U.S. Senators urge Obama administration to block Arctic oil drilling

A group of 18 mostly Democratic U.S. senators on Friday urged the Obama administration to stop Royal Dutch Shell's preparations for oil exploration in the Arctic, saying the region has a severely limited capacity to respond to accidents.


Fed on track to hike rates as economic headwinds wane: Yellen

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen was clearer than ever on Friday that the central bank was poised to raise interest rates this year, as the U.S. economy was set to bounce back from an early-year slump and as headwinds at home and abroad waned.

BOJ slightly more upbeat on economy, Kuroda sees no need for more easing

The Bank of Japan offered a slightly more upbeat view of the economy on Friday and its governor shrugged off the need for more monetary stimulus, dismissing market concerns that the recovery is too slow to accelerate inflation toward the bank's target.

Brent crude oil slips towards $66 before long weekend

Oil prices slipped on Friday as worries over the impact of war in the Middle East on crude supplies were outweighed by reports of profit-taking ahead of a long weekend.


Latest News

Greece expects to reach a cash-for-reforms deal with its creditors in the next 10 days and aims to meet all its payments in June, the government's spokesman said on Friday, after the prime minister met with EU leaders.
Global stocks rose and bond yields fell on Friday, as investors shrugged off slowing global growth and focused instead on the continued stimulus provided by the world's major central banks.
Market research firm Gartner Inc estimated 7.3 million Chromebooks would be sold this year, helped mainly by demand from the education industry.
Hewlett-Packard Co (HPQ.N), the world's No. 2 PC maker, reported a quarterly profit above market estimates, helped by cost cuts, sending its shares up more than 3 percent in after-market trading.
Billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn said Thursday that mutual funds will increasingly realize that being underweight shares of Apple will hurt their performance as the technology giant continues to innovate.
The S&P 500 closed at a record high on Thursday after disappointing economic data bolstered expectations that an interest rate hike is likely to come only later in the year.
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to provide $110 billion in aid for Asian infrastructure projects, as China prepares to launch a new institutional lender that is seen as encroaching on the regional financial clout of Tokyo and its ally Washington.
Brazilian investment bank BTG Pactual SA (BPAC3.SA) and its partners P2Brasil and GMR Energia jointly sold 100 percent of renewable energy company Latin America Power (LAP) to SunEdison, BTG and P2 said on Thursday.
Indian e-commerce firms are offering funding help and tech support to woo small retailers, emulating a strategy used by Chinese online retail giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd to expand into the towns and villages home to the majority of consumers.
World shares hovered near record highs on Thursday after downbeat Chinese manufacturing data kept pressure on Beijing for more stimulus and the Federal Reserve signalled higher U.S. interest rates are still some way off.