European Central Bank set to keep key rate at 1 percent, markets watch for exit plan
LONDON — The European Central Bank is expected to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged at the historic low of 1 percent Thursday — and could indicate the Eurozone won't see growth strong enough to warrant a hike for quite a while. Figures later this month are expected to show that the 16 countries that use the euro joining the U.S. in leaving Recession. Its two largest economies, Germany and France, officially returned to growth during the second quarter. Most analysts think...

Global stocks slide after Fed, ahead of ECB
London (Reuters) - World stocks slid on Thursday following the Federal Reserve's decision to keep Interest Rates near zero for "an extended period" and ahead of policy decisions by the European Central Bank and Bank of England.

EU expects 2010 economic growth in better-than-expected rebound
Brussels — The European Commission on Tuesday predicted that the EU and Eurozone will grow in 2010 at a modest rate of 0.7 percent. In May, it forecast that the economies would likely shrink 0.1 percent in 2010. The EU executive said a "better-than-expected" rebound in the second half of 2009 would likely be followed by slower growth early next year. The EU and Eurozone likely exited Recession in the third quarter of 2009, it said, after five consecutive quarters of negative growth. The...

Federal Reserve Leaves Fed Funds Rate Unchanged
As always the Federal Reserve released a policy statement. It said household spending "appears to be expanding but remains constrained by ongoing job losses, sluggish income growth, lower housing wealth, and tight credit." In September the Fed said that spending as "stabilizing," a more pessimistic POV. The Federal Reserve, while cautious about Inflation, indicated that the Recession had marked people with a cautiousness around spending. This would, the U.S. Central Bank said, mean that...

Iceland's central bank cuts official interest rate by a percentage point to 11 percent
LONDON — Iceland's Central Bank on Thursday lowered its official interest rate by a full point to 11 percent as the country tries to get back on its feet after the credit crisis toppled its overweight banking system last year. The official rate had peaked at 18 percent between October 2008 and mid-March of this year, and had been left at 12 percent since June.

Roskilde Bank – taxpayers’ nightmare: PHOTO
Losses at Roskilde Bank now up at DKK 10 billion or 2,000 kr. per Dane. tekst del send Send artikel Til: (E-mail, adskil flere med komma) Fra (E-mail): Besked: print The Roskilde Bank scandal has developed into the worst possible billion kroner nightmare for the Danish state and its taxpayers. Losses have become greater than envisaged when the Bank was taken over by the Central Bank Nationalbanken and the Danish Contingency Committee for Winding up and Transfer of Banks, Savings Banks and...

Eurozone jobless worst since 1999
Unemployment levels across the 16 countries that use the euro rose to 9.7% in September, the highest rate since January 1999. This brought the number of people unemployed across the Eurozone region to 15.3 million.

Eurozone inflation remains negative in October as strong euro undermines oil price gains
Brussels — Consumer Prices in the 16 nations that use the euro were down in October for a fifth consecutive month while Unemployment continued to rise, the EU statistics agency said Friday, suggesting the region's economic recovery was sluggish. Consumer Prices were down 0.1 percent from a year earlier. That is slower than the 0.3 percent annual drop in September, as companies and consumers started spending more after a long freeze in demand. The euro's recent surge against The Dollar...

Asia markets rise as SKorea reports faster growth
Bangkok—Asian markets mostly rose Monday, shrugging off a fall on Wall Street as South Korea's fastest growth in seven years underscored the region's strengthening economic recovery . U.S. stocks faltered on Friday as investors dumped stocks and locked in profits after the glow of a week full of strong earnings reports faded. But markets in Asia found new impetus after South Korea 's Central Bank said economic growth accelerated to 2.9 percent in the third quarter from the previous...

UPI NewsTrack Business
U.S. markets slide Tuesday NEW YORK, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- U.S. markets stumbled Tuesday with policy makers at the Federal Reserve headed into a two-day meeting in Washington. The start of the Open Market Committee meeting often puts investors into a two-day holding pattern as they wait for critical news on the Central Bank's lending rate decisions. Stocks retreated early, but railroad shares surged 11.58 percent after billionaire investor Warren Buffett said he would buy Burlington Northern Santa Fe...

Asian markets rise, shrugging off Wall Street fall as SKorea reports fastest growth in 7 years
Bangkok — Asian markets mostly rose Monday, shrugging off a fall on Wall Street as South Korea's fastest growth in seven years underscored the region's strengthening economic recovery. U.S. stocks faltered on Friday as investors dumped stocks and locked in profits after the glow of a week full of strong earnings reports faded. But markets in Asia found new impetus after South Korea's Central Bank said economic growth accelerated to 2.9 percent in the third quarter from the previous...

Australia lifts interest rates for second month in a row, to 3.5 percent
SYDNEY — Australia's Central Bank has raised its key Interest rate by a quarter percentage point for the second month in a row to 3.5 percent. Tuesday's decision was widely expected and underscores the Reserve Bank of Australia's concern that Inflation could take off as the country's economy recovers faster than expected from the global downturn. Australia last month became the first major economy to raise Interest Rates since the global financial crisis. It raised the official cash rate...

Australia Hikes Rate 25 Basis Points, As Expected
Los Angeles -- The Reserve Bank of Australia on Tuesday raised its policy cash-rate target 25 basis points, or a quarter of a percentage to point to 3.5%, on the heels of an equal rate-hike last month. The move matched economists' expectations, according to a Dow Jones Newswires survey, and comes on the heels of bullish economic data, such as Monday's report that Australian Home Prices hit a record high in the third quarter. The Central Bank said in an accompanying statement that core Inflation...

The Associated Press: Health care issues: Hold off for a better economy?
A look at key issues in the Health Care debate: THE ISSUE: Why can't President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats wait until after the Recession is over to try to reform Health Care? THE POLITICS: The Recession is likely to take years to abate, but the 2010 midterm Elections aren't far off. Obama and the Democrats who control Congress campaigned last year on a promise to extend Health Insurance to all and to curb the cost of Care. By the next Election Day, the party in control wants a...

New Video: Rihanna
The video for Rihanna’s ‘Wait Your Turn’ single premiered moments ago. Getting straight to the point, the Anthony Mandler directed video is a Recession-budget bore. Seriously though, what is the hype about with this chick? Disclaimer: For those who stay posing the question ‘why do you post about her then..?’; like her or loathe her, there is obviously mass interest in Ms. Fenty, hence her featuring here. It’s kinda-sorta common logic That said, I really,...

Food Stamps Will Feed Half Of US Kids, Study Says
Chicago — Nearly half of all U.S. children and 90 percent of black youngsters will be on food stamps at some point during childhood, and fallout from the current Recession could push those numbers even higher, researchers say. The estimate comes from an analysis of 30 years of national data, and it bolsters other recent evidence on the pervasiveness of youngsters at economic risk. It suggests that almost everyone knows a family who has received food stamps, or will in the future, said...

Buying Itself Out of a Recession: Countries Ask How Germany Avoided Mass Unemployment
Germany, second only to China as the world's leading exporter of goods, has been particularly hard-hit by the collapse of global markets. But the mass Unemployment some had feared has failed to materialize. Labor experts in many countries are wondering how Germany has done it. Business wasn't going well for Schneider, a mid-sized company in the western German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, at the beginning of the year. But the company, which manufactures camera lenses and filters, did not lay...

Food Stamp Nation: How's Your Recession Going?
Food Stamp Nation: How's Your Recession Going? 1. "Nearly half of all U.S. children and 90 percent of black youngsters will be on food stamps at some point during childhood." 2 . "The U.S. Department of Agriculture said nearly 200,000 retailers nationwide now accept food stamps, 20 percent more than in 2005." 3 . "In September, Texas processed 58.6 percent of applications within the 30 days required by the federal government. By the end of that month, nearly 42,000...

Pointy bras make a comeback as sales of 'Marilyn Monroe' underwear enjoy an uplift: PHOTO
Sales of the 1950's 'pointy bust' bra made famous by Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe are soaring. John Lewis has seen a huge surge in sales of the bras, which it argues is indicative of a desire to celebrate women's curves following the Recession.

J&J Plans to Lay Off 7,000: PHOTO
The Recession has slammed Johnson & Johnson ( JNJ ), the world's largest Health-care company. So, CEO William Weldon on Nov. 3 announced an overhaul that will result in layoffs of 6% to 7% of J&J's 117,000 employees, or more than 7,000 people. "We've gone through the headwinds that a lot of companies are about to run into," Weldon said in call with analysts, referring to patent expirations on major products over the past year. "But the economic headwinds are still ahead...

Biggest bail-out ever for banks: PHOTO
The biggest bail-out yet of British banks was agreed today despite evidence that small firms are still being denied the credit they desperately need to survive the Recession.

Pictures of Megan Fox molesting teddy bears get recycled: PHOTO
Back in April, Megan Fox did a photoshoot for the Brazilian version of VIP magazine in which she straddles a polar bear and a teddy bear commits Suicide by pulling out its own cotton filling after she dry hamps it. For some reason (Recession?), the magazine has used the same pictures for their September issue and they have just hit the net…which gives us a very valid reason to post them. And if you’re tired of Megan Fox, go cry somewhere else…we are fresh out of empathy here.

Neil Patrick Harris Is A Smoking Hot Top… 100: PHOTO
Neil Patrick Harris is getting hotter all the time. He goes from the cute nerdy type to the a rough, nerdy type cute… whatever, it is it works for me. OUT magazine, nearly the last gay publication still in circulation after the Recession, is doing their yearly Out 100 List . Guess who is making the list… NPH . They will be releasing more names as the month goes on. Today we bring you Neil Patrick Harris, “the Golden Boy.” You wouldn’t have caught NPH playing the...

Obama: Sectors Must Create Jobs
Washington (AP)

Reader's Digest Closes Rick Warren Magazine
Less than a year after launching a hybrid magazine and membership organization, Reader’s Digest Association and the minister Rick Warren said Wednesday that they’re pulling the plug. The partners said the Purpose Driven Connection drew plenty of fans to its Web site - they declined to provide any numbers - but too few who were willing to pay. Their timing, coming just after the peak of the financial crisis and in the depths of a severe Recession, could not have been worse. The...