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China needs to take steps on foreign exchange reform and the Obama administration is monitoring Beijing’s progress on this issue, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Thursday.
“You have heard the secretary of treasury and the president and others in the administration discuss the need for China to take steps as it relates to its currency,” he told reporters. Get the full story »
The European Central Bank will face scrutiny on Thursday over its response to a growing global battle over currencies and a spike in market interest rates after it held interest rates at a record low 1.0 percent.
The rate decision came as no surprise as all 79 economists in a Reuters poll had predicted the ECB would leave rates on hold for the 17th month in a row. The median forecast is for no change until the fourth quarter of next year. Get the full story »
Failure by global institutions to make a coordinated push to persuade countries such as China to let their currencies’ value rise would endanger the global economy, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Wednesday. Get the full story »
The European Union and South Korea signed a free-trade deal Wednesday that could double trade between them and trigger more calls among Asian states for such pacts with the 27-nation bloc.
The accord, Europe’s first with an Asian nation, is set to take effect July 1 once ratified by the European Parliament. Get the full story »
The United States and European Union have reached a compromise over the use of geographical food names such as Champagne and Parma, clearing one of the last obstacles to an international pact to battle the growing trade in counterfeit goods.
“We found the solution even on that toughest of issues,” a U.S. trade official told Reuters, referring to a deal struck over the weekend in Tokyo on the proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement between nearly 40 countries. Get the full story »
Risks to financial stability remain elevated due to a combination of slow global growth, high sovereign debt burdens and continuing weakness in the banking sector, the International Monetary Fund warned in a report released Tuesday.
In a report published during its annual meetings in Washington, the IMF highlighted persistent risks to the banking system from high debt levels in mature economies and resulting tensions on sovereign bond markets, particularly in Europe. Get the full story »
A takeover of Potash Corp. by BHP Billiton could cost Saskatchewan $1.96 billion over 10 years, a report says, but it warns the Canadian province against opposing the miner’s bid for the world’s largest fertilizer producer. Get the full story »
U.S. airlines Monday said their flights and schedules were unaffected by the U.S. State Department alert issued Sunday to warn American tourists of the potential for attacks by al-Qaeda and other groups in Europe. Get the full story »
The United States urged European states on Monday to join forces with Washington in pressuring China to change its policies on intellectual property rights and foreign investment. Get the full story »
CME Group Inc.’s daily trading volume rose in September and the third quarter as a whole, the exchange operator said, continuing a trend of growth. Get the full story »
By Bloomberg News
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer, plans to increase its workforce by 36 percent in the next five years as global economic growth boosts spending.
New employees will be hired “mostly” outside the U.S., Susan Chambers, executive vice president for human resources, said in a speech at a conference in New Delhi today. “The opportunity for growth is not just in India but global,” she said, without providing more details on the hiring plans. Get the full story »
The House was set to pass legislation Wednesday to put pressure on China to let its currency rise faster, fanning the flames of a long-running dispute over trade and jobs.
The bill, expected to get heavy support from Democrats but a mixed reaction from Republicans, treats China’s exchange rate as a subsidy. That would open the door to extra duties on Chinese goods entering the United States, some of which are already subject to special levies. Get the full story »
Caterpillar Inc. said it will build a new assembly plant in China to produce small hydraulic excavators as the company continues to expand its production capacity in developing regions.
Construction of the plant in Wujiang is expected to begin by the end of the year, with excavator production scheduled to start in 2012. Caterpillar, the world’s largest manufacturer of construction equipment by sales, has supplied the Chinese market with excavators weighing less than eight tons from plants in Xuzhou, China, and Sagami, Japan. Get the full story »
The Senate is unlikely to vote on legislation to pressure China to raise the value of its currency until after the November 2 congressional elections, a Democratic senator said on Tuesday. Get the full story »
Wal-Mart is in talks to buy South Africa’s Massmart, a $4 billion deal that would give the U.S. retailer a big presence in fast-growing Africa and boost its emerging markets strategy. Get the full story »
