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It had to happen at some point. Yes, Wall Street finally broke its 4-week winning streak, with the major indices down overall this past week amid Fed tapering worries (even as "don't fear the taper" became a rallying cry by some), a Nikkei plunge and

The weekend is over, and trading has officially whirred to life in Asia. The big market that everyone's watching is obviously Japan, which crashed 7% on Thursday, before coming back modestly in Friday trading. That comeback, however, faded as Nikkei

Since the European economic crisis began, Germany has widely been viewed as an impediment to recovery. Monetary stimulus seems to violate the German constitution, and the government's view is that all countries across the eurozone should pursue

As if by magic, the 'spike' lower has been fully retraced with a 'spike' higher. Of course, in the preceding sentence one should replace "magic" with a selling algo suddenly taking out the bid stack simple because it is programmed to do so, only for

Here's what you need to know. Markets in Asia were mixed in overnight trading. The Japanese Nikkei rose 1.6%, but the Hong Kong Hang Seng fell 0.5% and the Shanghai Composite retreated 0.1%. European markets are in the red across the board, with

The Federal Reserve's monetary stimulus is helping the U.S. economy recover but the central bank needs to see further signs of traction before taking its foot off the gas, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Wednesday. In testimony that offered no sign

Many Federal Reserve officials said more progress in the labor market is needed before deciding to slow the pace of asset purchases, according to minutes of their last meeting. “Most observed that the outlook for the labor market had shown progress”

Last summer, Citi's chief economist, Willem Buiter, introduced a bold call: he assigned a 90% probability that Greece would exit the euro on January 1, 2013. This assertion was made before European Central Bank President Mario Draghi introduced a new

South Korea's economic problems aren't made in Japan. That isn't the way it looks in the two rival exporters' stock markets. Investors convinced that Japan's weakening yen will help its companies claw global market-share back from Korean competitors

European markets have been open for a few hours, and things are ugly. England's FTSE is down. 1.8%. France's CAC 40 is down 2.4%. Germany's DAX is down 2.5%. Spain's IBEX is down 2.1%. Italy's FTSE MIB is down 2.7%. This follows sell-offs in the U.S

Sales of new U.S. homes climbed in April to the second-highest level in almost five years as lower borrowing costs and job gains drew more buyers into the market. Purchases (ETSLTOTL) rose 2.3 percent to an annualized pace of 454,000 homes from

The headline index slipped to 51.9 from 52.1 last month, but beat expectations for a bigger drop to 51.2. Here are the highlights: PMI falls for second month running in May New order growth picks up since April Job creation at seven-month low Rate of

The stock market has long been the mistress in the marriage between the Federal Reserve and the economy. While central bank policy is supposed to be focused solely on maintaining full employment and price stability, boosting the equity market has

Gold futures dropped Monday, facing an eighth straight session of losses, with data showing an increase in bearish bets on the precious metal, while silver futures were on track for their steepest decline in a month. Gold for June delivery GCM3

Gold and silver prices are down big, hitting new multi-year lows to start off the week. Retail investors still clinging to the idea that the decline in precious metals was transitory have been getting battered in 2013 with the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD)

Like Apple, valuation has become divorced from fundamentals, writes Mohamed El-Erian There is no better topic than gold to polarise an investment discussion. So the recent sharp drop in the metal’s price has pushed to fever pitch the debate between

The dollar rose against the yen on Tuesday after a Japanese minister clarified remarks about the yen's drop, but many awaited the Federal Reserve chief's testimony before adding to bets on a stronger U.S. currency. Speculation the Fed will trim its

On Wednesday morning, at 10 AM EDT, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will testify on the outlook of the U.S. economy before a Joint Economic Committee of Congress. Along with the subsequent release of the minutes from the FOMC's April 30-May 1

Europe misses out on one trillion euros in taxes each year. Little wonder its leaders are stepping up efforts to tackle fraud and aggressive tax avoidance. Apple's showdown Tuesday with U.S. senators over its tax affairs is another reminder that the

The Bank of Japan kept policy steady on Wednesday despite concerns over recent volatility in bond market, saying growth is starting to pick up even as risks loomed from an uncertain global outlook. The central bank upgraded its assessment of the