Topic: Brazil

To understand the effect that events have  on global oil markets a key figure to watch is the amount of crude produced daily in each country. With data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), a division of the Department of Energy, CNBC.com took a look at the countries that produce the most crude oil on that basis. (Production is defined as extraction from the Earth’s crust, prior to the refining process.)

The global economy is set to expand by a modest 3.3 percent this year as a still-smoldering euro zone debt crisis and a relatively slow U.S. recovery continue to leave Asia as the main driver of growth, Reuters polls showed on Thursday.

The stereotype about professional athletes’ wives is that they’re gold-digging arm candy, with few accomplishments. What follows is a list of the wives of athletes who’ve made names for themselves as columnists, models, designers and more.

The long-term case for investing in emerging-markets is based on growing worldwide demand for commodities and the expansion of an enormous new middle class in those countries.

Strong domestic fundamentals in the BRICs and other countries  are likely to drive equity prices.

Potential weakness in the materials and commodities sectors is likely to drag on equities prices.

Booming emerging markets will spearhead any further rise of global stock indexes in 2012, as the growth spurt enjoyed by major Western markets since the start of the year peters out, according to Reuters polls.

The BRICS group of emerging market nations will look at ways of pressuring the West to redress global economic imbalances amid growing frustration at the pace of change in institutions such as the IMF at a meeting in Delhi on Thursday.

Brazil's Vale, the world's No. 2 mining company, expects to win permission "within months" to unload its big, new iron-ore ships at Chinese ports, a move that will help ensure efficient delivery of raw materials to China's growing economy, a senior executive told Reuters.

While some homeowners see their abodes as shelter from the elements, others want to embrace nature and invite it inside. Some homes are designed with prominent features that bring the outdoors in.  The collection ahead includes homes that incorporate trees, cave-like elements, the desert and more.

Forget the U.S., E.U. and Japan. Look to Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the Asia-Pacific region for stable sources of income.

By 2050 the big economies will no longer be emerging, and the emerging economies will no longer be very big.

Carrefour, Europe's biggest retailer, slashed its dividend and capital spending, and put its flagship plan to revive its hypermarkets on hold, predicting another tough year of cash-strapped shoppers reining in spending.

Leading economies told Europe it must put up extra money to fight its debt crisis if it wants more help from the rest of the world, piling pressure on Germany to drop its opposition to a bigger European bailout.

Germany is easing its opposition to a bigger European bailout fund, officials said, smoothing the way for the world's leading economies to secure nearly $2 trillion in firepower to prevent further fallout from the euro zone debt crisis.