Helping euro states vital for Germany, says Merkel

Reuters, BERLIN, June 11: Helping indebted European countries get back on their feet is vital to Germany's economic health, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday in a message aimed at the general public. The comments come a day after Germany's parliament approved a non-binding resolution supporting extra emergency loans to fellow euro zone member Greece, but only on the condition that bondholders be made to share the bailout burden. ...

Iran says Saudi crude increase will not change market

Reuters, TEHRAN, June 11: An increase in crude output by Saudi Arabia will not change market conditions as demand is for lighter oil than it provides, Iran's OPEC governor was on Saturday quoted as saying, reiterating Tehran's stance that there is no need to boost production. At a meeting in Vienna this week, OPEC failed to agree on an increase in production, which consuming countries wanted and which leading exporter Saudi Arabia pushed for, because...

Fed prepares for last spurt of easy money flood

Reuters, NEW YORK, June 11: The flood of Federal Reserve money that has supported Wall Street and the rest of the U.S. economy for 2-1/2 years will shrink to a trickle with the conclusion of the Fed's bond purchases announced on Friday. The Fed said it will buy $50 billion of Treasuries, the final series of government bond purchases that marks the last phase of the $600 billion program it launched in November 2010 to prevent another recession....

Troubling signs point to more losses

Reuters, NEW YORK, June 11: Don't be surprised if Wall Street racks up a seventh consecutive week of losses as the likelihood of more poor economic data and other disconcerting signals outweigh any thoughts that stocks are cheap. After closing at its highest level in nearly three years on April 29, the S&P 500 (.SPX) has tumbled nearly 7 percent on the back of a barrage of soft economic data, sparking the debate over whether the economy is...

FDIC member may get top bank regulator job

Reuters, WASHINGTON, June 11: The Obama administration might nominate Federal Deposit Insurance Corp member Thomas Curry to oversee the largest banks as the next comptroller of the currency, according to a person informed about the deliberations. Curry is a former Massachusetts state banking regulator and is a member of the FDIC board, a position that he has held since January 2004. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency...

Goldman joins disclosure fight over Lehman claims

Reuters, NEW YORK, June 11: Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) and other banks fighting for control of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc's (LEHMQ.PK) bankruptcy have joined efforts to avoid sharing information about claims against the failed investment bank. In court papers filed Friday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, units of Goldman, Morgan Stanley (MS.N), Deutsche Bank AG (DBKGn.DE) and others said a proposal by a group of Lehman bondholders would...

Fed expanding capital tests for banks

Reuters, WASHINGTON/CHARLOTTE, North Carolina, June 11: The Federal Reserve will subject more banks to annual stress tests to determine whether they have enough capital and can raise their dividends. On Friday, the Fed said it is proposing that banks with $50 billion or more in assets be subjected to the capital testing regime, bringing the number of banks that would face annual tests, if they were conducted today, to 35 from a prior level of 19....

Fed expanding capital tests for banks

Reuters, WASHINGTON/CHARLOTTE, North Carolina, June 11: The Federal Reserve will subject more banks to annual stress tests to determine whether they have enough capital and can raise their dividends. On Friday, the Fed said it is proposing that banks with $50 billion or more in assets be subjected to the capital testing regime, bringing the number of banks that would face annual tests, if they were conducted today, to 35 from a prior level of 19....

Canada's TMX undeterred as hostile bid looms

Reuters, NEW YORK/TORONTO, June 11: The heads of TMX Group Inc (X.TO) and the London Stock Exchange Group Plc (LSE.L) said on Friday it is full steam ahead for LSE's friendly takeover of the Canadian market operator even though a hostile bid for TMX could come "any day now." The expected $3.7 billion counteroffer from the Maple Group consortium of Canadian banks and pension funds will throw a new hurdle in the path of the LSE's offer to buy the...

Lagarde in lead for IMF, South Africa's Manuel opts out

Reuters, PARIS, June 11: South Africa's Trevor Manuel ruled himself out of the race for the IMF's top job on Friday, making French finance minister Christine Lagarde an even firmer favorite, although the threat of a judicial inquiry remains. Emerging market powers like Russia, India and China say they want an end to Europe's grip on the top job at the international lender, calling time on a pact that puts the IMF in European hands while the World...

US May budget deficit less than half prior year's

Reuters, WASHINGTON, June 11: The budget deficit fell by more than half in May from year-earlier levels to $57.64 billion as tax revenues continued to rise, the Treasury Department reported on Friday. The monthly deficit was far below the $140 billion gap that economists surveyed by Reuters had forecast, and was down from $135.93 billion in May 2010. Revenues have been relatively strong, given a relatively high rate of national...

Former TBW execs get prison time for roles in fraud

Reuters, Alexandria, Virginia, June 11: Two former senior Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp executives were sentenced on Friday to several years in prison for their roles in a nearly $3 billion fraud that took down the big lender and a major bank. The fraud ran more than seven years until August 2009 when TBW collapsed after the U.S. housing market imploded, taking Colonial BancGroup Inc's (CBCDQ.PK) Colonial Bank with it and putting hundreds...

Borders staves off closing of six bookstores

Reuters, NEW YORK, June 11: Bankrupt Borders Group Inc (BGPIQ.PK) reached agreements to avoid shuttering six of its stores that the bookseller planned to close under the terms of its bankruptcy loan. Landlords for stores in Boston and Detroit are among those who agreed to give the insolvent bookstore chain more time to decide whether to break or maintain leases on its properties, Borders said in court papers filed Friday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court...

Import prices rise for 8th straight month

Reuters, WASHINGTON, June 11: Import prices rose for an eighth straight month in May despite a drop in fuel costs, with the year-on-year increase reaching its highest level in nearly three years, according to data on Friday. The Labor Department said import prices climbed 0.2 percent last month, confounding forecasts for a 0.7 percent decline and following April's revised 2.1 percent jump. In the year to May, import prices surged 12.5 percent,...

Lawyers cry foul as Khodorkovsky sent to secret jail

Reuters, MOSCOW, June 11: Jailed former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky was transferred from Moscow to a prison camp in an undisclosed location, his lawyers said on Friday, decrying the move as an attempt to block his parole hearing. Once Russia's richest man, Khodorkovsky was jailed in 2003 after falling foul of the Kremlin under then President Vladimir Putin. He is serving a 13-year sentence and is due to be released in 2016. ...

Deficit cut would trim growth: BlackRock's Fink

Reuters, CHICAGO, June 11: A $4 trillion reduction of the U.S. budget deficit, if enacted by Congress, would trim economic growth by one percentage point a year for the next decade, BlackRock (BLK.N) Chief Executive Laurence Fink said. With analysts already forecasting modest growth of 2 percent to 3 percent annually, that would leave the United States with an economy expanding at only about 1 percent a year, Fink said at the Morningstar investment...

Toyota owners set back in U.S. lawsuit over losses

Reuters, NEW YORK, June 11: A federal judge said Toyota owners outside California who seek to recover losses in their vehicles' value resulting from unintended acceleration cannot pursue their claims under that state's laws. Wednesday's ruling by U.S. District Judge James Selna is a setback for the owners, because California consumer protection laws would give them a better chance than most states' laws to recover on their "economic loss" claims....

Bangladesh National Budget 2011-2012

Bangladesh finance minister AMA Muhith placed the National Budget 2011-2012 to the Parliament on June 9, 2011. Budget Speech - English Budget Speech - Bangla Budget in Brief - English Budget in Brief - Ban...