Currencies

The poshest of luxury homes are acquiring the cachet of a masterwork by Picasso or Matisse.

Plans for traveling to the unique country, including how to pay for items while in Cuba, must be ironed out ahead of time. In short, if you are traveling to Cuba, bring cash -- and preferably not U.S. dollars.

Shanshan Wu already owns three houses back home in China.

Global stock markets overcame a contraction in Japan's economy and jitters about Ukraine and Iraq to mostly rise Wednesday, but analysts said new geopolitical developments would likely make for volatile trading.

Asian stock markets were mostly higher Monday as anxiety over the downing of a Malaysian jetliner over Ukraine eased and investors shifted their focus to U.S. corporate earnings.

U.S. stocks were mixed in early trading Tuesday, as investors assessed the latest news on consumer prices and some company earnings.

Two airplane catastrophes put Malaysia on the map in a bad way in 2014.

China plans to allow foreign central banks into its interbank currency market, the country's No.

Japanese stocks rose after poor quarterly economic data raised hopes of fresh economic stimulus while other Asian indexes were steadier as the yuan stabilized after last week's shock devaluation.

A free-falling Chinese currency could make China's goods cheaper for foreigners, squeeze Western companies, discourage Chinese tourism, increase China's exports and complicate the Federal Reserve's decision on whether to raise American interest rates.

The Russian ruble is falling under the pressure of cheaper oil and despite a recent boost from the central bank.

Frankfurt stock exchange operator Deutsche Boerse AG says it is buying foreign exchange trading platform 360T for 725 million euros ($796 million).

The latest from the referendum in Greece (all times local): ___ 7 a.m.

Egypt's central bank says the Egyptian pound has fallen to a new low against the dollar, its second such drop since Thursday.

Switzerland's central bank says it took a first-quarter loss of 30 billion Swiss francs ($32 billion) as the rapid appreciation of the national currency led to high foreign exchange losses.

Wall Street and Main Street gave banks a boost last quarter.

The U.S. dollar hasn't been on a roll like this since Ronald Reagan sat in the White House and "Raiders of the Lost Ark" ruled the box office.

Wild swings in the stock, bond and currency markets in the first three months of the year are likely to translate into bigger profits for big U.S. banks, analysts say.

Official figures show that the fall in consumer prices across the 19-country eurozone eased in February, a development that may assuage market concerns that the region is set to suffer a pronounced period of deflation.

Global stocks were mixed in Wednesday trading, as optimism over expectations that U.S. interest rates won't be raised soon was countered by profit-taking.