Euro crisis, yuan sow discord as G20 gathers

G20 finance ministers will press Europe this week to find an urgent solution to its debt crisis, with a row between Washington and Beijing over the yuan threatening efforts to address broader global imbalances.

An economic slowdown and market slump has been met with discord within the Group of 20 rich and developing economies that makes up 85 percent of global output, a stark contrast to 2009 when the group launched a coordinated stimulus to pull the world economy back from the brink.

Jobless fall reduces need for rate cut

Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan will have something else to brag about when he catches up with his G20 counterparts this weekend - Australia's jobless rate is on the decline again.

Having steadily risen since April, new data on Thursday showed the unemployment rate unexpectedly declined to 5.2 per cent in September as 20,400 people joined the workforce, double the amount forecast by economists.

G20 finance chiefs to discuss Europe's 'comprehensive plan'

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Finance ministers from the world's leading economies will focus on ways to strengthen the faltering global recovery at a meeting later this week, according to a senior U.S. Treasury official.

Lael Brainard, under secretary for foreign affairs at Treasury, said the debt crisis in Europe "represents the most serious risk to the global recovery today."

Economists call on G20 finance ministers to stop food speculation

Over 450 economists from around the world have written to the finance ministers of the G20 countries calling on them to put a stop to financial speculation in commodity markets, which causes higher prices and fuels hunger.

The letter signed by economists, from top universities such as Oxford, Cambridge, Berkeley, Cornell and the London School of Economics, adds to the ongoing and growing campaign to stop food price speculation.

G20 must advance currency reform: WTO's Lamy

The Group of 20 nations must make headway on a coordinated reform of the international currency system and eschew the unilateral actions that serve only to harm global commerce, World Trade Organization chief Pascal Lamy said.

If the G20 summit in Cannes next month failed to take a step toward closer cooperation on macroeconomic policy, trade was likely to become a scapegoat for systemic failings, he said in Berlin, according to the text of a speech published on Thursday by the WTO.

Avoid risky assets until November G20 meet: Citi strategist

(Reuters) - Investors should shun all risky assets and hold cash until early November when the Group of 20 leading economies (G20) meets to find a solution for the euro zone debt crisis, a Citigroup (C.N) strategist said.

"The way with which the euro zone crisis is managed will dictate whether or not we have slow growth in the United States or a global financial crisis," John Woods, chief Asian strategist at Citi Private Bank, told the Reuters Global Wealth Management Summit, on Tuesday.

Lee stresses G20 role in financial crisis

President Lee Myung-bak Monday indicated the important role of international economic cooperation in forums like the G-20, Monday, in not only protecting Korea but also finding long term solutions to global financial instability, particularly Europe’s sovereign debt crisis.

"We have surmounted the previous global financial crisis in the fastest and most successful fashion in the world,” Lee said in a radio address.