Eurozone finance chiefs warned on Friday that the 15-nation bloc faced growing risks to economic growth and inflation, but insisted there was currently no threat of a recession. EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia also acknowledged that “downside risks have increased” since he forecast in February that the eurozone economy would grow 1.8 percent this year.

Nevertheless, Almunia said eurozone finance ministers expected a “better scenario” than the International Monetary Fund’s recently reduced forecast for 1.3 percent growth this year in the bloc. Eurozone finance ministers, who were to be joined later by counterparts from all EU countries for a two-day meeting, are struggling to come up with concrete responses to the growing threats hovering over their economy.

Though under pressure to try to counter the financial crisis, deep divisions on the best strategy have so far kept the European finance ministers from taking concerted action. Huge new write-downs this week by Swiss bank UBS and Deutsche Bank of Germany added to the sense of urgency ahead of the meeting of EU finance ministers and central bankers in Slovenia, which currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency.

While the outlook for economic growth was falling, Almunia said inflation was rising and would probably top the 2.6 percent he forecast for 2008 in February.  Although eurozone finance ministers were “concerned” but not “on the pessimistic side” regarding economic growth, Almunia said “we are extremely concerned on the inflation side.”

Inflation in the 15 eurozone countries jumped in March to 3.5 percent — the highest level since the bloc was formed in 1999, according to official EU data earlier this week. For those investing in this part of the world, care and a close-eye are in order.

China’s biggest bank said Sunday it has received approval to buy a 20 percent stake in South Africa’s biggest lender, the latest big-ticket overseas expansion by Chinese investors.  The deal between state-owned Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. and Standard Bank Group Ltd. is one of China’s biggest foreign corporate acquisitions to date.

The statement did not provide financial details of the deal, which was announced last year, but the official Xinhua News Agency said it was worth $5.46 billion.  Most analysts will be watching this one closely.

A global market meltdown and a decelerating economy could shake the steel nerves of the European Central Bank, analysts said Tuesday, as more observers are predicting it will cut borrowing costs as soon as the second quarter of this year.

The ECB has kept its benchmark interest rate on hold at 4 percent since last June _ before August’s credit crisis froze bank lending and threatened to stall major economies.

Its refusal to cut rates _ and encourage reluctant banks to give credit to each other, to companies and to homebuyers _ stood in stark contrast to the U.S. Federal Reserve which in a surprise move Tuesday reduced its rate for the fourth time since last September.

The Fed slashed its benchmark refinancing rate to 3.5 percent from 4.25 percent as stock markets dropped sharply Monday on investor skepticism that the U.S. government’s multibillion-dollar (-euro) tax relief plan could save the U.S. from a possible slide into recession.

But, until recently, ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet has talked instead about raising rates as the 15 nations that share the euro saw inflation spiral in the last two months to match an all-time high.

I was surfing the web today and came across some interesting news about the billions of dollars being saved each year by folks doing offshore banking. Around 20 years ago I was dating a lovely girl and her brother was quite successful and one the things that helped keep him that way was offshore banking. He helped blaze the trail for it by writing a book on the subject, back then it was mostly big business doing it but now it is quite common for many small and medium sized businesses to take advantage of offshore company formation and reap the financial benefits.

This week baseball has magnified one of our favorite marketplace rules, the law of supply and demand, let’s take a look; Chicago Cubs fans arrived in Phoenix this week, drawn by significantly lower prices for tickets to the team’s first two playoff games against the Arizona Diamondbacks than they could find for tickets to games 3 and 4 back in the Windy City.

StubHub, the leading online ticket resale service, reports the average price of a ticket being sold on its site for games at Chase Field in Phoenix was $105. Some tickets sold for as little as $22. But back at on the Northside of Chicago at the friendly, but pricey confines of Wrigley Field, a larger fan base and more limited supply of tickets had driven the average resale price up to $334, with some tickets selling for as much as $2,177, and standing room tickets going for $100.

The difference made it worth it for Cubs fans to catch a plane rather than the Chicago L to a game, especially if they could cash in frequent flyer miles. So about 11.3 percent of the Arizona tickets being purchased on StubHub were going to Illinois buyers, while only 0.5 percent of the Wrigley tickets were being sold to fans from Arizona.

And while Cubs fans couldn’t be happy with the results of the games they saw in the Valley of the Sun, (the Cubs lost both games and are one game way from being eliminated in the series), this is the way that markets are supposed to work — willing sellers setting the price they want to attract willing buyers.

Some will look at the prices that World Series tickets are already going for on StubHub and cry that this makes it tough for the average fan to afford tickets. A pair of seats five rows behind the first base dugout at Wrigley for one World Series game have already sold for $6,000 each, already topping the highest price for a ticket sold on StubHub to last year’s World Series– $5,883 each for four seats in row B behind home plate for Game 3 in St. Louis.

And if the Cubs rally and somehow make it to the World Series, we are likely to see even higher prices. One seller is already listing a pair of tickets for $75,000 each. But the fans paying those insane prices would have found a ticket broker to buy from in the past. The fact that there are services like StubHub only increases the supply of tickets that can be sold on the secondary market, thus lowering the price.

If the Cubs meet the Boston Red Sox in the series this year, it might drive prices to unprecedented levels (though I have my doubts they’ll ever reach the $75,000 listing price of that one optimistic seller). Both teams have large fan bases, small stadiums and a history of postseason frustration that has created pent-up demand for a chance to see their team win the series. While the Red Sox won a championship in 2004, the Cubs haven’t been to the series since 1945 and haven’t won in nearly a century.

It also helps that this year, Major League Baseball and more and more states around the country are finally acknowledging that it is in everyone’s best interest to have a true transparent secondary market for ticket sales.

As recently as a year ago, teams such as the Yankees were going to war with their best customers, pulling renewal and postseason ticket rights from their season and partial-season ticket holders if they were caught reselling their tickets. Teams mistakenly believed that the secondary market was competition for their own ticket sales. But Bob Bowman, the CEO of MLB Advance Media, the arm of the sport that runs MLB.com, said most teams have come to the realization that the secondary market is a benefit, not a blow.

Bowman acknowledged that at least some of the credit for teams selling a record number of tickets again this year is due to the rapid growth of online ticket resales on StubHub and similar services.

So in August, MLB reached a ground-breaking sponsorship agreement with StubHub, which is a unit of eBay (Charts, Fortune 500). The full effect of the partnership will not begin until next year, but already in the last two months of the season, MLB.com started providing links to StubHub on team pages on the MLB.com as well as at individual team sites that fans go to when they’re looking to buy tickets.

Baseball ticket sales on StubHub soared, and the site is now on pace to sell 5 million tickets this year alone, after selling a total of 5 million tickets in its first six years of existence. The deal with baseball was beneficial enough to StubHub that it gave the sport something it never granted other teams or sports in its sponsorship deals — a cut of the 25 percent combined commission that StubHub gets from the buyer and seller when a ticket is sold.

In addition, New York this year joined states such as Florida and Illinois in dropping the so-called anti-scalping laws that attempted to prohibit the resale of tickets for more than a nominal increase over face value. The laws were among the most worthless on the books. If anything, they drove ticket prices higher by limiting supply as the laws made some potential sellers reluctant to put tickets up for sale. Numerous studies have shown ticket resale prices drop once anti-scalping laws disappear.

So even though few can afford to shell out $75,000 to root, root, root for their home (or road) team in the playoffs, having an open secondary market for ticket sales makes it less likely that anybody will ever have to pay such a high price in the first place. I guess tickets agents absorb a fair bit of risk, especially during the regular season, so it is ok to see them clean up in the home-stretch.

Here is a round-up of some of the most popular finance news items around the world.

-By keeping your car for 15 years, or 225,000 miles of driving, you could save nearly $31,000, according to Consumer Reports magazine. That’s compared to the cost of buying an identical model every five years, which is roughly the rate at which most car owners trade in their vehicles. A pretty good idea but the car manufacturers won’t like it.

-General Motors has quietly dropped a marketing strategy it announced in May where it would bring other automakers’ vehicles to its Chevrolet showrooms for customers to test against its redesigned 2008 Malibu. The company was already running a similar program for its new Saturn Aura sedan - where dealers were bringing Honda Accords and Toyota Camrys into the showroom and allowing customers to inspect and test those vehicles in comparison to the Aura.

-President Bush outlined his plan Friday for helping troubled subprime borrowers keep their homes. The proposals put forward by the president included increasing the help offered by the Federal Housing Authority to troubled borrowers. That may take the form of expanding the pool of borrowers who can apply to the FHA to refinance their loans.

-Christine Lagarde, the first woman finance minister for a G-8 nation, was rated the best minister in President Nicolas Sarkozy’s government last month by one of France’s top-selling newspapers. Great news, keep up the good work.

So business is going pretty well and I have been thinking it might be time to buy my own hardware so I can run the hosting side of things for my 50+ websites. But where will I drum up the cash for this expansion. I spent quite a bit of time doing research on the web and I found a really great place that is willing to supply me with an unsecured business cash loan. The thing that I liked right away after visiting the site is that it was not filled with flashy gimicks and loads of advertising. They gave me good solid info and I was able to get things started quickly. They even have toll-free number if I need help or have questions. So if you are in need of an unsecured business cash loan and have been in business for at least six months and accept credit cards then stop in and talk to the professionals at www.fastupfront.com.

Here is a quick look at some of the top finance news around the world:

-On Aug. 16, 2007 stock index futures tumbled on Thursday, mirroring steep declines in Asian and European markets, after the latest sign the Federal Reserve is reluctant to cut rates in the midst of markets’ turbulence.

-The euro on Thursday slid under 1.34 dollars for the first time in nearly two months and struck a five-month low against the yen as the US and Japanese currencies gained from their safe-haven status.

-British retail sales climbed in July as consumers took advantage of reduced prices, official data showed on Thursday. Retail sales rose by 0.7 percent in July from June and by 4.4 on a 12-month basis, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. Analysts’ consensus forecast had been for a monthly increase of 0.2 percent and annual rise of 3.5 percent.

-Oil dropped more than $1 on Thursday as credit fears pounded stocks and a threat of storm damage to U.S. Gulf refineries and rigs appeared to recede.