Oil extends rise after ECB head vows to save euro
BANGKOK — Oil extended gains Friday in Asia after the European Central Bank chief promised to do what it takes to keep the euro currency union intact and China stepped up stimulus efforts to counter its slowdown. Benchmark crude for September delivery was up 23 cents at $89.62 a barrel at midday Bangkok time in […]
Stocks post third straight day of gains
NEW YORK — Stocks are closing broadly higher following signs that the European financial crisis may be contained. European Union officials said Monday that the EU would take steps to prevent Greece’s problems from affecting Ireland and Portugal. Stocks gained as investors turned their attention back to the U.S. Health companies like Aetna and Humana […]
Tourist bargains available in Europe this summer
LONDON — Airfares have repeatedly risen this year, the dollar has struggled against the euro, and Europe’s economic crisis is still rattling financial markets. Americans planning their summer vacations could well ask what’s the point of going to Europe this year? But savvy tourists considering the continent might also be wondering if there are bargains […]
Maryland immigrants boast higher median income
By 5 p.m. on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, only one customer had stopped into Joseph Pontes’ custom tailor shop in Bethesda. “We’re trying to keep our head above water,” said Pontes, 58, who moved to the United States from southern Portugal in the late 1960s. Pontes is one of more than 650,000 working-age foreign-born […]
A new age of austerity is threatening Europe
Greeks dodge riots to do their Christmas shopping. Italians planning holiday feasts quietly stuff freezers. And the needy in Ireland are literally selling the family silver. This Christmas, Europeans are hunkering down to an uncertain future, as a debt crisis that erupted last year in Greece flares anew in Ireland, and has quickly threatened to […]