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Janet Yellen, the current vice chairwoman of the Federal Reserve, will be the first woman to lead the central bank.

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While the data continues to reflect the impact of the holidays, the Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing that first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits fell by more than expected in the week ended January 4th.

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European Central Bank President Mario Draghi has won the inaugural 'governor of the year' award, the Central Banking magazine said on its website on Monday.

Draghi was chosen the winner due to his "unflappable conviction and outstanding leadership of the ECB as playing a vital role in restoring confidence in the eurozone", the London-based journal said.

The judging panel also praised Draghi's "tireless efforts to drive consensus where possible".

"Thanks to both the ECB's actions and hard work by governments in implementing fiscal consolidation and structural reforms, conditions in financial markets have gradually eased since July 2012," Draghi said while accepting the award.

"It is still too early to declare victory and the recovery remains fragile, but we can see our very accommodative monetary policy stance finally finding its way through the economy."

The Central Banking journal was launched in 1990 and central bankers in more than 140 countries subscribe to the group's publications.

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker was the winner of the 'central banking lifetime achievement award'.

The People's Bank of China was awarded the prize for the 'central bank of the year'. The Chinese central bank was given the award in recognition of the critical role it has played in anchoring China's drive towards a more market-oriented economy during 2013, Central Banking said.

"It has done this despite the lack of sophisticated domestic money markets and the requirement that it must seek approval from the State Council before taking any significant actions," the magazine added.

The Central Bank of Colombia was chosen for the award for the reserves manager of the year, while the Swedish central bank, known as the Riksbank, was the winner in the transparency category.

The Bank of Spain won the award for the website of the year.

BlackRock was chosen the asset manager of the year, while Northern Trust was the global custodian of the year.


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Moody's Investors Service said that sovereign ratings in South and Southeast Asia will be largely stable in 2014, reflecting the expectation that global growth prospects will improve amid falling global risks.

About 85 out of 124 sovereigns carry stable rating outlooks, it said Thursday. Nonetheless, emerging economies of South and Southeast Asia will continue to face heightened credit pressures this year, partly led by the tapering of US Federal Reserve.

The stable outlook on Indonesia's rating reflects expectation that the sovereign's low level of government debt and narrow fiscal deficits can be maintained, against the backdrop of slowing but still healthy economic growth.

Tom Byrne, a Senior Vice President and Manager for Moody's Sovereign Risk Group said political risks could rise ahead of elections later this year.

On India, Moody's expects a slow economic recovery in the second half of this year, if global growth increases. However, the outcome of national elections this year could affect growth, depending on how it affects sentiment.

According to Moody's, India's government debt ratios and fiscal deficits will remain higher than those of similarly rated peers in 2014. Still India's government debt, which is owed mostly domestically and with relatively long tenors has mitigated stress on the government's fiscal position.

For Thailand, Byrne said a key credit-negative feature for the sovereign is the prolonged political protests, which will weigh on an already fragile growth outlook for 2014.

Moody's said Singapore's stable outlook and Aaa rating indicate expectation of robust economic growth over the coming five years. Similarly, credit support for the Philippines comes from country's growth prospects and its track record of narrow fiscal deficits.

At the same time, Malaysia's positive rating outlook suggests improved prospects for fiscal consolidation and reform and continued macroeconomic stability.

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The Ernst and Young Item Club on Monday urged the Bank of England to tie interest rate hike to real wage growth as unemployment target is set to be achieved this year.

In the latest quarterly forecast, the think tank said unemployment will fall below the threshold 7 percent in the first half of the year.

Nonetheless, the swelling workforce is set to suffer weak growth in earnings, with wages set to grow by only 1.8 percent this year, before slowly picking up to 2.7 percent in 2015 and 3.5 percent in 2016, it said.

The think tank does not expect the average earnings increases to catch up with inflation until the second half of 2014.

The Sky News reported today that the International Monetary Fund is set to upgrade the GDP forecasts for the global economy and the U.K. The lender will lift the U.K. growth outlook for 2014 to 2.4 percent from 1.9 percent, much more than any other major economy.

The IMF is slated to release an update on the World Economic Outlook on January 21.

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European Central Bank Governing Council member Ewald Nowotny said on Tuesday that the central bank is likely to revise up its euro area growth forecasts in March.

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The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday upgraded its global growth outlook as economic conditions in advanced economies continued to improve, while urging rich nations to maintain accommodative monetary policy stance, given significant downside risks. Releasing the World Economic Outlook (WEO) Update, the Washington-based lender said it now expects the world economy to grow 3.7 percent in 2014.

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European Central Bank Executive Board member Benoit Coeure said on Wednesday that the proposed mechanism to deal with bank failures must be implemented earlier than planned.

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A key indicator of China's factory sector performance declined sharply in January to a level indicating contraction in business activity, as the volume of new work inflow declined, flash results of a survey by Markit Economics and HSBC revealed Thursday. The headline purchasing managers' index fell to a six-month low of 49.6 in January from 50.5 in December.

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World's leading central banks are in the process of stopping their US dollar liquidity provisions for lenders, which were put in place during the financial crisis that started in 2008.

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