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FRANKFURT The euro zone economy is likely to shrink next year as it has in 2012, the European Central Bank predicted on Thursday, sharply downgrading its outlook after holding interest rates at a record low 0.75 percent. The bank’s new staff projections put gross domestic product in a range of falling by 0.9 percent to growing by just 0.3 percent next year, suggesting contraction is far more likely than not. ECB President Mario Draghi said downside risks prevailed. In September, the ECB’s staff had penciled in a significantly higher range of -0.4 to +1.4 percent for the euro area economy. [...]

FRANKFURT The European Central Bank may give a guide to next year’s policy path when it delivers fresh forecasts for the euro zone economy on Thursday at a meeting where it is expected to leave interest rates at a record low. The ECB will issue its first economic forecasts for 2014 in its staff projections and economists expect the bank to downgrade its outlook for 2013, following a similar move by the European Commission in November. Only a handful of the 71 economists polled by Reuters said the ECB would cut rates and they were split down the middle over [...]

TORONTO Long convinced the country’s housing boom would never end in a crash, Canadians have watched this autumn as a sharp slowdown in real estate spreads across the country, leaving would-be home buyers hopeful and sellers scared. “The power is in the hands of the buyer – that’s what I’m feeling,” said Andria Petrillo, 32, as she and her husband toured a quiet open house in the heart of Toronto, where crowds and chaos once reigned over weekend home showings. But like most people shopping for a new home, Petrillo has to sell her old one first. And that’s where [...]

Economic growth accelerated in the third quarter as a last minute spurt in consumer spending and a surprise turnaround in government outlays offset the first cutback in business investment in more than a year. Even so, the stronger pace of expansion fell short of what is needed to make much of a dent in unemployment, and it offered little cheer for the White House ahead of the closely contested November 6 presidential election. Gross domestic product grew at a 2 percent annual rate, the Commerce Department said on Friday in its first estimate of the third quarter, a pick-up from [...]

Economic growth accelerated in the third quarter as a last minute spurt in consumer spending and a surprise turnaround in government outlays offset the first cutback in business investment in more than a year. Even so, the stronger pace of expansion fell short of what is needed to make much of a dent in unemployment, and it offered little cheer for the White House ahead of the closely contested November 6 presidential election. Gross domestic product grew at a 2 percent annual rate, the Commerce Department said on Friday in its first estimate of the third quarter, a pick-up from [...]

Almost every employee has heard this mantra: We need to work as a team! Team building is probably one of the most requested organizational development activities in business today, but like most things, with popularity comes saturation. There are a lot of tools and techniques available to help teams learn to function better together. But the challenge is they aren’t all created equal and many of them require significant investment.  As an organizational psychologist, I tend to take a pretty simplistic view of team building. To tweak a phrase from the world of real estate, it all comes down to [...]

KUALA LUMPUR A Malaysian court kept on hold the license granted to Lynas Corp Ltd’s controversial rare earth plant by delaying until October 10 a decision on whether it will consider judicial reviews to permanently block production. The Australian company said that the Kuantan High Court’s decision leaves the temporary operating license suspended until October 10, extending a one-week halt that expired on Thursday. The rare earth plant – the biggest outside China – has been ready to fire up since early May, but the company has been embroiled in environmental and safety disputes with local residents since construction began [...]

If your home has been seriously damaged or destroyed, your insurance company will release a check made out to both you and your mortgage lender to pay for the necessary repairs. “Lenders have a substantial investment in the property, sometimes more than the homeowner, especially if the homeowner has made a small down payment,” says Michael Barry, vice president of media relations for the Insurance Information Institute in New York City. Mortgage lenders have an equal right to the insurance check to ensure repairs are made, says Barry. Yet, while Michael Northagen, vice president with Wells Fargo Home Mortgage in [...]

SYDNEY Australia’s central bank kept its key interest rate on hold at 3.5% on Tuesday, as widely expected. “The board judged that, with inflation expected to be consistent with the target and growth close to trend, but with a more subdued international outlook than was the case a few months ago, the stance of monetary policy remained appropriate,” said Gov. Glenn Stevens in a statement alongside the rate decision. The Australian dollar traded at $ 1.0248 after the decision, up from $ 1.0235 just before the announcement.

Creditors unhappy with Tribune Co.’s plan to exit bankruptcy protection are asking a judge to halt it while they appeal. The judge in Delaware approved the plan last month. But some creditors are challenging the settlement of legal claims stemming from Tribune’s 2007 leveraged buyout and the treatment of certain bondholders under the plan. Some creditors, including billionaire developer Sam Zell, also want permission to bypass a federal district court and take their challenges directly to a federal appeals court in Philadelphia. Zell, who orchestrated the buyout that left Tribune with nearly $ 13 billion in debt, ranks at the [...]