Economy

Brown Says G-20 Should Consider Tax on Financial Speculation to Curb Risk U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the Group of 20 nations should consider measures such as taxing financial transactions to penalize excessive risk taking and limit the burden on taxpayers of bank failures.

Zhou Seeks to Deflect European, Japanese Appeals for Yuan to Strengthen Chinese central bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said he doesn’t think his country is facing too many foreign demands to let the yuan strengthen, deflecting calls from Europe and Japan to do just that.

Consumer Credit Declines More Than Forecast Amid Mounting U.S. Job Losses U.S. consumer credit fell in September for an eighth straight month, the longest series of declines on record, as thousands of Americans lost their jobs and banks tightened access to loans.

Brown Urges Group of 20 Ministers to Avoid `Dangerous' Early Stimulus Exit Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged the Group of 20 nations to maintain stimulus measures for their economies, saying the global recovery from the worst recession in six decades “hangs in the balance.”

Temporary-Worker Hiring Increase May Foreshadow Return to U.S. Job Growth Companies including Best Buy Co. are stepping up hiring of temporary workers, a trend that some economists say may signal an end to U.S. job losses in coming months.

World's Central Banks Signal End to `Largesse' as Depression Threat Fades The world’s biggest central banks are starting to unwind emergency measures introduced earlier this year to stave off a second Great Depression.

IMF Boosts Reward to $36,000 to Help Solve Official's Shooting in Maryland The International Monetary Fund added $35,000 to the reward for information that helps police solve the shooting last month of an IMF official in the garage of his suburban Washington home.

Nobel Winner Phelps Sees U.S. Recovery Fading, `New Normal' For Economy The U.S. economic recovery will probably “run out of gas” as it heads toward a “new normal” of lower long-term growth and higher unemployment than over the previous decade, Nobel laureate Edmund Phelps said.

G-20 Members Will Seek Asian Currency Gains to Solve Imbalances, UBS Says The Group of 20 finance chiefs will likely push for Asian nations to allow their currencies to appreciate when they meet in Scotland this weekend, according to UBS AG, the world’s second-largest foreign-exchange trader.

Canada Loses 43,200 Jobs in October, Unemployment Rate Increases to 8.6% Canadian employers unexpectedly fired workers in October and the unemployment rate rose more than expected, suggesting the U.S.’s largest trading partner hasn’t fully recovered from the recession that began last year.

Latvia Spares Currency, Devalues Economy to Save Path to Euro Membership Electronics and clothing stores at the Galerijas Centrs in Riga’s old town fly banners offering discounts of as much as 50 percent.

Fed Watch

Fed Signals Return to Growth Alone Doesn't Warrant Interest-Rate Increase Federal Reserve officials signaled a return to economic growth alone won’t warrant higher interest rates, saying an increase will instead depend on when the labor market and inflation pick up.

Federal Open Market Committee's Statement on Monetary Policy: Full Text The following is a reformatted version of the full text of the statement released today by the Federal Reserve in Washington:

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