Grave business - my financial world

Sales of existing homes in the U.S. fell last month to the lowest level in at least nine years, signaling the housing slump is deepening and will weigh on growth in 2008.
Resales declined 0.4 percent, less than forecast, to an annual rate of 4.89 million from a revised 4.91 million in December […]

China's central bank said it will make the yuan more flexible and use interest rates to curb inflation that's projected to remain “high'' in the first half of 2008.
The yuan's appreciation is helping to temper import prices while exporters have shown “higher-than-expected'' tolerance to a stronger currency, the People's Bank of China said […]

A federal bankruptcy court judge on Tuesday denied Chrysler LLC’s request to immediately retrieve equipment from supplier Plastech Engineered Products Inc., saying such a move could harm Plastech’s efforts to reorganize under bankruptcy protection.
Chrysler had sued Plastech to retrieve more than $167 million worth of tooling it owns that is used to make Chrysler […]

Reserve Bank of Australia board members considered raising the benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points for the first time in eight years this month to cool the fastest inflation in almost two decades.
“The debate focused on whether the change in the cash rate should be 25 or 50 basis points,'' the […]

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. said Friday that its fourth-quarter earnings rose 9% on increased sales from its expanding Hollister Co. chain that caters to teens and its abercrombie stores for children.
The apparel retailer said it earned $216.8 million, or $2.40 per share, for the quarter ended Feb. 2, compared with a profit of $198.2 […]

European Central Bank council member Axel Weber said investor bets that the ECB will cut interest rates are misguided because they overlook policy makers' determination to prevent an inflation spiral.
“Current interest-rate expectations on financial markets, at least for a stability oriented central banker, do not reflect an appropriate assessment of inflation risks,'' […]

U.K. factories raised prices at the fastest annual pace since 1991 in January as gains in raw material costs reached a record, limiting the Bank of England's scope to reduce borrowing costs.
Producer prices for goods including chemicals, textiles and food rose 5.7 percent from a year earlier, the Office for National Statistics […]

U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said the global economy faces “downside risks'' from the rout of capital markets that is “serious and persisting.''
“It will take time to work through the current financial turmoil,'' Paulson said in a statement after a meeting in Tokyo of finance ministers and central bankers from Group of […]

Striking writers have reached interim contract agreements with four New York-based independent filmmakers, ending their 12-week walkout, the two sides said Sunday in a joint announcement.
The settlement appeared to be another step toward ending the national work stoppage by the Writers Guild of America that has brought film and television production on both coasts […]

Burger King Holdings Inc. said Thursday its second-quarter profit jumped 29% as the stalwart Whopper, the new Homestyle Melt and promotions with TV tie-ins gave a boost to worldwide sales at stores open at least a year.
Net income for the world’s No. 2 hamburger chain rose to $49 million, or 36 cents per share, […]