The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico continued to shake BP. The firm announced that its unpopular chief executive Tony Hayward would step down on October 1st. Robert Dudley, its American executive director, will replace him. BP reported a loss of $17 bill… more »

The House of Representatives approved the Dodd-Frank bill, which if passed by the Senate will bring in the most sweeping changes to America's financial regulatory system since the 1930s. Negotiations had been completed on ironing out the differences betw… more »

China surprised markets by ending the peg of the yuan to the dollar, a policy that was reintroduced in July 2008 during the financial crisis. The yuan’s movement is still restricted to a rise or fall of no more than 0.5% against the dollar in a single da… more »

The cost of insuring BP’s debt shot up and its share price swooned after the failure of the energy company’s latest attempts to seal a pipeline that is gushing oil deep underwater in the Gulf of Mexico. BP’s share price has plummeted by 34% since April 2… more »

Investor concerns about the euro area turned to Spain when the country’s central bank took control of CajaSur, a small, troubled savings bank based in Córdoba. Spain’s cajas account for almost half of its banking system and have been hit by the collapse… more »

Markets had another unsettled week amid continuing worries that officials in the euro area have failed to resolve the sovereign-debt crisis in the currency block. The European Central Bank’s announcement that it had made an initial purchase of €16.5 bill… more »