the euro stoxx 50 also ended in positive territory. across the headland to, the dow jones industrials in negative territory -- across the atlantic's. and as was just mentioned, gold prices sought record highs on tuesday as investors see it as a safe haven for their assets. many see further turmoil in the global economy and financial markets. >> their ongoing concerns about the economy. many fear there could be a collapse and that countries could default on their debt. the u.s. is still not out of the woods. gold is seen as a safe haven for investors. the price of a fine ounce of gold has risen by 16% since the beginning of the year alone. on tuesday, it reached a new all-time high. last year, for the first time, demand for gold for investment purposes outstripped demand from the jewelry industry. deutsche bank says it expects the price of gold to go up to $1,300 by the end of the year. >> the central bank in afghanistan has stepped in to take control of the troubled couple of paint. there were suspected irregularities, -- it could take

the euro stoxx 50 blue chips finished almost 1% higher. across the atlantic on wall street, the dow jones closed up in positive territory. and the euro is trading at -- allianz says it is withdrawing from the hedge fund business. it has sold its so-called alternative management section. they did not mention how much was paid, but they say the assets will be valued at about 1.5 billion euros after the acquisition. a spokesperson from the group explained it simply as a strategic decision. the european commission has upgraded its forecast for the euro zone, saying it is not expected to grow by 1.8% this year rather than the 0.9% forecasted in may. the report was released by the european commission in brussels on monday, and it is twice the economic forecast for the 27- nation eu, in germany was leading the way. >> german factory figures are going along in high gear as order books across the country fill up. the latest forecast suggested the number of orders will be double the amount initially anticipated. germany's robust economic recovery se

the euro stoxx 50 locking and gains of 2%. in new york, shares are closing at the top of the hour, enjoying a big rally, closing nearly 1.9% higher. and on the currency markets, the euro trading at $1.3491. >>> german business confidence has risen unexpectedly this month, calling recent fears that the economic coverage is losing steam. closely watched ifo business sentiment index, based on a survey of thousands of managers across the country, showed a clear kleiman confidence over the reading in august. the index now stands at 1.608. >> ifo says the september figures indicate a very robust economic recovery is still under way and reflects continued growth in exports, not the traditional engine of german economy. the business climate index began the year below 100 but has risen steadily over the past several months. germany's finance ministry predicts the up move will continue through the end of the year. >> we have a global economic downswing. germany as affected as much by that as the downturn. we are profiting from improveme

the euro stoxx 50 closing higher. across the atlantic, on a wall street, the dow jones enjoyed a strong rally, finishing at the top of the hour up 2.5%. the euro trading at $1.28 06. >>> shares and apple rose nearly 3% wednesday after the company unveiled several new products. ceo steve jobs introduced a new ipod line, a revamped apple device, and itunes social network, and updates to the operating system for the iphone, ipod touch, and the ipad. the revamp apple tea vite is being touted as a potential -- apple tv is being touted as a potential challenge to the cable-tv market. >>> the economic situation in serbia is improving gradually, but the country still needs help from outside. state coffers are empty and they require financial assistance. serbia has turned to the imf, hoping for an additional billion in credit. prices in the country are rising. the market stalls and belgrade might be stopped, but many serbians cannot afford to spend much here because prices have risen. according to consumer groups, people are o

. -- euro stoxx 50 dropped by 0.6%. the dow finished at 10,812 points. the era trading at this hour and at $1.3464. the european commission is proposing legislation to strengthen european union budget rolls -- budget rules including strong sanctions for countries the break them. the rules which will be formally unveiled on wednesday will include semi-automatic sanctions that will be imposed early enough to prevent eurozone economies from straying off course. >> the euro is still a work in progress in some respects. a task force is working on a new foundation for the common currency. the aim is to ensure more transparency about the finances of eu member states. there is a mechanism to impose strict penalties on countries which breach budget deficit rules. >> the sanctions need to be semi-automatic. secondly they need to occur early enough in the process that that are essentially preventative. >> the eu monetary affairs commission only once sanctions which can be implemented immediately but the german finance minister places more emphasis on the severity o

the euro stoxx 50 also finished higher on the day. in new york, wall street investors celebrating the decline of the jobless claims, but the dow jones carried back some of its gains of the day, up 0.2%. the euro is $1.2706. >>> the price of gold has been moving up as investors seek safe havens, another precious metal in more demand is silver. investors see silver as a safe place to park money, but the manufacturing world also wants more of the silver stuff. le>> silver is used in many products, from mobile phones and batteries to refrigerators. the more an economy grows, the greater the demand for the metal. new technologies such as solar power also require silver. as demand increases, so does the price of the precious metal. at the beginning of 2009, silver was selling at $11.30 per ounce. this week, it was going for20 per routes. experts believe the price is set to rise further as investors continued to treat the metal as a safe bet and industry also uses more silver. >>> russia has extended its ban on wheat exports as the country c

similar story for the euro stoxx 50 index. on wall street, investors applauded the latest data on wholesale inventories, showing supplies went up more than 1% in july. the dow jones right now half a percent higher in late afternoon trading. on the currency markets, the is $1.3725. >>> more money for germany's sickest bank. there are reports that hippo real-estate needs another 40 billion euros to get it going. the german governor took over hypo and has pumped it with 100 billion euros of taxpayer money. sources close to the banks say they are running out of money because of the high risks premium they have to pay on the eurozone sovereign bond. >>> the german automaker volkswagen has reported positive numbers for august, deliveries up 1% compared with the same time last year. they sold a total of 4.7 million cars worldwide since the start of the year and the company is shooting for a record number of deliveries for the second year in a row. booming demand in china is driving all of this. sales in the chinese market have increa

the euro stoxx 50 closing higher. across the atlantic, on a wall street,the wones enjoyed a strong rally, finishing at the top of the hour up 2.5%. the euro trading at $1.28 06. >>> shares and apple rose nearly 3% wednesday after the company unveiled several new products. ceo steve jobs introduced a new ipod line, a revamped apple device, and itunes social network, and updates to the operating system for the iphone, ipod touch, and the ipad. the revamp apple tea vite is being toud as a potential -- apple tv is being touted as a potential challenge to the cable-tv market. >>> the economic situation in serbia is improving gradually, but the country still needs help from outside. state coffers are empty and they require financial assiance. serbia has turned to the imf, hoping for an additional billion in credit. prices in the country are rising. the market stalls and belgrade might be stopped, but many serbians cannot afford to spend much here because prices have risen. according to consumer groups, people are only getti

and the euro stoxx 50 finished 1% negative territory. the dow industrials in the u.s.nded slightly higher on friday. finally, the hero is currently trading for $1.3040. a german politician has formally stepped down from his position as a board member of the country's bank. in a best-selling book stirred controversy with its claim that an ucated muslim imgrants are a burden on government budgets and a problem for germany's future. bundesbank board members are appointed by the german president. there has never been a situation where the president has had to remove a board member in germany. germany's biggest construction group has criticized the takeover bid by the spanish counterpart. executives referred to this bid by the minority shareholder as a provocation. on thursday, acs announced it wanted to increase its stake in e company to er 5. acs curley owns less than 30% of the german company. the takeover would make acs and major player in the global construction sector. an eu justice commission are says she may introduce quotas that would force companies to phillies on

euro stoxx 50 blue chips sinking by 1.5% to finish at 2752.t this hour, the dow jones closing of the top of the hour, finishing at 10,739, down to slightly. currency markets, the euro dreading this hour at a value of $1.3392. as we just saw, the hero is continuing to strengthen considerably in rapidly against the dollar as the u.s. recovery remains in question and the economic situation in europe continues to improve. >> the euro is looking like a heavyweight again, not only against the u.s. dollar but also against the british pound and the japanese yen. the year lost ground in the first half of this year as the debt crisis was over greece, spain, and ireland. but since the beginning of july, it has been recovering, reaching $1.34 this wednesday, regaining levels of last fall in april. the main reason, positive economic developments in the eurozone. it seems the big economies, like germany, have recovered from the crisis, and even portugal and ireland successfully issued bonds on international money markets this week. this -- but the u.s. econ

the euro stoxx 50 blue chips ended tuesday down as well, 2727.cross the atlantic on wall street, investors returning from the labor day holiday, also focused on european banks. the dow jones closed at 10,340. the euro was also hit by european sovereign debt worries and is trading at $1.2699. afghanistan has frozen the assets of leading shareholders and our words of the country's biggest bank, kabul bank. kabul bank has lost enormous amounts of money through bad speculation and corruption. the news has seen long lines of anxious depositors wanting to withdraw funds. even the u.s. treasury department's support in the resignation of two directors have not restored confidence in kabul bank. >> there were long lines outside kabul bank's branches again on tuesday. the run on the bank began a week ago, and customers have withdrawn hundreds of millions of euros from their accounts. >> i have been to six branches of the bank since yesterday, but i cannot get a hold of my money. and today, i am number621 on the waiting list. the government is responsible f

the euro stoxx 50 index of top eurozone finishing more than 1.6% higher at 2802.wall street, the dow closing a few moments o, neay 1.4% higher. 10,753. the euro trading at a value of $1.3666. the world's three main rating agencies have given the eurozone bailout fund a aaa rating, the highest rating possible. unanimous assessment by moody's, standard and poor's, and fitch mean the funds can secure loans at low interest rates. the european financial stability fact was created in may to help many of the 16 eurozone states in the event of crisis. they can borrow up to four hundred 40 billion euros of necessary. in return, recipient countries must agree to reforms. so far, no years and members have asked for emergency loans from the fund. high demand for gold is continuing to push prices for the precious metal to a fresh record highs. fears of a double-dip recession and the possibility of rising inflation have led an increasing number of investors to purchase the precious metal as a safe- haven investment. since january, e price of fine ouncef gold as jumped almost 17

the euro stoxx 50 also finishing exactly where they ended wednesday's session, finishing flat at 2715. on wall street, the dow managing to pick up a little bit later in the session, finishing at 10,320. the euro trading for a value of $1.2825. european union diplomats agreed to set up four new supervisory agencies to oversee the bloc's economic development in financial markets. the reforms aimed at preventing a repetition of the financial crisis which forced taxpayers to shell out billions for bank bailouts. eu finance ministers are expected to formally endorsed the deal at a meeting in brussels next tuesday. the european parliament to give it its green light later this month. >> the e wants to improve its crisis management data during the financial crisis, each member country met its own decisions. but beginning next year, the 27- nation bloc could deal relying on a new pan-european financial authority. it would have the power to liquidate insolvent financial institutions bid up the authority could also issue direct orders to banks and insurance companies that are internationally act