Business Digest, December 1, 2012

Unemployment in the euro zone hit a record high of 11.7 per cent in October, with more than 170,000 extra jobs lost compared with September and youth unemployment at almost 24 per cent, as the economy slumped into recession, official data showed. In Greece, 57 per cent of under-25s were jobless in August, the latest available figure, and in Spain 55.9 per cent in October. AFP

Japan's cabinet approved a second round of fiscal stimulus, worth 880 billion yen (HK$82.5 billion), using budget reserves as Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda tries to boost the economy before elections on December 16. Along with the stimulus announced last month, it will lift gross domestic product by about 0.4 percentage point, the Cabinet Office said. Bloomberg