JPMorgan pays $100M, admits fault in London trades

JPMorgan Chase & Co. has agreed to pay a $100 million penalty and admitted that its traders acted “recklessly” during a series of London trades that ultimately cost the bank $6 billion.The settlement announced Wednesday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission comes less than a month after JPMorgan, the nation's largest bank, agreed to pay $920 million and admit fault in a deal with the Securities and Exchange Commission and other U.S. and British regulators.The stunning trading losses that s

Oct. 17, 2013

Deal lifts markets but does little for U.S. economy

The budget agreement Congress reached Wednesday cheered investors and removed the threat of a catastrophic debt default that could have triggered another recession.Yet the temporary nature of the deal means a cloud will remain over a sluggish U.S. economy that was further slowed by the government's partial shutdown.Political fights over taxing and spending will persist over the next few months. The risk of another government shutdown and doubts about the government's borrowing authority remain.

Oct. 17, 2013

U.S. Congress gears up to pass U.S. funding, debt deal

Congress raced Wednesday to approve a bipartisan deal to avert a U.S. default and reopen the federal government, a move intended to end a prolonged fiscal crisis that battered Republican approval ratings and threatened the global economy with a new recession. Republicans were left with little to show for their fight _ in political terms, the final agreement was almost entirely along lines President Barack Obama had set when the impasse began last month. It includes nothing for Republicans demand

Oct. 17, 2013

EU agrees big step toward banking union

LUXEMBOURG (AFP) ― EU finance ministers took a key step Tuesday toward a “Banking Union,” the new regulatory framework meant to prevent any repeat of the financial meltdown which plunged Europe into crisis.Ministerial approval of the Single Supervisory Mechanism, “the first pillar of Banking Union ... is a momentous step,” EU Financial Markets Commissioner Michel Barnier said.It is “the start of a new era for the supervision of eurozone banks,” Barnier said.The SSM, 13 months in the making, will

Oct. 16, 2013

U.S. Senators seek budget deal, House effort flops

Senate leaders are optimistic about reaching an eleventh-hour bipartisan deal preventing a possible federal default and ending the partial government shutdown after Republican divisions forced House leaders to drop efforts to pass their own version. Pressured by the calendar, financial markets and public opinion polls, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell were hoping to shake hands on an agreement Wednesday and, if possible, hold votes later in the day. Driving t

Oct. 16, 2013

EU finance ministers weigh options for common bank bailout fund

LUXEMBOURG (AP) ― Eurozone finance ministers on Monday sought ways to create a common fund to restructure or bail out troubled banks, an effort to keep financial problems in one country from endangering the entire 17-nation currency zone. The ministers’ discussions in Luxembourg were still in early stages, not least because of resistance from Germany and other countries that have paid the bulk of Europe’s rescue programs. The fund would complete Europe’s planned banking union and help restore ma

Oct. 15, 2013

U.S. default looming, no solution in sight

The United States moved closer to a default that could damage the economy and a partial government shutdown entered its third week as Senate Democratic and Republican leaders remained at odds in their last-ditch negotiations to end the fiscal crises gripping Washington.Congress is racing against the clock, with Treasury Secretary Jack Lew warning that the U.S. will quickly exhaust its ability to pay the bills on Thursday. Christine Lagarde, the International Monetary Fund's managing director, sp

Oct. 14, 2013

‘De-Americanized’ world needed after U.S. shutdown, China media says

BEIJING (AFP) ― While U.S. politicians grapple with how to reopen their shuttered government and avoid a potentially disastrous default on their debt, the world should consider “de-Americanizing,” a commentary on China’s official news agency said Sunday.“As U.S. politicians of both political parties (fail to find a) viable deal to bring normality to the body politic they brag about, it is perhaps a good time for the befuddled world to start considering building a de-Americanized world,” the comm

Oct. 14, 2013

U.S. debt default looming, ...Day 14 of shutdown, no solution

WASHINGTON (AP) ― The United States moved closer to a default that could seriously harm the economy and a partial government shutdown entered its third week as Senate Democratic and Republican leaders remained at odds over spending in their last-ditch negotiations to end the crises gripping the nation.Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid and Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell spoke by phone Sunday but failed to agree on a deal to raise the nation’s borrowing authority above the $16.7 tr

Oct. 14, 2013

China inflation hits seven-month high in September

Chinese inflation hit a seven-month high of 3.1 percent in September, data showed Monday, with analysts warning further upward pressure on prices would restrict the government's options to boost the economy.The rise in the consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation in the world's second-largest economy, was sharply up from the 2.6 percent logged in August, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).It was also ahead of expectations of 2.9 percent in a poll by Dow Jones Newsw

Oct. 14, 2013

Foxconn admits to intern labor violations in China

TAIPEI (AFP) ― Taiwan’s Foxconn, which assembles products for Apple, Sony and other major tech firms, has admitted some of its student interns worked night shifts and overtime in violation of company policy in its Chinese facility.“In the case of recent allegations regarding the internship program at our Yantai campus, we have conducted an internal investigation and have determined that there have been a few instances where our policies pertaining to overtime and night shift work were not enforc

Oct. 11, 2013

BlackBerry co-founder eyes counterbid for firm

OTTAWA (AFP) ― BlackBerry co-founder Mike Lazaridis has boosted his stake in the troubled Canadian tech firm with the intention of making an acquisition bid, regulatory documents showed Thursday.A document filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Lazaridis now has eight percent of BlackBerry shares and is working with another co-founder, Douglas Fregin, “to explore the possibility of submitting a potential joint bid” for the group.The document said the two “are considering all

Oct. 11, 2013

Hope? Boehner offers a short-term debt extension

President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans struggled inconclusively Thursday to find common ground that could avert an economy-tanking default and possibly end the 10-day-old partial government shutdown that has idled 350,000 federal workers.“We expect further conversations tonight,” Majority Leader Eric Cantor said cryptically, after he, Speaker John Boehner and a delegation of House Republicans had met for an hour or so with Obama at the White House.He spoke at dusk, long after Boehn

Oct. 11, 2013

‘U.S. default would shake global economy’

WASHINGTON (AP) ― A U.S. debt default in the event that a politically divided Congress fails to raise the federal borrowing limit would imperil the entire global economic recovery, a senior International Monetary Fund official warned Wednesday. But Jose Vinals, the IMF’s financial counselor, said he sees the actual risk of such a default as very low. “It would be a worldwide shock,” Vinals told a Washington news conference, at which the IMF released its Global Financial Stability Report. “This i

Oct. 10, 2013

Draghi’s next policy move seen easing liquidity, not rates

The European Central Bank’s next monetary-policy move will be a non-standard one, economists say. While almost three in four of them predict President Mario Draghi will unveil new liquidity measures such as longer-term refinancing operations, the majority of forecasters say interest rates will remain unchanged through the first half of 2015, according to separate surveys by Bloomberg News. The ECB, which has kept its benchmark interest rate at a record low of 0.5 percent since May, is assessing

Oct. 10, 2013