's main refinancing rate to 0.75 per cent was in line with market expectations and followed a dire batch of economic data that show even euro...  

Spain rating slashed 3 notches by Moody's

New York: Rating agency Moody's Investors Service cut its rating on Spanish government debt by three notches on Wednesday to Baa3 from A3, saying the newly approved euro zone plan to help the country's banks will increase the country's debt burden. Moody's, which said it could lower Spain's rating further, also cited the Spanish government's "very limited" access to international debt markets and the weakness of the country's economy. The...  

Indian economy to grow 6.9 pc in 2012-13: WB

New Delhi: The Indian economy will grow by 6.9 per cent in this financial year (2012-13) notwithstanding problems like policy uncertainties, fiscal deficit and inflation, the World Bank projected on Tuesday, while cautioning that developing nations will have to face tougher times. "India will see growth (measured at factor cost) increasing to 6.9, 7.2 and 7.4 per cent in fiscal years 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15, respectively," the World Bank said...  

Greece, Euro zone a worry for world markets

Global markets are jittery over concerns that Greece may drop the Euro. ...

Global markets in a turmoil over Greek crisis

New Delhi: The Greek tragedy continued to sink markets across the world. The euro plunged to a 4-month low after Greece failed to form a coalition government and a fresh round of elections is in the offing. Analysts say US markets are bracing themselves for the worst. Stock markets fell on worries that Greece would exit the euro bloc and throw the global markets into further turmoil. New elections were...  

Sensex slips as Greece calls for fresh elections

The Sensex fell below 16,000, down 300 points while the European markets opened 0.5 per cent down. ...

Indian growth story is intact: Pranab Mukherjee

New Delhi: Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday assured Parliament that India's growth story remained intact despite Euro zone crisis and Greece turmoil. Pranab attributed the downward trend in the share markets to the global economic crisis. He said that the government is going to take some austerity steps to convey that it is responding to the situation. On retrospective amendments to tax laws, the Finance Minister said Parliament is...