Personal Loan Blog

Diane Alter – AHN News Reporter
New York, NY, United States (AHN) – Wall Street opened lower Friday after a report showed that the U.S. economy expanded less than forecast.. Just after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was lower by 33 points, the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index was flat and the NASDAQ was up by about 6 points. Weighing on stocks was a report that showed the U.S. economy expanded at 2.8 percent in the fourth quarter, less than the 3 percent that had been projected. In Europe the Stoxx Europe 600 Index slipped 0.7 percent as investors await word on developments on the region’s sovereign debt crisis. European Union Economic and Monetary [...] Continue Reading…

IRIN Staff
Baghdad, Iraq (IRIN) – Suicide attacks, assassinations and bombings in Iraq have claimed the lives of at least 265 people and injured hundreds of others since 18 December, the date the USA withdrew all but 200 of its troops from the country, according to the health and interior ministries. The wave of attacks, carried out mainly by Sunni extremists from Al-Qaeda in Iraq against Shia communities, has alarmed many who fear the country could descend into chaos once more, with the government itself acknowledging it is not capable of ensuring security on its own. The attacks also come as political factions are at loggerheads over how to reach a power-sharing deal. The Sunni community is complaining [...] Continue Reading…

Linda Young – AHN News Writer
Berlin, Germany (AHN) – Signs of an economic contraction in Germany’s economy raised fears of a recession in Europe. The news escalated concern that demand for oil might fall, causing oil futures prices to drop by as much as 1.1 percent. In addition, the euro weakened against the dollar. Germany has long served as the engine for economic growth for the entire European Union. Therefore, news that the German economy likely shrank by 0.25 percent during the last three months of 2011 caused alarm and has observers worrying the European Union might slide back into a recession. Official figures from the Federal Statistics Office show that the German economy only grew [...] Continue Reading…

The Media Line Staff
Doha, Qatar David Rosenberg (The Medi – The year 2011 wasn’t only tough for Middle Eastern despots. With the exception of Qatar, the Arab World’s stock markets all ended the year with sharp drops both in share prices and trading volume as unrest took the wind out of much of the regional economy and sent political shivers everywhere. All told, investors waved goodbye to more than $111 billion in stock market value over 2011, a drop of about 11 percent, according to figures from the Arab Monetary Fund. They took their biggest hit in Egypt, where the combined value of the country’s stocks shed $33 billion last year, a 39 percent decline and the biggest [...] Continue Reading…

Diane Alter – AHN News Reporter
New York, NY, United States (AHN) – The season for giving and receiving gifts is now Christmas Past. Now, it is the season for returning unwanted presents. Dubbed “Mega Monday,” Dec. 26 is expected to be the third busiest shopping day of 2011, with scores of people heading to stores in droves in search of after-Christmas bargains and to return items. Stores are forecast to ring up $469.1 billion over this holiday season, which extends from Nov.1 through New Year’s Eve. The final week before Christmas accounts for up to 20 percent of those sales, with the week after the holiday also being very brisk. Some retailers underestimated the resilience of [...] Continue Reading…

Tejinder Singh – AHN News Correspondent
Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – The White House has thrown its support behind the end-of-year legislative package that included an extension of the reduction in payroll taxes for Americans for two months, according to a senior administration official. In a statement issued Friday night, White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer said, “The President said that Congress cannot go home without preventing a tax increase on 160 million hardworking Americans, and the deal announced tonight meets that test.” Pfeiffer quoted the President as urging “Congress now to finish up their business for the American people.” “This is an important step towards enacting a key provision of the President’s American Jobs Act [...] Continue Reading…

John Nestor – AHN Sports Correspondent
Tucson, AZ, United States (AHN Sports) – Four teams from MLS are set to compete in the 2012 FC Tucson Desert Diamond Cup. The matches will be played at Kino Stadium between February 22, 2012 and March 3, 2012 and feature MLS Cup winners the Los Angeles Galaxy along with New York Red Bulls, New England Revolution and Real Salt Lake. The event is expected to bring in thousands of soccer-loving tourists to town and the games will feature some of the top teams and players from the MLS. “They’re going to be contributing to the local economy,” Felipe Garcia from the Tucson Convention and Visitors Bureau said, “Fans will be [...] Continue Reading…

Washington, DC, United States (IRIN) – AIDS activists have welcomed a pledge by U.S. President Barack Obama to provide antiretroviral treatment to some six million people globally by 2013, an increase of two million on the previous target. “Obama has shown political will and leadership in doubling the pace of treatment initiation… he has made a down-payment on ending the AIDS crisis globally,” said Asia Russell, director of international policy at the health advocacy NGO, Health Global Access Project (Health GAP), which has been urging the US to take the lead in the global fight against HIV/AIDS. In 2010, some 3.2 million people were accessing ARVs through the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR); globally, [...] Continue Reading…

Linda Young – AHN News Writer
Derbyshire, United Kingdom (AHN) – Toyota has announced plans to add up to 1,500 new jobs at its Burnaston factory in Derbyshire in the United Kingdom. Company officials say that Toyota will invest more than $155 million into making the factory its sole European plant for the next hatchback it introduces. Prime Minister David Cameron was touring the factory when news of the new production was announced and he hailed it as a vote of confidence for UK manufacturing. He also noted that it would be a huge boost for the economy. The new hatchback will be a small family vehicle similar in size to Toyota’s existing Auris model and cars [...] Continue Reading…

The Media Line Staff
Jerusalem, Israel David Rosenberg / The Med – For the second time in three years, Israel’s economy is threatened with the prospect of being pushed into a slowdown or even a recession not of its own making, prompting Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer to warn the government against boosting spending or raising taxes. “If we continue to maintain responsible fiscal and monetary policies, and if the private sector stays calm, we can get through the implications of whatever happens in Europe relatively successfully, more or less as we did in 2008 and 2009,” Fischer said on Wednesday. “That is to say we wouldn’t avoid a slowdown, but it would be much less intense than [...] Continue Reading…