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JP Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs, the two Wall Street banks seen as least affected by the credit crisis, suffered setbacks yesterday. JP Morgan admitted it took a $1.5bn (750m) writedown on mortgage-backed assets in July, raising questions about its financial performance in the third quarter. Goldman Sachs was hit by a number of profit downgrades, from leading banking analysts Meredith Whitney and Mike Mayo, on fears that the investment bank could be heading for one of its worst quarters since going public in 1999.
Wall Street banks suffer setbacks
The US trade deficit unexpectedly narrowed in June as a weak dollar led to a jump in exports which in turn offset the cost of record imports of oil. The deficit in international trade of goods and services fell 4.1pc to $56.8bn (29.9bn), down from a revised $59.2bn in May, as US exports grew the most in almost four-and-a-half years.
US trade deficit narrows as exports jump
Interest rates have fallen below the cost of living for the first time in 27 years. Retail price index inflation (RPI) - the most comprehensive measure of living costs - rose to 5pc last month, according to the Office for National Statistics.
UK inflation exceeds Bank interest rate for first time since 1981
Measures to revive the dormant housing market by increasing the supply of mortgage lending are being planned by ministers, The Times has learnt. Alistair Darling is poised to intervene to help banks and building societies to secure more finance to grant new mortgages.
Alistair Darling scrambles to end mortgage drought
Japan's economy shrank last quarter, leaving the country on the edge of its first recession in six years, as exports tumbled and shoppers spent less.
Japanese recession looms as economy shrinks
Metals prices tumbled yesterday, leading a broad-based sell-off across commodities markets, as fears of a global economic slowdown and the resurgence in the dollar vexed investors.
Metals prices dive as dollar rallies
A US Coast Guard cutter will depart for the Arctic this week as part of a race against Russia to claim the vast spoils of oil and natural gas below the sea floor that both nations are scrambling to exploit.
Arctic cold war as US sends a ship to claim riches under the ocean