Oil rises above $94 on China, US recovery hopes

BANGKOK (AP) — Oil prices rose above $94 on Monday, supported by signs of economic recovery in the U.S. and China.Benchmark oil for February delivery was up 56 cents to $94.12 per barrel at midday Bangkok time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract dropped 26 cents to finish at $93.56 a barrel in New York on Friday.Gordon Kwan, head of energy research at Mirae Asset...

Read More..

U.S. economy to grow 2.5 percent this year: Fed's Evans

HONG KONG (Reuters) - The U.S. economy is expected to grow by 2.5 percent in 2013, improving to 3.5 percent growth in 2014, top Fed official Charles Evans said on Monday.Evans also forecast the U.S. unemployment rate would be 7.4 percent this year, easing to about 7 percent in 2014."One good indicator of labor market improvement would be if we saw payroll employment increase by 200,000 each month...

Read More..

U.S. economy to grow 2.5 percent this year: Fed's Evans

HONG KONG (Reuters) - The U.S. economy is expected to grow by 2.5 percent in 2013, improving to 3.5 percent growth in 2014, top Fed official Charles Evans said on Monday.Evans also forecast the U.S. unemployment rate would be 7.4 percent this year, easing to about 7 percent in 2014."One good indicator of labor market improvement would be if we saw payroll employment increase by 200,000 each month...

Read More..

S.Africa's rand mostly flat as farming strike looms

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's rand held mostly steady on Monday as a strike that hit the farm belt last week looked set to intensify, posing a risk to agricultural production in Africa's largest economy.The rand was positioned to trade within a narrow range against the dollar this week after being pushed down in the previous session following a sovereign ratings downgrade by Fitch, which...

Read More..