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Thanks to lower unemployment and fewer bankruptcies, the nation’s economic stress edged down in February as all but five states strengthened from January, according to The Associated Press’ monthly analysis.
Three states that were hit hardest by the recession and have suffered since _ Florida, Arizona and Georgia _ enjoyed the sharpest gains in February.
Unemployment declined […]

WASHINGTON

Options traders are betting more than ever that crude oil is heading to $200 a barrel as some websites call for a “Day of Rage” in Saudi Arabia and anti- government protests spread in the Middle East and North Africa.
The CHART OF THE DAY shows open interest, or the number of outstanding contracts, for […]

U.S. oil prices briefly hit the $100-a-barrel for the first time in over two years Wednesday, as reports of Libyan oil production shutdowns swirled.
Italian oil giant Eni said Wednesday that it had partially shut down its 150,000-barrel-per-day production in the North African country.
Andrew Lebow, an oil broker at MF Global in New […]

China led resistance to making bulging foreign-exchange reserves a measure of economic imbalances as Group of 20 finance officials struggled for consensus on realigning the skewed world economy.
Sparring over early warning indicators reflected the split among fast-growing emerging countries and debt-laden advanced economies over how to prevent a repeat of the harshest recession […]

Less than two years after getting a U.S. government bailout, General Motors is handing out bonuses that, in some cases, could exceed 50% of workers’ salaries.
"To give GM’s 26,000 salaried employees a stake in the overall performance of the company, their compensation is based in part on the performance of the company and on […]

German business confidence probably stayed at a record high in January as booming exports to Asia and stronger household spending bolstered growth in Europe’s largest economy.
The Ifo institute’s business climate index, based on a survey of 7,000 executives, probably held at 109.9 in January, the median of 41 forecasts in Bloomberg News survey shows. […]

World stock markets were ending the week in sluggish mode Friday following weakness on Wall Street and a disappointing U.S labor report.
Oil prices fell to near $91 a barrel as traders mulled whether demand in a slowly recovering U.S. economy will be enough to push crude above $100 soon. In currencies, the dollar was down […]

Police with riot shields and batons pushed angry student protesters away from London’s Parliament Square on Thursday as lawmakers debated a controversial plan to triple university tuition fees in England.
Thousands of students held demonstrations and sit-ins throughout the country, heaping pressure on the government to reverse course.
Small groups of protesters threw flares, billiard balls and […]

Britain had a larger budget deficit in October than economists forecast, underlining the challenge facing Prime Minister David Cameron as he tries to cut record levels of borrowing.
The shortfall was 9.8 billion pounds ($15.6 billion), the largest for any October since at least 1993 and up from 9.4 billion pounds a year earlier, the […]