| In corporate news, U.K. banking giant Barclays (BCS) | | | | unemployment benefits unexpectedly showed a |
| reported that its first-half pre-tax profits rose to 3.4 | | | | moderate increase in the week ended July 31st. |
| billion pounds, helped by lower impairment charges | | | | Initial jobless claims rose to 479,000 from the |
| and gains on its own debt. U.K. insurer Aviva said its | | | | previous week's revised figured of 460,000. The |
| first-half operating profit came in at 1.27 billion pounds | | | | increase came as a surprise to economists, who had |
| compared to 1.05 billion pounds last year. | | | | expected jobless claims to edge down to 455,000 |
| Unilever (UL) reported a second quarter profit of 1.06 | | | | from the 457,000 originally reported for the previous |
| billion euros compared to 758 million euros last year, | | | | week. |
| as sales rose 12.4% to 11.75 billion euros. Mining giant | | | | Currency, Commodity Markets |
| Rio Tinto (RTP) said its underlying earnings for the | | | | Crude oil futures are falling $0.53 to $81.94 a barrel |
| first-half period rose about 125% to $5.77 billion. | | | | after edging down $0.08 to $82.47 a barrel on |
| Two central bank decisions from the region came | | | | Wednesday. The modest retreat in the previous |
| along the expected lines. At the end of two-day rate | | | | session came amid the release of the EIA's inventory |
| setting meeting, the Bank of England's Monetary | | | | report, which showed that crude oil inventories fell by |
| Policy Committee decided to retain the interest rate | | | | 2.8 million barrels to 358 million barrels in the week |
| at 0.5%. The current rate is the lowest since the | | | | ended July 30th. Inventories of crude oil remained |
| central bank was established in 1694. The decision | | | | above the upper limit of the average range. |
| was in line with economists' expectations. Policy | | | | At the same time, gasoline inventories edged up by |
| makers also voted to maintain the stock of asset | | | | 0.7 million barrels and were above the upper limit of |
| purchases financed by the issuance of central bank | | | | the average range. Distillate stockpiles rose by 2.2 |
| reserves at GBP 200 billion. The minutes of the | | | | million barrels, remaining above the upper boundary of |
| meeting will be released on August 18. | | | | the average range. Refinery capacity utilization |
| The European Central Bank left its key interest rate | | | | averaged 91.2% over the four-weeks ended July |
| unchanged at a record low of 1% for the fifteenth | | | | 30th compared to 90.6% in the previous week. |
| straight month. The decision was in line with | | | | Gold futures are edging up $2.60 to $1,198.50 an |
| economists' expectations. The last change in the key | | | | ounce. In the previous session, the precious metal |
| interest rate was in May 2009, when the bank cut | | | | rose $8.40 to $1,195.90 an ounce. |
| the rate by 25 basis points to the current level of | | | | Among currencies, the U.S. dollar is trading at 86.18 |
| 1%. The bank has lowered the key interest rate by | | | | yen compared to the 86.2705 yen it fetched at the |
| a total of three and a quarter percentage points | | | | close of New York trading on Wednesday. Against |
| since early October 2008. | | | | the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.3184 compared to |
| U.S. Economic News | | | | yesterday's $1.3162. |
| The Labor Department said that first-time claims for | | | | |