A look at economic developments around the globe
The Associated PressA look at economic developments and activity in major stock markets around the world Wednesday:
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LONDON — The U.K. services sector grew at a faster pace in October, continuing a six-month trend of rising optimism, the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply said. The survey was treated with some caution, however, because recent results have been out of synch with official data confirming a continuing contraction.
Separately, nationalized mortgage lender Northern Rock PLC, Britain's first big victim of the global credit crisis, said its trading performance improved in the third quarter, though it still expects to post a full-year loss.
In European trading, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares closed up 1.4 percent, while Germany's DAX rose 1.7 percent and the CAC-40 in France ended 2.4 percent higher.
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TOKYO — Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average added 0.4 percent after the local financial markets were closed Tuesday for a national holiday. Hong Kong's Hang Seng climbed 1.8 percent, while South Korea's Kospi added 1.9 percent.
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DUBLIN — Ireland's unemployment rate fell in October for the first time in two years to 12.5 percent, the first sign that the worst of the recession could be over.
The dip from September's rate of 12.6 percent surprised many economists, who have been forecasting continued growth in joblessness in this country of 4.4 million.
Meanwhile, Bank of Ireland Group PLC said it wrote off 1.8 billion euros ($2.7 billion) in bad loans in its first half and warned that the government's bailout plans could lead to greater state ownership of Ireland's second-largest bank.
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BRUSSELS — The United States, the European Union and Mexico called on the World Trade Organization to probe Chinese curbs on raw material exports that they say break global trade rules.
In separate statements, U.S. and EU trade representatives said Chinese quotas on exports of key minerals such as bauxite, coke, magnesium, manganese, silicon metal and zinc and export charges on several raw materials distort competition and increase global prices.
U.S. trade spokeswoman Debbie Mesloh said attempts to negotiate with China did not succeed and the U.S. was still open to working with China to resolve the issue.