Some financial analysts believe that Europe might have reached its economic low point, with recovery on the way. But economists say they are waiting for some key statistics which will be released next week. The 16-member euro zone might still be in the grip of a severe economic slump,...

Pfizer, the No. 1 drugmaker, said on Monday that it would acquire U.S. rival Wyeth for about $68 billion (49.6 billion pounds) in a move to diversify its revenue base. The world’s largest drugmaker, which raised $22.5 billion in debt from a consortium of banks to finance the deal,...

Struggling German chipmaker Qimonda has filed for insolvency at a court in Munich, a court spokeswoman said Friday. The Infineon subsidiary had received a 325-million-euro ($422-million) cash injection from the German state of Saxony, the federal government and a Portuguese development bank in December in a bid to keep...

EU finance ministers vowed to lower their growing national deficits after recession-hit economies improve, but the politicians did not call for implementing binding deadlines to fight the debts. “A crisis that arose out of (too much) debt cannot be fought by creating more debt over the long term,” Austrian...

Barack Obama has taken the oath of office and been sworn in as America’s 44th president – and the country’s first African-American leader. More than one million people gathered in the National Mall in a wintry Washington DC, to see Mr Obama take the oath shortly after 1200 (1700...