Caretaker Finance Minister Mohammed Safadi revealed on Saturday that he had received a message from the International Monetary Fund warning of the risks of an additional increase in Lebanon's budget deficit beyond 6 trillion Lebanese Pounds, the As-Safir daily quoted him as saying.

“Although the message did not request any action on Lebanon's part,” said Safadi but he explained that it held a high-tone warning that any failure to control the spending and deficit would lead Lebanon to the “abyss.”

Skewed data and the economic setback of the partial government shutdown face Federal Reserve policymakers as they review their economic stimulus program on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The broad consensus is that, in their first meeting with Janet Yellen as the official heir-apparent to chairman Ben Bernanke, the Federal Open Market Committee will opt again to wait for more evidence of economic strength.

Twitter raised the value of its initial public offering Thursday to as much as $1.61 billion as the popular messaging service moved a step closer to Wall Street.

The IPO suggests a market value for the social network of between $9.3 billion and $11.1 billion -- a conservative amount compared to estimates by some analysts in recent weeks.

Leaders of the 15-nation west African bloc ECOWAS meet Friday for a special summit in Dakar focused on moving the region towards a common market and a single currency by 2020.

While the economy will top the agenda, the Economic Community of West African States has said it will also discuss political tensions in Mali and Guinea-Bissau and the threat of a post-electoral crisis in Guinea.

Japan on Friday hailed a key inflation indicator touching a five-year high as proof its growth blitz, dubbed Abenomics, was winning the war on falling prices, but analysts warned consumer spending had yet to gain traction.

Stripping out volatile fresh food and energy prices, which have largely driven recent increases, prices did not fall in September -- deflation-plagued Japan's best result since December 2008.

France's market regulator slapped a record 14 million euro ($19 million) fine on a Lebanese trader Thursday for insider trading surrounding the 2008 buyout of logistics company Geodis by France's national rail firm, SNCF.

The previous record of eight million euros was imposed on luxury group LVMH earlier this year for activity related to its investment in rival Hermes.

Eurozone business activity slowed in October, coming off a 27-month high in September to highlight concerns the economy is recovering only slowly from recession, a survey showed on Thursday.

The closely-watched Composite Purchasing Manager's Index (PMI) compiled by Markit Economics fell to 51.5 points in October from 52.2 in September.

Spain announced Thursday a dip in its towering unemployment rate in the latest sign that the eurozone's fourth-largest economy is battling its way out of recession.

The jobless rate eased for the second straight quarter to 25.98 percent in the third quarter of 2013, a report by the National Statistics Institute showed.

China's manufacturing activity expanded at its strongest pace in seven months in October, British banking giant HSBC said Thursday, adding to evidence the world's second-largest economy is recovering.

HSBC's preliminary purchasing managers' index (PMI) for this month hit 50.9, a significant improvement from September's 50.2 and the highest since 51.6 in March.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Wednesday praised Brazil for producing prolonged macroeconomic stability.

But the IMF says Latin America's biggest economy must act more decisively on bolstering investment and increase competitiveness if it is to revive growth.