The Traderszone Network

Evidence is building that the conflict in Ukraine and European Union sanctions against Vladimir Putin’s Russia are undermining a euro-area recovery that the European Central Bank president already describes as weak.

The number of “super-aged” societies are set to quadruple by 2020, with smaller workforces and lower household savings set to drag economic growth.

The 1 percent is literally rich beyond measure, depriving nations of billions in tax revenue and obscuring shifts in global inequality. Research conducted separately by European Central Bank economist Philip Vermeulen and London School of Economics’ Gabriel Zucman show the wealth of the super-affluent — hidden by tax shelters and nonresponse to questionnaires — is undercounted. Correcting for similar lapses in income data almost erases progress made from 1988 to 2008 in narrowing the gap between the world’s rich and poor, World Bank research found.

read more

Russia on Thursday banned most food imports from the West in retaliation for sanctions over Ukraine — a sweeping move that will cost Western farmers billions of dollars but could also lead to empty shelves …

Bank of America is nearing a $16 billion to $17 billion settlement to resolve an investigation into its role in the sale of mortgage-backed securities before the 2008 financial crisis, a person directly …

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week, pointing to a further strengthening of labor market conditions. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits decreased by 14,000 to a seasonally adjusted 289,000 for the week ended Aug. 2, the Labor Department said on Thursday. A Labor Department analyst said there were no special factors influencing the state level data. The slow pace of layoffs and steady hiring are helping to strengthen labor market conditions, fanning speculation of an early interest rate increase from the Federal Reserve.

U.S. stock index futures edged up on Thursday ahead of jobless claims data, amid a backdrop of an escalation of tensions as Russia banned Western food imports in retaliation against Western sanctions. …