MONEY (MSM)

Time running out on Greek debt talks, says top EU official

Greece is not moving fast enough to draw up and implement structural reforms and there is limited time to prevent it running out of cash, European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said on Monday. Time is running out,” Dombrovskis told Reuters in an interview. A meeting of deputy finance ministers — called the Euro Working Group — on Thursday gave Athens a deadline of six working days to present a

China Growth Last Quarter Seen Worst Since Global Recession

For Zhu Zhangjin, the boss of a furniture factory in eastern China, the cost of finance is still one of the “mountains” weighing on his business’s profitability. Borrowing costs are the “highest among all major economies,” said Zhu, chairman of Zhejiang province-based Kasen International Holdings Ltd., naming rising labor expenses and tax rates as other headaches. Zhu’s company, which employs about 5,000 people and exports sofas and car seats to

United States loses sparkle as Europe shows signs of hope

Investors will cast a wary eye on the latest gauges of the United States’ economic health this week, while troubled Europe shows early signs of turning the corner. As finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 20 top economies gather in Washington, on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund’s Spring meeting, they view a subdued global landscape where even the United States’ prospects seem tarnished. European Central

Fed takes back seat as market shifts focus to earnings

With earnings season underway, Wall Street is temporarily putting the U.S. Federal Reserve and macroeconomic policy on the back burner in favor of a focus on individual company results and forecasts for a pulse on the economy’s health. A slew of big banks, including JPMorgan Chase & Co and Bank of America Corp, is due to report first-quarter earnings next week, providing an expected bright spot in an otherwise gloomy