Economy, Central Bank | featured news

Stocks edged slightly higher on Thursday, up for a fifth session, on better-than-expected jobless claims and trade data in the United States and hopes of further stimulus action from China's central bank.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke gave no indication Tuesday that the central bank was about to launch new economic stimulus, even as the Fed chief painted a worrisome picture of an economy losing momentum on a wide scale.

A closely watched survey by Japan's central bank has found big manufacturers have more confidence in the world's third-largest economy than they did three months ago.

Inflation in the euro zone fell to its lowest level in more than a year in May, giving the European Central Bank more leeway to stimulate the flagging 17-nation economy as the intensifying debt crisis takes its toll on confidence.

India's industrial output was flat in April, deepening worries of an economic slowdown in Asia's third-largest economy and upping the pressure on the central bank to cut interest rates next week.

The European Commission will propose far-reaching powers for regulators to deal with failing banks on Wednesday, a step towards the banking union the European Central Bank has demanded to secure the euro's future.

China's central bank cut the amount of cash that banks must hold as reserves on Saturday, freeing an estimated 400 billion yuan ($63.5 billion) for lending to head-off the risk of a sudden slowdown in the world's second-largest economy.

The Federal Reserve is crucifying the U.S. economy on a cross of two-percent inflation... The Fed makes a very simple promise: It promises to keep inflation at a certain level every year. That level has changed over the past 30 years, but it's currently around 2% a year. If the economy is running too hot, the Fed raises interest rates. If it's running cold, it lowers rates.

Germany and France clashed on Wednesday over whether the ECB should take bolder steps to stem the euro zone debt crisis, with Chancellor Angela Merkel issuing one of her starkest warnings yet against fiddling with the central bank's strict inflation-fighting mandate.

Finance Ministers and Central Bankers from members states within the Group of 20 said Saturday they saw no imminent threat of a recession as the European debt crisis unfolds.