 | European shares start year on firm footing LONDON EUROPEAN shares made a positive start to the New Year as they extended a two-week rebound in thin trade on Monday, with automotive stocks and eurozone banks leading the charge.
...
|
|
| | Russia's oil output rose 1.2% in 2011 on tax cuts, new markets |  OIL output in Russia edged up 1.2 percent to reach a new post-Soviet high of 10.27 million barrels per day (bpd) last year, as the world's top crude producer eased tax burden and launched pipeline flows to China, the Energy Ministry said on Monday.
That is a bit more than the 10.26 million bpd, expected by an analyst poll compiled a year ago, though the increase in 2011 has slackened from a 2.2 percent rise in 2010 when the country produced 10.145mn bpd, up from 9.93 million bpd in 2009 and 9.78 million bpd in 2008.
Russia aims to maintain annual oil production at around 510 million tonnes, or just over 10 million bpd, in the next 10 years. It also sees its crude oil export flat at 250 million tonnes in 2012.
The main driver behind the increase was the new Vankor oilfield, developed by the country's top crude producer Rosneft , which reached a production target of 15 million tonnes (300,000 bpd) last year.
The field is slated as the main source of Russia's pipeline export to China via the East Siberia - Pacific Ocean (ESPO) link, which is shipping 300,000 bpd of oil to Daqing in China from Russia's Skovorodino.
... | | | Spain's 2011 deficit could top 8% of GDP: Minister |  MADRID SPAIN'S new government on Monday warned that the public deficit for 2011 could be even higher than the 8 percent of gross domestic product it predicted last week.
The right-leaning government said on Friday the deficit would veer beyond a previous forecast of 6.0 percent of GDP as it unveiled spending cuts and tax hikes to claw back 15.1 billion euros ($19.6 billion) in 2012.
Revising that outlook, Finance Minister Luis de Guindos said: "It is possible that it exceeds 8 percent, but I hope it won't be much higher." "A big part of this difference (in deficit forecasts) comes from the regions," de Guindos told private radio Cadena Ser, adding that he expected them to "make an effort" to help restore fiscal health.
Spain's 17 autonomous regions, which are responsible for health and education services, were hard hit by a 2008 crash in the housing market and are a growing source of concern for economists and policy-makers.
"Everyone must participate in this effort," the minister said. "We are in a very difficult situation, very complex, and without a doubt the hardest in the past decades in Spain." Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, freshly installed after beating the ... | | | Eurozone industrial output down for 5th month in a row |  LONDON/MUMBAI GLOBAL manufacturing activity was subdued going into 2012, with the eurozone's industrial sector suffering its fifth straight month of declines in December and Asian factories mostly stuck in a rut.
Monday's purchasing managers indexes (PMIs) provided further evidence that Europe is unlikely to avoid a recession.
The rate of decline of activity in eurozone factories eased slightly to raise hopes the downturn will not be as severe as feared, though hiccups in the Spanish and Czech deficit reduction programs emphasised the extent of the continent's debt troubles.
With Asian PMIs showing a clear lack of momentum in the vast industrial economies of China and South Korea, the United States seems to be one of the few major economies showing signs of an upturn, even if modest and uncertain.
Economists expect the US ISM manufacturing survey due at 1500 GMT on Tuesday to show American factories expanded at a faster pace in December.
... | |
|
|
|
