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Claims for U.S. unemployment benefits increased more than forecast last week, nearly erasing a slide in the prior two weeks and reflecting the difficulty of adjusting the figures for swings at the start of a year. Initial jobless claims rose 38,000

The minutes of the Federal Reserve's last FOMC meeting revealed that some Fed members want to tighten monetary policy sooner than expected. Some fear that a premature move by the Fed could wreak havoc on the bond markets. But, others think it would

Bank of England officials will probably discuss the threat of a triple-dip recession today and prepare to sit on their hands as a looming change of governor overshadows the remainder of Mervyn King’s term. With five months before Mark Carney takes

The first people to tell the public that the world’s oldest bank was cooking its books weren’t the bank’s executives, its outside auditors at KPMG, its regulators at the Bank of Italy, or anyone else who had a duty to keep the place honest. They were

The incoming governor of the Bank of England has said the next two years will be "decisive" for bank reform. Mark Carney, current governor of the Bank of Canada, said "shadow banking" and the issue of "too big to fail" would be tackled. The 2008

The world still does not fully understand how financial markets work, according to investor George Soros. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Mr Soros, who made his billions betting on the markets, said the established theory had

Some people say the country shouldn't spend more than it makes, just like a family. What would a family do to fill a $16 trillion deficit? Bloomberg's Mike McKee explores Sell Alaska! Plus, Seven Other Crazy Debt Fixes: Video

Heads up. This is going to be a huge week for the global economy. There's been a lot of talk about recovery, bullishness, and the end of the crisis. Now it's time to see where the data is. Via Yahoo Finance, here are some of the big datapoints that

Interesting note from Nomura's George Goncalves this morning, who notes a bear "pile-on" in the US Treasury market. Current market positioning for bonds has turned to an overall bearish bias as four out of the six key investor types we track had

The dollar is stronger on balance, as markets turned more cautious on Monday although most crosses are consolidating in ranges as stocks in Europe and the US take a breather at multi-years highs. The euro is little changed, recovering from early

Moody's Investors Service today downgraded the long-term ratings of six Canadian banks concluding the review initiated on 26 October 2012. The long-term senior debt ratings of the banks were all downgraded by 1 notch. We also removed systemic support

The dollar weakened against most of its 16 major counterparts as investors pared bets the Federal Reserve will signal a change to its asset-buying program at the end of a two-day meeting tomorrow. The U.S. currency was 0.2 percent from its lowest in

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s latest round of bond buying will reach $1.14 trillion before he ends the program in the first quarter of 2014, according to median estimates in a Bloomberg survey of economists. Bernanke will push on with

Confidence among U.S. consumers declined more than forecast in January, reaching the lowest level in more than a year as higher payroll taxes took a bigger bite out of Americans’ paychecks. The Conference Board’s index decreased to 58.6, the weakest

The British pound has fallen out of favor among currency investors so far in 2013. Since hitting a high of 1.6379 against the U.S. dollar on January 1, the pound sterling has tumbled nearly 4 percent to today's levels around 1.5735 Société Générale

In the latest Breakfast with Dave, Gluskin Sheff's David Rosenberg writes "the most dangerous thing anyone can do is extrapolate the most recent experience, as enduring as it may seem, into the future." People, he says, don't ever see an existing

The yen is plunging again. It's down 0.34 percent against the dollar. A dollar will get you ¥90.63. Reuters' Wanfeng Zhou reports: "Traders cited reports quoting Japan's deputy economy minister, Yasutoshi Nishimura, as saying the yen's decline is not

The euro strengthened to an 11-month high against the dollar as the European Central Bank said lenders will repay more of its loans than economists forecast. U.S. stock-index futures rose, while the yen weakened for a second day. The euro climbed 0.6

December new home sales data was just released and missed expectations falling 7.3 percent month-over-month. The most concerning detail about the report however was inventory at the end of December. "The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for

The pickup in the economic data in the U.S. lately and the Federal Reserve's recent musings on tightening monetary policy have many wondering if bond markets are set to repeat a "1994 scenario." In 1994, the economy was emerging from a big recession