In discloses baseball tickets Washington, Federal tells Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke toldlawmakers he did not threaten Bank of America (BAC.N)executives if they stood in the way of the government-pushedmerger with Merrill Lynch [ID:nN25267831] U.S. gross domestic product -- which measures total outputwithin U.S. borders -- dropped at a 5.5 percent annual rate inthe first quarter, a bit less than first reported, aftershrinking 6.3 percent the previous quarter. Although economists had expected worse, the data showedwidespread weakness in the world's biggest economy Adding to market uncertainty, the Fed -- the U.S. centralbank -- cautioned Wednesday after a two-day policy meeting thatthe U.S.
economy would remain weak for a time although the paceof contraction was slowing cubs rooftop . [ID:nN24163547] It kept benchmark interest rates near zero and stuck to,but did not increase, its huge program of buying government andmortgage debt to help ease a protracted financial crisis . In Europe, however, new industrial orders in the euro zonewere unequivocally weak, plunging more than a third year onyear in April, a record decline that disappointed those who hadseen hopes in March's figures that the worst was over . "If you play the 'green shoot' game, it is better to avoidthe hard data," ING economist Martin van Vliet said of recenttalk of 'green shoots' of recovery from the global recession . In Germany, construction orders rose 6.3 percent in Aprilfrom March, the biggest increase in nine months. Orders weredown 9.1 percent from a year ago, however, but the globaldownturn has been so great that comfort is now taken in slowingrates of decline, given a lack of any growth. [ID:nLP241239] In France, Economy Minster Christine Lagarde saidunemployment data for May, due later in the day, would be "alittle better" than in previous months, and in Italy businessconfidence rose for a third straight month, but a little lessthan economists had forecast.
[ID:nPAB007745] [ID:nLP260147] ASIAN ECONOMIC STRAIN South Korea upgraded its 2009 growth forecast on Thursday,saying Asia's fourth-largest economy was expected to contract1.5 percent compared with a previous forecast of 2 percent kansas city royals . That would still mark the worst performance since 1998,when the economy shrank 6.9 percent as the Asian financialcrisis pushed South Korea to the brink of sovereign insolvency.[ID:nSEO173069] In China, an official at the State Administration ofForeign Exchange said the country had begun to see capitalinflows after heavy outflows for two quarters . [ID:nPEK139611] Among corporations kicking off a closely watchedsecond-quarter earnings season, H&M (HMb.ST), the world'sthird-biggest clothing retailer, posted a rise in profits butqualified it with flat sales for May . [ID:nLO363540] Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T), the world's No.1 car maker,also dimmed the outlook with a prediction of tough times foranother two years and that it would continue to cut costs fromits already lean operations so it could avoid a thirdconsecutive year of losses . [ID:nT242118] The fragility of any recovery was underlined by globalairlines body IATA, which said demand for cross-border airfreight dropped 17.4 percent year-on-year in May, suggestinginternational trade is still far from healthy [ID:nLP562] Stock markets were mixed, with the U.S.
Dow Jonesindustrial average .DJI up 1.9 percent and Europe'sFTSEurofirst 300 index .FTEU3 down 1 percent kansas city t bones . Emerging stocks.MSCIEF rose almost 1 percent, and Japan's Nikkei .N225ended up nearly 2.2 percent . [MKTS/GLOB] "For now the hope is that we are still likely to be comingout of the recession sometime in the third quarter," said SteveGoldman, market strategist at Weeden & Co in Greenwich,Connecticut . "Stocks tend to react months before that, and even when thegrowth starts, usually stocks support pretty decent gains threemonths after the recession ends." (Reporting by Reuters bureaux globally; Editing by JamesDalgleish) Stocks Currencies Bonds China France Japan South Korea . DUBLIN--(Business Wire)--Research and Markets( http://) hasannounced the addition of the "Dishwashing Detergents - Italy - 2009" report totheir offering.
The Italian dishwashing products market was worth euro563 million in 2008, up byalmost 3% on 2007 . Both hand-dishwashing detergents and dishwasher productsregistered similar growth, 3% and 4% respectively . Cut-price promotion thathampered value sales in hand-dishwashing detergents eased in the last threeyears (2006-08) . However, while volume sales of hand-dishwashing detergents were stagnant in2008, volume sales of dishwasher products grew faster than value sales,signaling pressure on prices .
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