italy

More than two months after the much contested Italian parliamentary elections, President Giorgio Napolitano appointed Enrico Letta of the center-left party as Prime Minister with the task of forming a new government. Letta was formerly the deputy head of the center-left party and served under...

Ever wondered what the leading exports of Antarctica or North Korea or the Solomon Islands are? Well you've come to the right place. Courtesy of the Wikimedia Commons and the Observatory of Economic Complexity, Benzinga has compiled an array of export tree maps from countries and regions around the...

Futures Modestly Lower on China Fears, Italy Downgrade U.S. equity futures traded slightly lower in early pre-market trade following weaker than expected industrial production and inflation data from China. Industrial production grew 9.9 percent in February from a year ago, less than the...

Monday, global financial markets got beat down on what was effectively a repricing of sovereign and political risk in Europe. Bond yields rose, bank stocks fell, and broadly, risk assets traded weakly. Europe just looked pretty ugly Monday. Beginning in Italy, 10-year government bond yields crept...

Futures Flat Despite Italian Weakness, Eye FOMC Decision U.S. equity futures were flat in early trade as Italian shares plunged. This occurred as the euro rose above 1.35 against the dollar for the first time since 2011, showing broad strength against a basket of currencies. Economists and...

Futures Rise on Strong Chinese GDP U.S. equity futures rose slightly overnight following the release of China's fourth quarter GDP. The National Statistics Bureau reported that fourth quarter GDP rose at an annualized rate of 7.9 percent, better than the 7.8 percent forecast by economists and...

Futures Flat On Global Weakness U.S. equity futures were essentially unchanged overnight as fears over the health of the European economy and of growing credit risks in China spooked investors. Markets also await the interest rate decisions from the Bank of England and the European Central Bank...

Futures Flat Ahead of Employment Report U.S. equity futures were flat in overnight trading ahead of the much anticipated employment report, the last for 2012, as hawkish Fed minutes made investors second guess the so-called QE Infinity program of the Fed. However, as the Fed now has its rate...

Futures Slips Post-FOMC U.S. equity futures slipped in early Thursday trade after the FOMC decided to increase the size of QE3 to $85 billion of monthly purchases, up from $40 billion originally. In addition, the FOMC dropped its target date guidance for interest rates and adopted a threshold-...

U.S. equity futures slipped in pre-market trading as mixed economic data with a slight positive bias was weighed down by fears over Europe's debt crisis. Positive industrial production and retail sales data in China were offset by weak trade data. Meanwhile, the return of former Prime Minister...