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Gold rose today reaching a high of 965.04 with the NYMEX July futures contract 964.100 as investors move away from the interest rate related securities, and shift into alternative secure assets. In addition, some improvements in the US economy lifted financial markets. Durable goods orders and jobless claims data came in better than expected at 1.9% and 2.04% respectively. The Federal Reserve was...

larger-than-expected drop in stockpiles. Among the big names, Canadian Natural Resources added 4.7% to $64.64. Canadian Oil Sands was up 4.6% to $27.88 and Suncor added 4.5% to $38.78. In other corporate news, the Globe and Mail reported Air Canada could

Armageddon comes with a sun lounger and a rum cocktail at the Financial Services Authority apparently. The City watchdog's stress tests for Britain's lenders are so far from the nightmare scenario expected that some wags labelled them a 'relax test'.

After three sessions of gains, equities headed south on Thursday as investors responded cautiously to mixed US economic data, including worse-than-expected housing sales figures and better-than-expected unemployment data

. 52 Labour MPs apply to sit in House of Lords. Senior party figures expect heavy defeatGordon Brown is facing an escalating ­crisis of confidence inside the parliamentary Labour party as record numbers of his MPs apply to sit in the House of Lords after the next general election.In the clearest indication to date that increasing numbers of Labour figures believe the party is heading for a heavy defeat at the hands of David Cameron, the Guardian has learned that at least 52 MPs have formally approached Downing Street to be given places in the upper house.The MPs include current chairs of select committees as well as past and serving middle and junior ranking ­ministers, according to Labour sources. They account for a seventh of those elected at the last election.The move by the Labour MPs comes as Brown faces the most perilous week of his premiership.Ed Balls, the schools secretary, said yesterday Labour would perform badly in the European and local elections next Thursday.'In European

Bill Gross, co-chief investment officer of bond mutual-fund giant Pimco, says investors should expect lower returns, decreased U.S. growth and the loss of the dollar's status as the world's reserve currency.

The 53-page negotiating text, released by the UN climate change secretariat for the talks beginning in Bonn next week for thrashing out a treaty on tackling global warming, intended to be inked in Copenhagen in December, leaves no one fully satisfiedas might have been expected from such a preparatory document, especially given the yawning gap that exists even now between the positions of the rich and poor countries.

The nation's largest automaker is expected to file for bankruptcy on Monday.

The Intel Core i7 processor will power a new laptop being offered by AVADirect. Expected benefits include triple-channel memory and DDR3 memory running up to 1333 MHz. While Intel doesnt encourage such projects, it calls the innovation of its customers ?cool.? - AVADirect, an Ohio custom computer manufacturer, has begun offering the Clevo D900F, the first laptop to offer Intels Core i7 processor, intended for gaming machines and PC enthusiasts. In statement on the 17-inch gaming laptop, AVADirect explains that the D900F utilizes ?a desktop processor and...

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) ? South African mineworkers would face even harsher times over in the coming months as job losses were expected to accelerate in the next quarter, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) general secretary