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G20 officials struggled to find a common form of words on currency manipulation ahead of a summit on Friday at which divisions within the group over growth versus austerity looked set to flare back into life. The head of the European Central Bank

Consumer sentiment improved in February, buoyed by signs of increased hiring, though worries heightened about a decline in future income, a survey released on Friday showed. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's preliminary reading on the

The Group of 20 nations declared on Saturday there would be no 'currency war' and deferred plans to set new debt-cutting targets in an indication of concern about the fragile state of the world economy. Japan's expansive policies, which have driven

The world is changing, and nowhere is that better illustrated than in a good series of charts. Luckily, we've seen no shortage of excellent charts this week that amply illustrate the changes underway. The best charts this week touch on everything

Total gold demand in dollar terms increased in 2012, but declined in tonnage. This is according to the World Gold Council. The world's central banks were among the biggest customers, buying 534.6 metric tons of gold last year. And the buying has

QUOTES AT END OF SUMMIT CANADIAN FINANCE MINISTER JIM FLAHERTY "The mood quite clearly early on was that we needed desperately to avoid protectionist measures and that the G20 stands firmly against protectionism and against manipulation of exchange

Barron's goes there. (Economics editor Gene Epstein is not President Obama's biggest fan.) Here's the lede from the latest cover story: In his State of the Union speech last Tuesday, President Obama concluded that "the State of our Union is

Many people became rightfully upset about bailouts given to big banks during the mortgage crisis. But it turns out that they are still going on, if more quietly, through the back door. The existence of one such secret deal, struck in July between the

George Soros made almost $1 billion since November from bets that the yen would tumble, according to a person close to the billionaire’s $24 billion family office. The Japanese wager helped the firm return about 10 percent last year and 5 percent so

Markets are down across Europe early in the trading session. England's FTSE 100 is down 0.2 percent. France's CAC 40 is down 0.2 percent. Germany's DAX is up 0.1 percent. Spain's IBEX 35 is down 0.7 percent. Italy's FTSE MIB is down 0.3 percent

On Friday, the US trade deficit shrunk by far more than expected, in large part thanks to declining oil imports. From CSMonitor.com: The oil and gas picture is improving. The trade deficit for petroleum-based goods alone shrank from $326 billion in

European finance chiefs will seek to win back crisis-management momentum to navigate the currency area through emerging political pitfalls after markets signaled last week that the three-year crisis is far from over. Ministers from the 17-member euro

The Group of Seven nations are considering releasing a statement on exchange rates this week to calm concern the world is on the brink of a currency war, three officials from G-7 countries said. Finance officials from the world’s major industrial

Discussions about an overvaluation of the euro are simply a diversion from governments' task of sorting out their economies, European Central Bank policymaker Jens Weidmann said on Monday, resisting political pressure to weaken the currency. The ECB

The Swiss National Bank could use "additional measures" to manage monetary policy alongside the cap on the value of the franc, the central bank's chairman Thomas Jordan said on Tuesday. "We do not exclude any measures if they are necessary to have

Fiscal and monetary policies must not be directed at devaluing currencies, the Group of Seven nations said on Tuesday in a statement Japan said gave it a green light to continue efforts to reflate its economy. The intervention follows a round of

Stocks are up big to start 2013 but Marc Faber, Editor & Publisher of the Gloom, Boom & Doom Report, says it ends in tears. "Either the market is going to correct more meaningfully now or we have a shallow correction and a continuously rising market

The U.S. stock market is unlikely to take much direction from Tuesday's State of the Union, although President Barack Obama was less combative in his tone than some on Wall Street expected. Obama's speech provided little in the way of guidance as to

Markets are down slightly early in the European trading session. England's FTSE 100 is down 0.3%. France's CAC 40 is down 0.2%. Germany's DAX is up 0.1%. France's IBEX 35 is flat. Italy's FTSE MIB is down 0.1%. Generally, it's looking like another

The UK economy has "cause for optimism", the governor of the Bank of England has said. Sir Mervyn King, presenting the Bank's latest quarterly inflation report, 20 years after it issued its first one, said "a recovery is in sight". But he said the