There is substance behind that performance. Full-year figures, released after the market close on Friday, showed that auto sales were up 127 per cent, as BYD cheap gas-powered F3 compact" a Toyota Corolla clone" lured price-conscious first-time buyers in second- and third-tier cities. This month agreement with Daimler to develop a new electric vehicle for sale in China, meanwhile, is a genuine landmark: the first time that a Chinese company has offered proprietary technology into a Sino-foreign joint venture, rather than just land, buildings or manpower.

There is substance behind that performance. Full-year figures, released after the market close on Friday, showed that auto sales were up 127 per cent, as BYD cheap gas-powered F3 compact" a Toyota Corolla clone" lured price-conscious first-time buyers in second- and third-tier cities. [Read the full article]

With U.S. demand for oil lackluster, even traditional OPEC price hawks like Iran and Venezuela are happy with present prices near $80 a barrel as they head into Tuesday's meeting of the 12-nation organization.

These two countries traditionally are the greatest advocates of tight OPEC supply. But ahead of their meeting there is informal unanimity among OPEC oil ministers that -- with the world's economic recovery feeble at best and crude prices at preferred levels -- it's best not to rock the boat.

That means the ministers will likely agree to maintain OPEC's formal production target, now at 26 million barrels a day -- a benchmark set over one year ago.

OPEC has left its members' production quotas unchanged since December 2008, when it announced the last of a series of cuts aimed at bringing their output down by 4.2 million barrels per day. [Read the full article]

The gloomiest explanation for the UK recent export performance is that its financial services-focused economy produces little that anyone wants. At the same time, manufacturers that do make desirable goods may be unable to get the credit and skilled workers they need to expand. Engineering UK, a trade body, believes the country faces a chronic shortage of engineers. Indeed, of the net 2.4m jobs created from 2000 to 2007, Andrew Hunt Economics notes nearly all were in non-traded sectors: 1m in finance, 1m in the public sector, and about 750,000 in construction and restaurants. Meanwhile the manufacturing sector lost 1m.

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The gloomiest explanation for the UK recent export performance is that its financial services-focused economy produces little that anyone wants. [Read the full article]

* NY manufacturing's employment index rises in March (Updates prices, adds quote, U.S. data, changes byline, dateline; previous LONDON)

The euro slid against the U.S. dollar on Monday, hampered by a lack of progress on a financial aid package for debt-strapped Greece.

Euro zone finance ministers are expected to agree on Monday on a way of providing Greece with financial aid to tackle its debts but France warned against expecting any hard figures and said barriers to a deal remained. For more see

While the market focused on the ministers' meeting in Brussels, analysts said anyone hoping for a quick resolution to the Greek debt issue would be disappointed. [Read the full article]