 » Ben Bernanke gave warning that "monetary policy cannot be a panacea" for America's economy, a sign taken by many that the Federal Reserve is not minded to introduce a third round of quantitative easing, or QE3, when the current programme of buying $600 billion in bonds and other assets comes to an end this month. The central bank's chairman acknowledged that the recovery was "frustratingly slow". Just 54,000 jobs were created in May; analysts were expecting the number to be around 165,000. See article » In an annual report to Congress the Treasury estimated that America's total public debt will exceed GDP by the end of this year, around three years earlier than forecast in its previous report in 2010. » Peter Diamond pulled out of the nomination process to become a governor on the board of the Federal Reserve, blaming Republican senators for blocking his appointment. Barack Obama nominated Mr Diamond in April 2010, but Republicans insist he has little experience of monetary policy or banking. Mr Diamond won a Nobel prize in 2010 for his work on labour markets and the causes of unemployment. Two vacancies remain on the Fed's seven-member board of governors. See article
Regard for Lagarde » Christine Lagarde, the French finance minister, went to India and China to drum up support for her candidacy to become the next managing director of the IMF. Both countries remained uncommitted to any candidate after her visit. The Indian government said it preferred "to be part of a consensus". Meanwhile, Agustín Carstens, the governor of Mexico's central bank, implored developing countries to back his bid to head the IMF. » Wolfgang Schäuble, Germany's finance minister, put forward the option of extending maturities on Greek bonds for seven years for current bondholders. With the details of an additional bail-out for Greece still to be hammered out, Germany wants private investors to share the burden. It is at odds with the European Central Bank, which thinks that any form of restructuring would be viewed as a Greek default by the markets.
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Over a barrel » Oil prices rose sharply when ministers from OPEC nations failed to reach agreement on raising production levels. Markets were expecting the organisation collectively to increase output by up to 1.5m barrels of oil a day after Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states proposed the move. They were opposed by Iran. See article » The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation forecast a record harvest in cereals this year, but said this might not be enough to replenish rundown inventories. The FAO's food-price index for May was slightly lower than in April, but still only 2.5% below its all-time peak in February.  » Tokyo Electric Power Company, which operates the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, saw its share price plunge by 28% after the head of the Tokyo Stock Exchange suggested that it seek a court-guided path to bankruptcy similar to that taken by Japan Airlines. JAL was delisted from the exchange and its equity wiped out when it asked for bankruptcy protection. » British Airways became the latest airline to settle a class-action lawsuit in America for participating with other carriers in fixing cargo prices between 2000 and 2006. It agreed to pay $89.5m. BA and others have already been fined in America and Europe for operating the cartel. » It emerged that Prada is hoping to raise up to $3 billion in its initial public offering later this month, a considerably higher amount than had been thought. The luxury-goods and fashion house is making its stockmarket debut in Hong Kong (making it the first Italian firm to list there) rather than London or Milan, another sign of the growing spending power of Asian consumers.
Groupies » The news that Groupon is to launch a much-heralded IPO led to more talk about a tech bubble. The firm promotes online discounts for services and products. Although revenue has shot up over the past year, it has yet to make a profit. Google approached Groupon with a hefty takeover offer last year, but it was rejected.
See article » Steve Jobs unveiled Apple's new cloud-computing service, which will become available in the autumn. Users will be able to store up to five gigabytes of content free on iCloud and play music purchased from iTunes across multiple Apple gadgets, rather than just the one used to access the track. Documents, such as books and software apps, will also be more accessible. Apple's iCloud is considered the most ambitious attempt yet to create a broad-based consumer service that lets people keep information and content up to date on numerous devices. See article | 
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