By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

LONDON, England - August 2, 2011 - The European money markets have begun to seize up as pressure mounts on the Italian and Spanish banking systems, tracking the pattern seen during the build-up towards the financial crisis in 2008.

WASHINGTON - August 2, 2011 - Amerikans cut back on their spending in June for the first time in nearly two years and their incomes grew by the smallest amount in nine months, a troubling sign for an economy that is barely growing.

Consumer spending dropped 0.2% in June, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. Some of the decline was caused by declining food and energy prices, which had spiked in recent months. When excluding spending on those items, consumer spending was flat.

LONDON, England - August 1, 2011 - High street bank HSBC is axing tens of thousands of jobs worldwide despite unveiling a multi-billion pound profit for the first six months of the year.

WASHINGTON (PNN) - August 1, 2011 - Manufacturers had their weakest growth in two years in July, a sign that the economy could further weaken this summer.

The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing executives, said Monday that its index of manufacturing activity fell to 50.9% in July, from 55.3% in June. The reading was the lowest since July 2009 - one month after the government declared the recession had ended.

WASHINGTON - July 29, 2011 - The U.S. economy expanded at meager 1.3% annual rate in the spring after scarcely growing at all in the first three months of the year, the Commerce Department said Friday.

The combined growth for the first six months of the year was the weakest since the recession ended two years ago. The government revised the January-March figures to show just 0.4% growth - down sharply from its previous estimate of 1.9%.

NEW YORK - July 28, 2011 - Plunging rates for chartering container vessels that carry sneakers, furniture and flat-screen TVs may signal a U.S. consumer slowdown and losses for shipping lines in what is traditionally their busiest time of the year.

CELINA, Texas - July 27, 2011 - With 75% of the state suffering through an exceptional drought, ranchers have begun using words like “desperation” and “panic” when it comes to finding and affording hay to feed their livestock.