Libya

Shares in British banks were up on the FTSE 100 in morning trading as investors started to regain their confidence after a spate of global events triggered panic selling.

The equity markets began to deteriorate weeks before the devastating natural disaster in Japan. Food inflation in the emerging markets and the ensuing unrest in the Middle East and North Africa causing an unwelcome spike in oil prices, and hawkish comments from the European Central Bank at a time when the continent's peripheral countries are struggling, collectively weighed on equity prices. Now news from Japan that is troublingly fluid regarding the earthquake's aftermath, which has soc...

Shares in British banks were down on the FTSE 100 in morning trading as news from around the world helped dampen the spirits of investors.

Shares in British banks were down on the FTSE 100 in morning trading as concerns about sovereign debt in the eurozone resurfaced.

During the height of the financial crisis, the U.S. dollar spiked as investors fled to the quality and safety of what is considered to be the world's reserve currency. Peaking in March 2009, the dollar has had but one strong rally since. That occurred in late spring 2010 as worries that the U.S. might experience a double-dip recession heightened. As equities were sold investors once again plowed into the valued destination of the dollar. In both instances the dollar's store of value be...

Libya appears to be in, or at least on the verge of, a civil war between Colonel Gaddafi loyalists and armed rebels who just a few weeks ago were merely anti-government protestors.

Shares in British banks were broadly up on the FTSE 100 in morning trading after plans to broker a peace deal in Libya were mooted by the President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez.

Shares in British banks were broadly down on the FTSE 100 in morning trading after HSBC reported its full year results for 2010.

Recent turmoil in the Middle East has contributed to a surge in oil prices. While prices began to march upward in the last several months on the back of improving global economic conditions, threats that a supply disruption coming from a strategically important oil producing country sent prices higher by more than 10 percent in just the last week.

Shares in British banks were down on the FTSE 100 in morning trading after RBS issued somewhat disappointing full year results for 2010.

Shares in British banks were broadly down on the FTSE 100 in morning trading as political violence and unrest continued to engulf the oil rich nation of Libya.

On 17 December 2010, a Tunisian street vendor named Mohamed Bouazizi, set himself on fire because a female municipal official and her aides had had his goods confiscated. This sparked protests against the Government for a variety of grievances, social, economic and political.

The chaos and violence currently ravaging Libya has raised questions about the conduct of Britain and especially its former Prime Minister, Tony Blair, towards a regime that now stands accused of killing 400 of its own citizens.

Shares in British banks were down on the FTSE 100 in morning trading as political unrest in Libya escalated over the weekend.

Koreans are going hostile after Dana Petroleum, a British FTSE 250 company that has refused a bid for its oil and gas exploration in the North Sea and Africa.

Greenpeace protestors descended upon BP petrol stations bearing signs and placards today in response to the news that the energy group would be replacing its CEO Tony Hayward with Robert Dudley, following months of controversy and criticism over his response to the ecological disaster caused by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Arab TV network, Al-Jazeera has confirmed that a cargo plan carrying no passengers has crashed, leaving the pilots hospitalised.

Shares in BP continued rising on the FTSE 100 today after increased speculation that the oil giant is seeking support from sovereign wealth funds to save it from a takeover, as it deals with the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.