CA-BUSINESS Summary

Euro, commodities recover on weak dollar, UK GDP to come

LONDON (Reuters) - The euro and commodities gained ground on Thursday as evidence of a weakening U.S. economy put the dollar under pressure, while investors waited to find out whether Britain's stagnant economy had fallen back into recession. Markets are looking to the British first-quarter gross domestic product number (GDP), due at 0830 GMT (4.30 a.m. ET), to see whether it reinforces the gloomy global economic picture painted by recent releases from Germany, China and the United States.

Soaring Barrick helps propel TSX to biggest jump in 8 months

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index jumped more than 1 percent on Wednesday, its sharpest one-day percentage gain in more than eight months, as higher commodity prices fueled a rise in shares of gold and oil and gas producers. The surge in gold-mining shares, which have languished this year, played the biggest role in driving up the market as they rose about 7 percent as physical buyers scooped up the precious metal on the back of a recent selloff.

Exclusive: Verizon eyes roughly $100 billion bid for Verizon Wireless stake

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Verizon Communications Inc has hired advisers to prepare a possible $100 billion cash and stock bid to take full control of Verizon Wireless from joint venture partner Vodafone Group Plc , two people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. Verizon, which already owns 55 percent of Verizon Wireless, has not yet put forward a proposal to Vodafone but it has hired both banking and legal advisers for a possible bid, the sources said.

CP Railway profit rises on higher freight revenue

(Reuters) - Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd reported a 53 percent increase in first-quarter profit as freight revenue rose and the company improved its operating efficiency. Canada's No. 2 rail carrier said net income rose to C$217 million ($212 million), or C$1.24 per share, from C$142 million, or 82 Canadian cents per share, a year earlier.

UK economy defies recession fears, grows 0.3 pct in Q1

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's economy dodged a return to recession and grew faster than expected in the first three months of this year, a relief for finance minister George Osborne. The Office for National Statistics said Britain's gross domestic product rose 0.3 percent in the first quarter after shrinking by 0.3 percent quarter-on-quarter in late 2012, above forecasts for a 0.1 percent rise.

EU's Rehn: fiscal adjustment slowing down in Europe

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union countries will continue to consolidate public finances, but they can now afford to do that at a slower pace than before, because their previous efforts have won them back some market credibility, the EU's top economic official said. "We have been clear that the pace of fiscal adjustment should take into account each country-specific economic situation," EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn told a conference in Brussels on Thursday.

Italy should ask for more room on deficit: OECD

MILAN (Reuters) - Italy is now in a position to ask the European Union to ease up on the country's deficit target, according to Pier Carlo Padoan, chief economist at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). With budget cuts blamed for a second straight year of recession in the euro zone, the EU's top economics official Olli Rehn indicated last weekend that more flexibility on tough economic targets was needed.

Delaying austerity is no easy way out: ECB's Asmussen

LONDON (Reuters) - European Central Bank Executive Board member Joerg Asmussen urged governments to push on with budget consolidation and reforms, saying there are no alternatives to those measures. Doubts over the effectiveness of setting hard targets for reducing national debt have emerged in light of a sluggish global recovery. On Monday, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said austerity had reached its natural limits of popular support.

Spanish unemployment tops 6 million

MADRID (Reuters) - More than six million Spaniards were out of work in the first quarter of this year, raising the jobless rate in the euro zone's fourth biggest economy to 27.2 percent, the highest since records began in the 1970s. The huge sums poured into the global financial system by major central banks have eased bond market pressure on Spain, but the cuts Madrid has made in spending to regain investors' confidence have left it deep in recession.

ECB says ditching austerity would not help euro zone

BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - ECB policymakers rebuffed suggestions that Europe should ease up on austerity and said that while the central bank has room to cut interest rates, such a move would not necessarily help the economy much. European Central Bank Vice-President Vitor Constancio said that seeking to stimulate economies by stopping measures aimed at cutting government debt could merely increase countries' borrowing costs rather than triggering growth.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ca-business-summary-000009480--finance.html

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