Japan and Europe, former darlings of stock investors, are now bottom of the heap. The Topix index lost 13 percent from the start of the year through last week and foreign investors have yanked $10.7 billion out of Japanese equities. The world’s worst-performing developed markets are found in Tokyo and across Europe, where a regional benchmark gauge lost 6.8 percent and strategists expect shares to tread water for the rest of 2016. For Tatsushi Maeno, head of Japanese equities at Pinebridge Investments Japan Co., it’s no coincidence that those are the two regions where central banks have established negative interest rates.

The European Central Bank can cut interest rates further but isn’t likely to, Mario Draghi said after unveiling stimulus on Thursday that brought borrowing costs to record lows, expanded asset purchases and offered a borrowing subsidy to lenders.

The onshore yuan advanced to the strongest level since December after China’s central bank raised its daily reference rate by the most in four months. The magnitude of the fixing increase surprised Australia & New [...]

Federal Reserve policymakers worried last month that a global slowdown and financial market selloff could hurt the U.S. economy and considered changing the central bank's planned interest rate hike path for 2016.

The ECB's January policy meeting minutes indicate that the governing council will take measures to further loosen monetary policy in March. The council members, on back of the increased global market turmoil, broadly agreed that there are downside threats to inflation and economic growth and are already materializing to a certain extent. The council members also expressed their worries regarding the possible downside threats to inflation from second-round effects.

Clients told to seek safety of Bunds and Treasuries. 'This is about return of capital, not return on capital. In a crowded hall, exit doors are small'

Chinese shares finished with steep losses on Monday as jitters continued after last week's market gyrations. The Shanghai Composite closed down 5.3% at 3,016.7 points.

Those who waited the European Central Bank President to shed some light on the possibility of more monetary easing in the Euro zone, were left disappointed. Analysts and economist were anticipating some major moves in the Euro after Mario Draghi's speech at the Bank of England open forum presentation, as expectations were raised in October when Draghi suggested a major policy move.

WASHINGTON - Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen is stressing the need to review the unconventional monetary policies that central banks around the world deployed in response to the 2008 global financial crisis.

Large U.S. banks have major risk-management flaws that could potentially hurt the broader financial system if not addressed, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen told lawmakers Wednesday.

General Electric on Friday delivered quarterly earnings that surpassed analysts' expectations, as its businesses producing jet engines and power turbines offset declines in its oil and gas segment, but revenue fell short of estimates.

U.S. stocks ended higher on Thursday with the S&P 500 closing at a seven-week high as investors saw further signs of dovishness in the Federal Reserve's September meeting minutes which shed light on its decision to keep interest rates near zero.

European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said in remarks published Friday that the ECB is ready to adjust its large-scale asset-purchase program, known as quantitative easing, if needed.

ATHENS, July 13 - Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras flew back to Athens on Monday to try to ram a controversial bailout deal he secured from creditors through parliament, as anger mounted at more painful austerity measures that could fracture his government.

The American consumer retreated in June, dashing hopes for a more pronounced second-quarter upswing in spending and leaving companies less upbeat about the economy.

China’s stock markets face a make-or-break week after officials rolled out an unprecedented series of steps over the weekend to prevent a full-blown stock market crash that would threaten the world’s second-largest economy.

The bigger problem with the second-quarter earnings season is not the impact of strong dollar, or fall oil prices, but companies’ inability to generate sales in a low-growth environment, according to analysts.

European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said Thursday the ECB's vast stimulus efforts will remain in place "as long as needed" until officials are confident that they will meet their inflation objective on a sustained basis, and played down concerns that the bank's policies are widening the gap between rich and poor.

China's central bank cut its benchmark lending rate by 25 basis points to 5.1 percent on Sunday, its third reduction since November, as economic growth cools to levels not seen since the global financial crisis.

Euro zone government borrowing costs rose on Tuesday as a global sell-off in bond markets, the trigger for which is hard to pin down, showed no sign of abating.

European Central Bank President Mario Draghi told a European lawmaker that the composition of the institution’s asset-purchase program can be changed if needed.

Bonds rose across Europe, rounding out a roller-coaster week that saw volatility in German debt surge to an almost three-year high and Spanish and Italian 10-year yields top 2 percent for the first time in 2015.

U.S. job growth rebounded last month and the unemployment rate dropped to a near seven-year low of 5.4 percent, suggesting underlying strength in the economy at the start of the second quarter that could keep alive prospects for a Federal Reserve rate hike later this year.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index lost 0.4 percent to 407.18 at the close of trading, having earlier tumbled as much as 1 percent and gained 0.4 percent. A report showed euro-area manufacturing and services missed forecasts, signaling it may take longer for European Central Bank President Mario Draghi’s quantitative-easing plan to revive the economy.

Stock markets across Europe and most of Asia are in retreat Thursday after new survey data showed the Eurozone’s recovery faltering and China’s manufacturing sector at its weakest in a year.

Months of above-trend payroll growth were outpacing a slower U.S. economy, making March's weak number less alarming, New York Federal Reserve President William Dudley said Wednesday.

The big move up at the open suggests short covering, the "bad news is good news" crowd, as expectations for a rate hike get pushed further into 2015.

Employers added 126,000 jobs in March, according to the latest payroll report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Out Friday morning the figure is the weakest since December 2013 and far lower than the 250,000 new jobs economists were forecasting.

The Fed removed the 'patient' language in the March FOMC meeting statement. However, downward revision of the economic assessment has made the overall message more dovish than expected.

The U.S. Justice Department is investigating whether the world’s biggest banks manipulated prices of precious metals such as silver and gold as it pushes to wrap up probes into currency-rate rigging, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Greece and eurozone nations have agreed a deal to extend financial aid after bailout talks in Brussels. Eurozone finance ministers reached an agreement to extend Greece's financial rescue by four months.

Builders broke ground on fewer U.S. residential construction projects in January as demand for single-family homes cooled from an almost seven-year high, signaling the rebound in housing remains uneven. Housing starts declined 2 percent to a 1.07 million annual rate, following the prior month’s 1.09 million pace, a Commerce Department report showed Wednesday in Washington.

The world economy is still built on debt.

Employers added a better-than-expected 257,000 jobs in January as the resurgent labor market began 2015 on a positive note.

Singapore's central bank unexpectedly eased monetary policy, sending the currency to the weakest since 2010 as the country joined global policy makers in shoring up growth amid dwindling inflation.

The European Central Bank took the ultimate policy leap on Thursday, launching a government bond-buying program which will pump hundreds of billions in new money into a sagging euro zone economy.

The optimism surrounding the outlook for U.S. consumers was taken down a notch as retail sales slumped in December by the most in almost a year, prompting some economists to lower spending and growth forecasts. The 0.9 percent decline in purchases followed a 0.4 percent advance in November that was smaller than previously estimated, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington. Last month’s decrease extended beyond any single group as receipts fell in nine of 13 major retail categories.

(Reuters) - The Swiss National Bank shocked financial markets on Thursday by scrapping a three-year-old cap on the franc, sending the currency soaring against the euro and stocks plunging on fears for the export-reliant Swiss economy.

(Reuters) - U.S. retail store sales fell 8 percent during the 2014 holiday season despite a late shopping surge, but overall holiday sales should show a 3.5 to 4 percent rise from a year ago because of stronger online buying, analytics company Retail Next said on Wednesday.

Traders are buying up protection should Greece’s potential exit from the euro trigger a domino drop in Spanish and Italian stocks. Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has said a victory for the Syriza opposition party in the Jan. 25 election would lead to default and an exit from the euro. Spain and Italy (FTSEMIB) are also facing the rise of anti-austerity sentiment. Things will get even worse should European Central Bank President Mario Draghi fail to devise a stimulus plan that satisfies investors, according to Max Breier of BMO Capital Markets Corp.

India is not planning to impose any further curbs on gold imports as the current account deficit is under control, Trade Secretary Rajeev Kher said on Wednesday. The South Asian country has imported 7 tonnes of gold so far in January, while 39 tonnes of gold was imported in December, Kher said after a meeting with industry representatives. India's gold imports in November were 151.58 tonnes, according to the government data.

Japan’s recession was deeper than initially estimated as company investment unexpectedly shrank, a blow to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as he campaigns for re-election on his economic credentials. The economy contracted an annualized 1.9 percent in the July to September period from the previous quarter, weaker than the 1.6 percent drop reported in preliminary data. The result was also below every forecast in a Bloomberg News survey that showed a median 0.5 percent decrease.

Stocks in Athens plunged nearly 13% and the government's cost of borrowing jumped Tuesday as political uncertainty rattled investors after new elections were called, casting doubt over the country's future.

Chinese stocks tumbled the most since 2009 amid volatile trading that spurred the benchmark index’s biggest swings in five years and sent turnover to a record. The Shanghai Composite Index (SHCOMP) slid 5.4 percent to 2,856.27 at the close, the most since August 2009, after earlier gaining as much as 2.4 percent. The nation’s four biggest lenders including Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. (601398) plunged more than 9 percent, while PetroChina Co., the biggest stock, slumped 8 percent. Lower-rated bonds fell and the yuan weakened to four-month lows after policy makers said riskier bonds can no longer be used as collateral for some short-term loans.

On-the-record remarks by Mr Claudio Borio, Head of the Monetary and Economic Department

Japan's economy unexpectedly slipped into recession in the third quarter, setting the stage for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to delay an unpopular sales tax hike and call a snap election two years before he has to go to the polls.

European Central Bank President Mario Draghi explicitly cited government-bond buying as a policy tool officials could use to stimulate the economy if the outlook worsens. “Other unconventional measures might entail the purchase of a variety of assets, one of which is sovereign bonds,” Draghi said in Brussels today during quarterly testimony to lawmakers at the European Parliament.

Brazil's central bank on Monday said it will step up its daily intervention in the foreign exchange market as the currency continues to weaken sharply versus the dollar because of political uncertainty.

The Federal Reserve should consider delaying the end of its bond-purchase program to halt a decline in inflation expectations, said St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard.

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said she’s “greatly” concerned by the most sustained rise in U.S. wealth and income inequality since the 19th century, while declining to offer any policy prescriptions.

The European Central Bank said it settled 1.704 billion euros ($2.2 billion) of covered-bond purchases last week as it started its latest effort to revive the euro-area economy.

European Central Bank Governing Council member Jens Weidmann said targeting the amount of assets owned by the ECB is a risky endeavor.

For almost six years, one of the most powerful bull markets on record has coexisted with the weakest economic recovery since World War II. This month’s selloff in stocks shows how much investors want that to change.

As we previously reported, the ECB's latest stress test was once again patently flawed from the start. Why? Because as we noted earlier, in its most draconian, "adverse" scenario, the ECB simply refused to contemplate the possibility of deflation. And here's why. Buried deep in the report, on page 75 of 178, is the following revelation which contains in it the scariest number presented to the public today.

(Reuters) - BHP Billiton (BHP.AX) is planning to sell its Fayetteville shale gas assets in the United States, the mining and energy group said on Monday, in the latest effort to trim its portfolio in the region and focus on more profitable petroleum liquids.

Floyd Wilson raps his fingertips against the polished conference table. He’s just been asked, for a second time, how he reacted when his Halcon Resources Corp. (HK) wrote off $1.2 billion last year after disappointing results in two key prospects.