Business and Finance news

South Africa’s central bank unexpectedly cut its benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point, the sixth reduction since December, to curtail the economy’s first recession in 17 years.
The repurchase rate was lowered to 7 percent, Governor Tito Mboweni said in a televised speech from Pretoria today. Only three of 27 economists surveyed […]

Smaller U.S. banks may need $12 billion to $14 billion in additional capital to cope with troubled loans still on their books, the Congressional Oversight Panel said today in a monthly report.
The panel, which reports to lawmakers and was created to monitor the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, said the biggest U.S. […]

Malaysia’s industrial production fell by the least in seven months in June as a nine-month slump in exports eased.
Production at factories, utilities and mines dropped 9.6 percent from a year earlier, after decreasing a revised 11.3 percent in May, the Putrajaya-based Statistics Department said today. That compares with the median forecast for a […]

Italy’s economy contracted for a fifth-straight quarter as consumer spending and exports slumped, extending the country’s worst recession in six decades.
Gross domestic product shrank 0.5 percent from the first quarter, when it contracted a revised 2.7 percent, statistics office Istat said in Rome today in a preliminary report. Economists had forecast a 0.7 […]

The European manufacturing industry’s contraction slowed more than initially estimated in July, adding to indications the worst recession in six decades may have bottomed out.
An index of euro-area manufacturing activity rose for a fifth month, increasing to 46.3 from 42.6 in June, Markit Economics said today. The July figure is the highest in […]

The U.S. House approved an emergency measure to add $2 billion to the “cash for clunkers” automobile purchase program after a burst of demand exhausted most of the initial $1 billion in less than a week.
President Barack Obama said he was “very pleased with the progress the House has made.” The administration is […]