The stock markets have surged this morning after central banks, including the U.S. Federal Reserve, the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank and the Swiss National Bank agreed to a program that essentially makes U.S. dollars more available to European banks and to ease the global debt crisis. more ›

Yesterday, a trader in London appeared during an interview on BBC and said, "I go to bed every night and dream of another recession," after pointing out, "For most traders we don't really care about having a fixed economy, having a fixed situation, our job is to make money from" the economic woes in Europe. Independent trader Alessio Rastani added, "The governments don't rule the world - Goldman Sachs rules the world." You can watch him shock the presenters here: more ›

After the worst day for the Dow Jones since December 2008, the index was up 1.83 percent this morning, and the Nasdaq climbed up 2.85 percent, stemming some of the damage done in yesterday's 634-point freefall. $8.1 trillion has been lost from global markets since July 24, in what the Times calls an "epidemic" fear among investors. Treasury bonds did quite well, despite the S&P's credit downgrade, so why do we care about what the S&P thinks anyway? Oh, right, the market's run by lemmings. "When you get declines of this sort, it is technical factors and emotion that drive markets—fundamentals are largely irrelevant," one expert says. more ›

After Standard & Poor's downgraded the United States' credit rating from AAA to AA+, the single largest foreign holder of American debt spoke up. Yes, that would be China (it has, oh, about $1.1 trillion in U.S. debt) —and China was not happy! The country's official news agency Xinhua issued a statement:

China, the largest creditor of the world’s sole superpower, has every right now to demand the United States to address its structural debt problems and ensure the safety of China’s dollar assets... more ›

This weekend, Toronto is hosting the G20 Summit, where world leaders are discussing stabilizing the global economy, and, so far, over 480 people have been arrested in intense protests outside the conference. Toronto police chief Bill Blair said, "We have never seen that level of wanton criminality and vandalism and destruction on our streets." Torontoist has extensive coverage, including photographs and videos—see more here. Some photographs are above and here's video of a police car burning: more ›

The U.S. stock markets fell this morning, due to ongoing concerns about the European debt crisis and the conflict between North Korea and South Korea. Bloomberg News reports, "Stocks plunged from Tokyo to London and New York, dragging the MSCI World Index to a nine-month low, and commodities slid as concern grew that Spain’s ailing banks signal a widening debt crisis and as tension mounted on the Korean peninsula... The MSCI gauge of 23 developed nations’ stocks fell 2.9 percent at 10:55 a.m. in New York to the lowest intraday level since August." more ›

For some reason, spending billions on skyscrapers and man-made palm-shaped island leads to...debt! So far, the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq have fallen at least 1% (even up to 2% as soon as the markets opened today), due to, as the Wall Street Journal puts it, "fears...about the potential fallout of debt prolems at Dubai World, the city-state's largest corporate entity, which asked creditors for a six-month stay on repayment of its $60 billion in debts." UBS actually estimates that Dubai's overall debt may be over $80 billion. more ›

Today, on the eve of the G8 meeting in Italy, Pope Benedict issued an encyclical letter discussing the economic crisis, specifically noting the problems with greed. He wrote, "Profit is useful if it serves as a means toward an end. Once profit becomes the exclusive goal, if it is produced by improper means and without the common good as its ultimate end, it risks destroying wealth and creating poverty." more ›

World leaders convening for the G20 summit agreed they will "do more" (in the worlds of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown) to help bolster their economics and the global economy as a whole--not that they had any other choice. However, the NY Times reports, "they put off thornier decisions about how to overhaul financial regulations until next year, providing a serious early challenge for the Obama administration." more ›

What bailout bill that was signed into law over the weekend? Stock markets around the world fell: Japan was down 4%, China 5%, the FTSE 5%. Iceland and Russia suspended trading after falling 14%. The futures index in NY is down, and it's believed the Dow will open down 200 points. more ›

President Bush addressed the United Nations General Assembly today. While he covered terrorism and Russia's invasion of Georgia, his main goal was to reassure the world that the U.S. was working to fix its economy. Some of his remarks:

Our nations must renew our commitment to open economies, and stand firm against economic isolationism. These objectives are being tested by turbulence in the global financial markets. Our economies are more closely connected than ever before, and I know that many of you here are watching how the United States government will address the problems in our financial system. more ›

After an ugly Monday in global financial markets while the U.S. markets were closed and Asian stock markets plunging today, the Federal Reserve lowered the interest rate by 0.75% in an "emergency move for the first time since 2001." From the Fed's press release:

The Committee took this action in view of a weakening of the economic outlook and increasing downside risks to growth. While strains in short-term funding markets have eased somewhat, broader financial market conditions have continued to deteriorate and credit has tightened further for some businesses and households. Moreover, incoming information indicates a deepening of the housing contraction as well as some softening in labor markets... more ›