Hot Economic News Releases

U.S. stocks opened lower after the announcement of a sharper than expected slowdown in economic growth in the U.S. in the second quarter.

In the first exchanges, the Dow Jones lost 0.8% or 80.53 points to 10,386 points while the Standard & Poor's 500 index yielded 0.9% or 10.25 points to 1090 points and the composite index the Nasdaq fell by 1.2% or 27.41 points to 2224.54 points.

The U.S. economy slowed sharply in the second quarter at an annualized rate of 2.4% against 3.7% in the first quarter, according to figures published Friday in the first estimate by the Commerce Department. The market was expecting growth of 2.5%.

On the values front, Merck was down 1.6%.The pharmaceutical company has yet reported Friday in quarterly earnings above expectations.

Chevron was down 0.8% despite a profit tripled in the second quarter.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) intends to increase its lending capacity of 750-1000 billion dollars to prevent future financial crises, the Financial Times.

The organization wishes to enter into agreements to advance on a case by case basis with member states, rather than offering loans under certain conditions, the newspaper said without citing sources.

"Even during periods of crisis, a large fund that can take massive can help prevent crises," explained Dominique Strauss Kahn, IMF managing director, in the columns of the Sunday edition of the FT.

"The fact that the decreasing financial role does not mean we can do without a big fire power (…) A fund of 1.000 billion is a wise prediction," he says.

South Korea, which currently chairs the G20 group, hopes to convince its partners to approve the draft at the next summit of the organization, to be held in November in Seoul, says the author of the article.

The Belgian bank insurer KBC sold its derivatives in Asia for about $ one billion, as part of restructuring promised in exchange for public assistance received during the crisis.

The buyer of Global Convertible Bond and Asian Equity Derivatives is Daiwa Capital Markets, the investment banking arm of Daiwa Securities of Japan.

The transaction will result in a strengthening of the capital of KBC and an increase of ten basis points from its Tier One ratio of liabilities to equity reported "hard".

The group, which received seven billion euros in state aid during the crisis, has agreed, in agreement with the European Commission to reduce its risky assets of 39 billion euros between 2008 and 2013, mainly by reducing its activities on financial markets and corporate lending internationally.

For its part, Daiwa seeks to develop its activities in Asia to take advantage of growth in the region after reducing its alliance in investment banking business with the Japanese bank Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group.

KBC also said Monday it had sold to the Australian insurer QBE Insurance Secura its reinsurance subsidiary based in Brussels for 267 million euros.

QBE has made over 75 acquisitions over the last ten years to be present in 47 countries.

In May, KBC has raised 1.35 billion euros by selling its private banking arm KBL European Private Bankers to the Indian company Hinduja Group.

KBC closed the business in Japan in March. Analysts, traders and sellers of office of KBC in Tokyo have been committed by BNP Paribas.

The Paris Bourse reduced its decline in mid-day, but remains in the red (-0.62%). At 24:15 (10:15 GMT), the CAC 40 yielded 21.37 points 3434.24 points, in a transaction volume of 1.366 billion euros.

On Monday morning the Paris Stock Exchange opened down 1.73% to 3395.85 points and increased its losses to more than 2% in early trading. In the wake of Wall Street and Asian exchanges, the market suffered from disappointing employment figures released Friday and U.S. concerns about the deficits of European countries. The euro is found at 1.19 dollars, its lowest level in four years

The London Stock Exchange had also opened sharply lower Monday. The FTSE-100 index of major values yielded 71 points in early trade, or 1.39% from Friday's close at 5055 points. The Dax index featuring the Frankfurt Stock Exchange opened down 1.05% to 5876.48 points.In Milan, the FTSE Eb, was down over 2% in early Monday trade.

Athex index of the Athens Stock Exchange lost 3.29% to 1436.01 points on Monday to 0830 GMT, like other European markets.

The Nikkei index of Tokyo Stock Exchange backed off Monday from 3.84% Monday closed at 9,520.80 points, its lowest level in more than six months, including disappointing numbers victim of employment in the United States USA. After a session negative end to end, the Nikkei 225 index of blue chips ended on a loss of 380.39 points (-3.84%). This is its lowest closing level since Nov. 30, 2009.

Other awards in the region have also closed down. Sydney dropped 2.78%, shortly after 0600 GMT, Hong Kong abandoned 2.36%, 1.57% Seoul, Shanghai and Mumbai 1.35% 2.21%.