VENTURE CAPITAL POST

The Bank of Japan offered a slightly more upbeat view of the economy on Friday and its governor shrugged off the need for more monetary stimulus, dismissing market concerns that the recovery is too slow to accelerate inflation toward the bank's target.

European shares fell on Monday, weighed down by worries over a looming cash crunch in Greece, while the dollar rebounded after concern over the U.S. economy drove the currency to four-month lows on Friday.

The European Central Bank is satisfied with the effects of its bond buying program on the economy and inflation and has no intention of ending it prematurely, ECB Executive Board Member Yves Mersch said on Saturday.

Wall Street's major indexes gave up early gains to end Wednesday's session little changed as some investors stood on the sidelines waiting for the next round of economic data at the tail end of earnings season.

German bond yields climbed on Tuesday on optimism that inflation may have bottomed in the euro zone, lifting demand for the euro, while volatility in global bond markets weighed on stock indexes.

World bond and stock markets rose on Friday after a bruising week and sterling jumped to a two-month high after the business-friendly Conservative party won Britain's national elections.

A surge in imports lifted the U.S. trade deficit in March to its highest level in nearly 6-1/2 years, suggesting the economy contracted in the first quarter.

The euro zone ended four months of deflation in April with consumer prices unchanged from year-ago levels, removing the threat of persistent price declines as energy costs pushed up in the month.

As the Federal Reserve's policy-setting committee wraps up its third meeting of the year, a critical task awaits the U.S. central bank: narrowing the wide gap between how it and the markets view the path of interest rates.

Whisper it, but the next challenge for financial markets and policymakers may not be deflation, but the remarkable surge in oil prices from the six-year low touched in January.

Japan's consumer inflation was expected to edge up slightly in March as oil prices stabilized and consumer goods prices stayed steady, calling the Bank of Japan's bullish forecasts into question.

U.S. import prices fell in March as rising petroleum costs were offset by declining prices for other goods, a sign of muted inflation that supports the view the Federal Reserve will probably not raise interest rates in June.

The Federal Reserve will have a "strong" case to hike U.S. interest rates in June, a hawkish Fed official said on Tuesday, dismissing recently weak economic data as transitory and perhaps due to unseasonable weather.

Takahide Kiuchi often appears a lone voice of dissent on the Bank of Japan board as his proposals to change key elements of its massive monetary stimulus are consistently voted down, but two years into the policy he is looking increasingly prescient.

Japan's industrial output fell in February at the fastest pace in eight months due to declines in production of machinery, cars and electronics in a worrying sign that domestic demand could be faltering.