2. German business confidence probably rose for a third month in June, providing further evidence that the recession in Europe’s largest economy is easing. The Ifo institute in Munich will say its business climate index, based on a survey of 7,000 executives, increased to 85 from 84.2 in May, according to the median of 29 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey. More…

2. Billionaire hedge fund manager George Soros said the worst of the global financial crisis is over, and called for new international regulations to maintain open markets. More…

2. South Korea isn’t ready to let banks repay money they received from a 20 trillion won ($16 billion) state-backed fund, the nation’s financial regulator said, citing the risk of eroding investor confidence. More…

3. The Bank of Japan should consider whether to stop pumping extra cash into the banking system by evaluating trends in corporate financing and the economy, some policy board members said last month. More…

4. U.K. families unaffected by job losses have enjoyed a 25 percent increase in spending money in the past year after mortgage costs and energy bills fell, Ernst & Young said. The disposable income of the average household, assuming no change in employment status, rose by 200 pounds ($327) a month. More…

5. The number of new cars made in the UK fell 43% in May from the same month a year earlier, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said. More…

6. Europe risks falling behind the US in policing the financial system and the current crisis could prove “a wasted opportunity” to ensure its future stability, a top European Central Bank policymaker has warned. More…

2. Ten of the largest US banks said on Wednesday they repaid more than US$68 billion (S$98.8 billion) of taxpayer bailout funds, as they race to extract themselves from government restrictions on pay for top executives. More…

3. Britain’s economy will contract by 3.8% this year and see only a muted recovery in 2010, the British Chambers of Commerce said. More…

4. Bank of England Governor Mervyn King said Britain’s banking system may need to raise more capital to finance the economic recovery as officials keep printing money. More…

5. BOE Governor King added to positive voices on the economic outlook on Wednesday, saying that financial markets have improved markedly and listing several reasons a recovery is likely this year. More…

6. Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling, signaling a clash with Prime Minister Gordon Brown over spending, said the U.K. government must make tough decisions to curb the budget deficit. More…

7. E.U. leaders will approve new rules to tighten bank supervision at a two-day summit which starts on Thursday and is intended to show the bloc has the economic crisis under control. More…

8. The World Bank raised its China growth forecast to 7.2 percent for 2009, up from a previous estimate of 6.5 percent.

9. India’s economy has slipped into deflation, according to its closely watched wholesale price index, but officials and analysts said the first decline in wholesale prices in 30 years did not signify a contraction in demand. India’s wholesale prices levels fell 1.6 per cent during the week ending June 6, compared with their 0.13 per cent increase the previous week. More…

10. UK public sector borrowing was the highest on record in May, the Office for National Statistics said. Public sector net borrowing was £19.9bn in May, and has already reached £30bn in the first two months of the financial year. More…

2. The Bank of England’s interest rate setters voted unanimously to hold interest rates at the record low of 0.5% earlier this month. More…

2. German investor confidence probably increased to a three-year high in June after evidence emerged that the recession in Europe’s largest economy is bottoming out. More…

3. The ECB says euro-zone banks will need to write down $283 billion more by the end of next year and sees the bloc’s total crisis-related losses at $649 billion, far below the $904 billion the IMF forecast in April. More…

4. The IMF projected that the United States would make a ‘solid’ recovery from recession in mid-2010, but warned of major risks including the real-estate crisis and rising interest rates. More…

5. The Obama administration will target critical weaknesses in the troubled US financial system, such as thin bank capital cushions and eroded lending standards, when it proposes an overhaul of financial regulation this week. More…

6. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev says the world needs new reserve currencies. Mr Medvedev told a regional summit that the creation of new reserve currencies in addition to the dollar is needed to stabilise global finances. More…

7. The Saudi Arabian central bank cut its reverse repurchase rate to 0.25 percent from 0.5 percent as it seeks to revive lending. More…

8. Chile’s central bank will probably cut its benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point today to a record as the country’s recession deepens and prices drop. More…

9. As many as 350,000 public sector jobs in the U.K. could be lost over the next five years, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development is warning. More…

10. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak will make ‘significant announcements’ related to his plans to ease restrictions on foreign investment. More…

11. U.K. annual inflation slowed again in May as the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) fell to 2.2% from 2.3% in April, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has said. More…

12. China will extend a $10bn (£6bn) loan to Russia and four Central Asian states to help them in the financial crisis, Chinese President Hu Jintao has said. More…

2. Foreign direct investment in China fell 17.8% in May from a year earlier as companies cut spending to weather the worst economic slump since the Great Depression, compared to the 22.5% drop in April. More…

3. The British economy won’t start growing again until 2010 and the BOE may need to expand its money-printing plan to entrench the recovery, the Confederation of British Industry said. GDP will fall 0.3% in Q2 and 0.1% in Q3, before stalling in the final three months of the year. More…

4. Singapore’s labour market saw its first quarterly contraction in nearly six years with total employment falling by 6,200. More…

5. Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said the dollar is in “good shape,” further affirming that there’s no substitute for the world’s reserve currency. Kudrin rushed to reassure investors of Russia’s confidence in the dollar just days after his boss, President Dmitry Medvedev, questioned its global status, joining China’s central bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan in suggesting the world may need another benchmark for settling international debts. More…

6. Air cargo shipped through Hong Kong dropped 17.6 per cent year-on-year in May, the city’s airport authority said, as the global downturn continued to slash demand for goods made in southern China. More…

7. HONG Kong’s chief executive and top government ministers will take a more than five percent pay cut as part of the city’s belt-tightening during the economic downturn. More…

8. S. Korea’s economy is still sliding, even though the pace has slowed, and it was not time yet for the government to change the current accommodative economic and financial policy, Finance Minister Yoon Jeung Hyun said. More…

9. Recessions in Norway and Sweden may continue for “some time” as labor markets in the largest Nordic countries’ struggle to adjust to export-led slumps and state coffers are depleted. More…