A Nigerian union representing senior oil-industry workers may begin an indefinite strike on March 19 to protest job cuts, threatening to slow shipments from Africa’s biggest crude producer.
The Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, or Pengassan, may withdraw its members from “the entire petroleum sector,” Peter Esele, the Lagos- based union’s […]

British billionaire Joseph Lewis made his fortune gambling on currencies. His recent investment in Bear Stearns Cos. has turned out to be a disastrous bet.

The elusive septuagenarian is one the biggest losers from the New York investment bank’s problems. In just a few months, he has paper losses of about $800 million on his roughly […]

The Federal Reserve announced a series of new steps Sunday to help provide relief to a spreading credit crisis that threatens to plunge the economy into recession.
The central bank approved a cut to its lending rate to financial institutions to 3.25 percent from 3.50 percent, effective immediately, and created another lending facility for big investment […]

Oil jumped to a record above $111 a barrel on Monday, as a surprise weekend cut in the Federal Reserve discount rate and the fire sale of stricken U.S. investment bank Bear Stearns (BSC.N) sent the dollar to all-time lows.
Crude for April delivery was up 95 cents at $111.16 a barrel by 10:35 p.m. EDT, […]

The U.S. economy lost the title of “world’s biggest” to the euro zone this week as the value of the dollar slumped in currency markets.
Taking the gross domestic product of both economies in 2007, the combined GDP of the 15 countries which use the euro overtook that of the United States when the European currency […]

Gold moved further into record territory above $1,000 per ounce and the euro hit fresh highs against the dollar on Friday after more bad news on the troubled US economy, traders said.The dollar also tumbled below one Swiss franc for the first time after US investment giant Bear Stearns said it was receiving emergency funding […]

The U.S. has finally slid into recession, according to the majority of economists in the latest Wall Street Journal economic-forecasting survey, a view that was reinforced by new data showing a sharp drop in retail sales last month.
“The evidence is now beyond a reasonable doubt,” said Scott Anderson of Wells Fargo & Co., who was […]

U.S. gold futures rallied to a record high of $1,000 an ounce on Thursday, fueled by a combination of a weakening dollar, strong investment demand and inflation fears due to rising crude oil prices.
Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080313/bs_nm/markets_gold_…

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You know things are very very bad on Wall Street when a guy like Henry Paulson — Treasury secretary, solid Republican, and former Goldman Sachs CEO — joins the crowd calling for more regulation over the financial markets.
Paulson spared no one in his criticism Thursday of the excesses of deregulation that has now created the […]

Gold gained nearly one per cent yesterday as a struggling dollar and firm oil prices prompted investors and speculators to build fresh trading positions.The metal rose to $980.30/$981.00 an ounce by 1408 GMT from $971.00/$971.80 late in New York on Tuesday, when it fell to a low of $964.35 on a dollar rally after global […]