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| Nuclear Muddle |
 SAMUEL Johnson, in his life of
the English poet Abraham
Cowley, said, "actions are visible."
What are secret, Johnson added
pointedly, are "motives".
In the case of Iran's nuclear programme
what we know of Tehran's
actions and motives are the following ... |
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| THE OIL SPILL
SETTLEMENT |
 FORGIVE me for repeating
myself, but I'm going to start
this column with an anecdote
about Ken Feinberg that I've
told before.
It was November 2010, a few
months after Feinberg had been
named the administrator of the
$20 billion fund that British
Petroleum
... |
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 | Most US banks pass
stress test, says Fed MOST of the largest US banks
passed their annual stress test,
according to the Federal
Reserve, in a conservative
report card that underscored
the recovery of the financial sector
but called out a few laggards,
including Citigroup.
The Fed...
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| | IEA cuts non-OPEC oil
supply forecast for 2012 |  OIL supply from non-OPEC
countries will grow less than
expected in the first quarter
this year, the International
Energy Agency (IEA) said on
Wednesday, leaving its global
oil demand growth forecast
unchanged.
The agency, which advises
industrialised nations on
energy policy, said non-OPEC
oil production will rise by just
300,000 barrels per day (bpd)
in the first quarter, down from
490,000 bpd in previous forecasts
as unplanned shut-ins
topped 750,000 bpd.
The IEA also downgraded
its full year non-OPEC production
growth to 730,000
bpd from 900,000 bpd.
Worsening prospects surrounding
Syria and South
Sudan posed the greatest
challenges to non... | | | British jobless rate at 16-year
high, wage growth slows |  BRITAIN´S unemployment
rate held at a 16-year high in
the three months to January
and the youth unemployment
rate rose to a record high, piling
pressure on the government
to introduce policies to
boost growth and jobs in next
week´s budget.
Unemployment on the
broader ILO measure inched
down to 2.666 million for the
November-January period
from 2.671 million in the three
months to December, but the
overall rate held at 8.4 percent,
a rate that prior to recent
months was last equalled in the
three months to January 1996.
Other figures released on
Wednesday showed an unexpected
slowdown in wage
growth further squeezing
household budgets with... | | | Wall Street stays
flat despite rosy
Fed outlook |
 STOCKS were largely flat on
Wednesday as investors balanced
comments from the
Federal Reserve on the
economy and banking sector
against the recent, fiveday
rally.
The Fed said most of the
largest US banks passed their
annual stress test in a report
that underscored the recovery
of the financial sector but
called out a few laggards,
including Citigroup Inc.
The Fed also said on
Tuesday it expects "moderate"
growth over coming
quarters with the unemployment
rate declining gradually
versus the "modest" growth
the central bank said it
expected in January.
Banks have been a major
component of the 11 percent
rally in the S&P for the year,
with the KBW Bank index... | |
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