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BEIJING China will maintain its fine-tuning of economic policies in 2013 to ensure stable economic growth, state television quoted Chinese Communist Party chief Xi Jinping as saying on Tuesday. Addressing a politburo meeting, Xi said the government aimed to stabilize exports as the world’s second-largest economy faced both favorable factors and challenges next year. “We will keep continuity and stability of macro-economy policies, prioritizing on making policies more targeted and effective while fine-tuning policies when appropriate,” state television cited Xi as telling the meeting. “China will make more efforts on expanding domestic demand and fostering new consumption growth areas.” The [...]

PARIS European Central Bank policymaker Benoit Coeure urged euro zone governments on Saturday to forge a closer political union, arguing “the euro is a currency with a state” whose branches of government need more clearly defining. At an economic forum in Paris, Coeure said the ECB had acted to prevent the break-up of the euro by agreeing its new bond-purchase program, dubbed Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT). OMTs aim “to price out a type of catastrophic risk premium that investors demand in conditions of market paralysis,” Coeure said in the text of a speech for delivery at the forum. “It was [...]

MADRID Spain’s biggest bank Santander on Thursday said it owned around 30 billion euros of Spanish sovereign debt at the end of September. “When it comes to public debt, exposure to Spanish sovereign debt is around 30 billion euros,” Santander Chief Executive Alfredo Saenz said during a conference call with analysts. He added the holdings had come down from 35 billion euros in the previous quarter after debt matured. Saenz also said bad loans would peak across the group towards the end of 2013. (Reporting by Sonya Dowsett and Blanca Rodriguez, writing by Julien Toyer, editing by Fiona Ortiz)

BRUSSELS European Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said on Wednesday he had not received notification of any French state aid for carmaker Peugeot, but that he would consider it. “We have not yet received any formal communication or notification on this issue, but of course once we will receive the information we will have to create a very careful assessment of what is going on,” Almunia, who regulates state aid in the 27-member European Union, told a news briefing. PSA Peugeot Citroen, Europe’s second-biggest automaker, said earlier on Wednesday it was nearing an agreement with creditor banks on 11.5 billion euros [...]

Richard Quest with rancher Connie Dorsey on horseback in Grandby, Colorado. Too much kit? The Quest team prepares to board the train in Chicago. Preparing to board the sleeping car on the California Zephyr train. A rainbow frames the Chicago skyline with the Buckingham Fountain in Grant Park, downtown. CNN’s Richard Quest takes a time out from battle in the Union camp The cannon is readied by Union Artillery soldiers as the camera looks on Two organizers of the civil war re-enactment shelter from the torrential rain in Iowa Sitting down with local political commentators Felicia Muftic, Patrick Brower and [...]

The Empire State manufacturing index increased slightly but remained in negative territory for the third straight month, the New York Federal Reserve Bank said Monday. The index rose to negative 6.2 in October from negative 10.4 in September, which was its weakest reading in almost two years. Economists polled by MarketWatch expected the index to improve to negative 4.0. The key new orders sub-index rose to negative 9.0 in October from negative 14.0 in September. However, unfilled orders, another forward-looking component, fell to negative 18.3 in October from negative 14.9 in September. Employment conditions weakened, with the index for number [...]

ATHENS As Greece’s privatization program this month, nearly half a year behind schedule, at stake is not just the billions of euros it needs to raise, but the credibility of its commitment to reforms demanded by its creditors. Greek politicians are under intense pressure at home to resist foreign calls to sell state assets on the cheap and raise fast cash to pay down government debt. More challenging still will be efforts to use privatization as a tool to uproot corrupt business practices and restore foreign investors’ confidence in Greece. The 15-month-old Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund aims to transform [...]

The New York Federal Reserve Bank’s Empire State Manufacturing survey for September is due for release at 8:30 a.m. Eastern. Economists polled by MarketWatch expect the index to improve to zero from negative 5.9 in August.

The Empire State manufacturing index fell unexpectedly to negative 10.4 in September, the weakest reading in almost two years, the New York Federal Reserve Bank said Monday. Economists polled by MarketWatch expected the index to improve to 0.0 from negative 5.9 in August. The index has fallen sharply in the summer after reaching 17.1 in May. The key new orders sub-index fell to negative 14.0 in September from negative 5.5 in August. Unfilled orders, another forward-looking component, fell to negative 14.9 in September from negative 10.6 in August. One bright spot was an increase in a key barometer of future [...]

In a 182-page report released last month, the Securities and Exchange Commission arrives at a stark conclusion: Americans as a group have a weak grasp of financial concepts and lack basic investment knowledge. The SEC Study Regarding Financial Literacy Among Investors was mandated by the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Its findings draw upon a variety of sources including online surveys, focus groups, public comments and review of other studies, including a Library of Congress report on financial literacy. Financial literacy findings Even with the tremendous amount of information available both online and offline, many Americans [...]