Americans are growing more pessimistic about the economy in the wake of a recession that left a more lasting impression on many families than any other event in the past decade.

Japan's Sumco, the world's No.2 supplier of silicon wafers used to make chips, slashed its annual operating profit forecast by 37% on weak PC demand and slower-than-expected growth in smartphones and tablet PCs, and it said the fragile economy could make chip demand retreat further.

German exports fell by 1.8% in July, much more than expected, official figures have shown.

The US economy failed to add jobs in August.

China's Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) rose to 50.9 in August from 50.7 the previous month, up for the first time in four months.

Recession in rich countries has discouraged some would-be incomers from trying their luck. America, for instance, has seen a sharp decline in Mexicans trying to cross its southern border. Immigration to Europe has slowed. Some studies also suggest that increased inflows of migrants are a leading indicator of a pickup in growth.

Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Glenn Stevens and Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer were among the six central bankers to receive the top grade from the Global Finance magazine. The others were Lebanon's Riad Salameh, Malaysia's Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Amando Tetangco of the Philippines and Taiwan's Fai-Nan Perng.

Political leaders anywhere in the world, however great they are, often do not have the luxury of actually making choices; choices are usually forced upon them by economic or political circumstances.

The Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, said Friday that the economy is recovering and the nation's long-term prospects remained strong, an upbeat assessment that offered little indication of any plans for additional measures to boost short-term growth.

The price of gold has plunged 9.3%, after hitting a record US$1,913.50 an ounce on August 23, as markets became more upbeat about the economy.

Moody's now holds rating for Japan at Aa3, on a par with rival agency Standard & Poor's, which rates the world's third-largest economy at AA-, the same level as China.

New data on the US economy, including a huge drop in a regional manufacturing survey, has heightened market fears of a new recession.

Wall Street ended one of its most dizzying, volatile weeks in history on a relatively quiet note Friday...

Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve did not offer ailing markets the short-term salve they were looking for Tuesday with an announcement of additional asset purchases in a bid to stimulate US growth, but the central bank did signal that its accommodative interest rate policy will remain in place until at least mid-2013.

The prime minister has returned early from his holiday to discuss the unrest, which first flared on Saturday after a peaceful protest in Tottenham over the fatal shooting of a man by police.

Gold prices hit another record on August 9, slicing through the US$1,750-a-troy-ounce milestone as a massive sell-off in global equity markets drew safety-seeking investors to the metal.

S&P's decision to lower the US credit rating was proceeded last week by a downgrade of US debt by a less-known Chinese rating agency, Dagong Global Credit Rating Co. It was Dagong's second such downgrade, moves Xinhua painted as prescient.

The rating agency's move to downgrade US debt could make it a leader among rating agencies or blow up in its face.

Weeks of political infighting in Washington have produced a budget deal that aims to cut the US government budget deficit by US$2.4 trillion over 10 years.

Latest figures from the US Treasury Department show that the country has an operating cash balance of US$73.7 billion. Apple's most recent financial results put its reserves at US$76.4 billion.

Air security is expected to tighten, particularly for international flights into the US, in light of recent intelligence that terrorists might be considering boarding flights with surgically implanted explosive devices, an American security official said Wednesday.

Pyeongchang's triumph of the 2018 Winter Olympics is expected to cultivate more than just national pride, paving the way for the South Korean economy to rake in an estimated US$27 billion, according to the Korean Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade, a state-run think tank.

Japan's industrial production rose for a second straight month in May, after falling sharply in the wake of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, but the increase in factory output was lower than the government had forecast.

Hackers who broke into the International Monetary Fund's computer system may have been backed by a nation state, according to security experts.

Factory output rose by 1% in April from the previous month as companies worked towards dealing with problems in supply chain disruption.

Germany has grounded air traffic across its northern airspace because of ash from an erupting volcano in Iceland.

The economy shrank by a much worse-than-expected annualised 3.7% in the first three months of 2011, marking the second consecutive quarter of contraction, which economists define as a technical recession.

The consumer confidence index fell to 33.1 in April 2011, down from 38.6 in March, according to the Cabinet Office. A reading below 50 suggests consumer pessimism.

A Chinese manufacturing index declined in April from March, indicating that growth may moderate in the world's second-biggest economy after the government raised interest rates and allowed faster gains in the yuan.

Japanese automobile sales more than halved in April - the biggest monthly drop on record - and are not expected to recover until late 2011, raising concerns the country's leading vehicle manufacturers will post losses for the first half of the year.

Chairman Ben Bernanke said he expected growth for 2011 to be between 3.1% and 3.3%, compared with the previous forecast of 3.4-3.9%. He also hinted the Fed would not pump more money into the economy after June.

Lawmakers in China are revising the income tax law to narrow the wealth gap and to encourage more domestic consumption. The amendment will raise the threshold for personal income tax from CNY2,000 to CNY3,000 a month (from US$304 to US$456).

GDP will expand 0.8% in 2011, down sharply from the 1.7% growth previously forecast. But as reconstruction spending gains pace, the economy will expand 2.3% in 2012, faster than previous estimates for 1.3% growth, the OECD said.

The driving force of Japan's economy has gone into reverse. In March exports fell 2.2% which is the first drop in almost a year and a half.

Japanese voters are critical of Prime Minister Naoto Kan's handling of the crisis at a crippled nuclear plant and support raising taxes to finance rebuilding plans after last month's earthquake and tsunami, surveys show.

President Barack Obama has vowed to cut US$4 trillion in cumulative deficits within 12 years through a combination of spending cuts and tax increases.

The reserves increase as Beijing buys dollars and other foreign currency to restrain the rise of its yuan as export revenues and investment pour into its economy. In freer trading, that flood of cash would push up the yuan's value against the dollar, making Chinese exports more expensive abroad.

The deficit for the first three months of 2011 stood at US$1.02 billion, according to the latest data by the General Administration of Customs. China has said that it is working towards increasing domestic demand and becoming less reliant on exports to sustain its growth.

Japanese manufacturing activity sank to a two-year low in March 2011, underlining the impact of the earthquake and tsunami on economic activity in the country.