Grave business - my financial world

Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling cut his forecast for U.K. economic growth for a second time in five months after higher credit costs weighed on consumer spending and corporate investment.
Britain's economy will probably expand by between 1.75 percent and 2.25 percent this year, Darling said. That's less than the 2-to-2.5 percent growth […]

The PMI Group Inc. said late Monday it would further delay its fourth-quarter and full-year 2007 financial results because of continued delays in obtaining final year-end 2007 financials from FGIC Corp.
The Walnut Creek mortgage insurer owns a 42 percent stake in bond insurer FGIC. PMI (NYSE: PMI) now expects to deliver its financial reports […]

More home owners than ever are losing the battle to make their monthly mortgage payments.
Over 900,000 households are in the foreclosure process, up 71% from a year ago, according to a survey by the Mortgage Bankers Association. That figure represents 2.04% of all mortgages, the highest rate in the report’s quarterly, 36-year history. […]

China launched a shake-up of its bloated government bureaucracy Wednesday and ordered stern measures to tame inflation that threatens to erode the living standards of ordinary Chinese.
Premier Wen Jiabao laid out the government’s priorities for the year, saying that swelling treasury revenues from strong economic growth should be used to make sure inflation does […]

The Bank of Canada cut its benchmark interest rate by half a point and signaled further reductions are needed to offset a slump in exports to the U.S.
Mark Carney, in his first decision as governor, lowered the target rate for overnight loans between commercial banks to a two-year low of 3.5 percent, the […]

The U.S. Department of Energy has selected three venture capital firms to participate in a national program designed to accelerate commercialization of advanced clean energy technologies spun out of federal laboratories.
The entrepreneur in residence, or EIR, pilot program, will use venture capital-sponsored and selected entrepreneurs to identify laboratory-developed technologies funded by the […]

Northrop Grumman and Airbus parent EADS won a $35 billion U.S. Air Force refueling plane deal on Friday in a surprise blow to Boeing, until now the Pentagon’s sole supplier of aerial tankers.
Northrop Grumman Corp (NOC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and EADS (EAD.PA: Quote, Profile, Research), “clearly provided the best value to the government,” […]

Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Charles Evans said officials can make clear their commitment to stable prices by “promptly'' reversing interest- rate cuts when “insurance'' against growth risks is no longer needed.
“When insurance proves to be no longer necessary, removing it promptly and recalibrating policy to appropriate levels will reiterate and […]