Finance time

Consumer confidence sank to its lowest level in 26 years, according to a survey published Friday.
The University of Michigan Consumer Confidence survey revealed that high food and fuel prices, coupled with shrinking incomes and falling home values, have driven consumers to save their money rather than spend it.
"The recent acceleration in the loss in […]

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BlueCross Blueshield of Western New York said it has reached terms on a contract with its unionized workforce.
The previous contract expired April 27, the day the new pact was settled following six weeks of negotiations with Local 212 of the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU). The union represents customer service, […]

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In an office full of modern Chinese paintings overlooking Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour, Richard Elman, founder and head of Asia’s largest commodities supplier Noble Group, says he has been lucky.
Elman, who began his career in a scrap yard in England at the age of 15, is among the few non-Chinese listed by Forbes magazine […]

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President George W. Bush said the tax rebates Americans will start getting next week will boost the economy and help them pay their bills.
“The money is going to help Americans offset the high prices we're seeing at the gas pump and the grocery store,'' Bush said at the White House. “It will also […]

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Canada will tighten regulations to force more disclosure by financial institutions and push for a nationwide securities regulator after record writedowns by the country's biggest banks, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said.
The measures, which Flaherty said he'll discuss with bank executives on April 28, may be implemented as soon as this year. The changes […]

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Bank of England policy makers had the first three-way split in almost two years as they lowered the main rate this month, with David Blanchflower voting for a bigger cut and Andrew Sentance and Timothy Besley wanting no change.
The majority of the nine-member Monetary Policy Committee decided to cut the interest rate by […]

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Shareholders of Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. easily passed a proposal Thursday to grant ZelnickMedia, the company’s management, 1.5 million shares of restricted stock.
Chairman Strauss Zelnick called it a vote of confidence - Take-Two’s board was also re-elected by a wide margin. But a spokesman for Electronic Arts Inc (ERTS)., the company that launched a […]

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The Bank of England should be ready to act to ease financial-system strains both within the U.K. mortgage market and in a global move with other central banks, former policy maker Richard Lambert said.
“They need to be ready to join in concerted international action to ease strains on bank liquidity,'' Lambert, director- general […]

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The U.S. housing implosion worsened in March, while manufacturing stabilized and a stagnant economy limited the ability of companies to pass higher food and energy costs on to consumers.
Work began on 947,000 homes at an annual rate, the fewest since March 1991, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. Industrial production gained 0.3 […]

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European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said financial market turmoil may leave central banks with less leeway to decide on interest rates.
“We are clearly concerned about the real impacts of the financial market turmoil, as it impacts also on the policy options of central banks, including monetary policy,'' Trichet said at an economic […]

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