Press Review: EU's Schulz warns before summit Greek finances are 'dangerous'

BLOOMBERG
The Way Gold Prices Are Set is Changing Forever

(Bloomberg) -- Almost a century of tradition will disappear from the gold market as technology takes over.

Thursday will be the last day that traders at four banks agree by phone twice-daily prices used by miners to central banks to deal and value bullion. Gold will be the last precious metal to drop the London fixings after silver, platinum and palladium made way for electronic auctions last year.

More firms able to participate in the benchmark will make the $18 trillion global market more transparent, said ICE Benchmark Administration, which will start running the LBMA Gold Price on Friday. Anyone can follow auctions online, rather than needing a line to a fixing dealer.

Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-18/gold-loses-century-of-tradition-to-technology-in-setting-prices

REUTERS

EU's Schulz warns before summit Greek finances are 'dangerous'

(Reuters) - European Parliament President Martin Schulz said on Thursday, shortly before EU leaders meet in Brussels, that Greece's financial situation was "dangerous" and it needed two to three billion euros in the short term to avoid bankruptcy.

"Time is short," Schulz told Deutschlandfunk radio just hours before European Union leaders discuss Greece's bailout at their summit. "In the short term, two to three billion (euros) are needed to keep to the existing obligations," he said.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/19/us-eurocrisis-greece-germany-schulz-idUSKBN0MF0MV20150319

BLOOMBERG

Norway Signals Reduction After Unexpectedly Holding Rate

(Bloomberg) -- Norway's central bank unexpectedly left interest rates unchanged and signaled it's prepared for more pronounced monetary easing to protect the economy against a plunge in oil prices. The krone surged.

The overnight deposit rate was kept at 1.25 percent, the Oslo-based bank said. The decision was forecast by only one of 19 economists surveyed by Bloomberg, while the remainder estimated a cut. The bank predicted its rate may drop to as low as 0.95 percent in the first quarter of next year, versus a December forecast of 1.13 percent. The krone gained 1.96 percent to 8.6979 per euro as of 10:20 a.m.

"If economic developments ahead are broadly in line with that projected, there are prospects for a reduction in the key policy rate," Norges Bank Governor Oeystein Olsen said in a statement. He's scheduled to speak at a press conference at 10:30 a.m. in the Norwegian capital.

Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-19/norway-central-bank-signals-cut-after-unexpectedly-holding-rate