Thailand reduced its official interest rate to the lowest level in three years on Wednesday to boost the economy in the face of a protracted political crisis.

The Bank of Thailand lowered its policy rate by 0.25 percentage points, to 2.00 percent -- a level last seen in January 2011.

Spanish consumer prices crept barely higher in February, official data showed Wednesday, as deflationary concerns dogged sluggish eurozone economies.

Prices climbed at an annual rate of just 0.1 percent in February after edging up by 0.3 percent in January, according to Spain's National Statistics Institute.

Indian budget airline SpiceJet has placed an order for 42 Boeing 737 MAX planes in a deal worth $4.4 billion, the companies announced in a joint statement on Wednesday.

Delivery of the single-aisle planes will begin from 2017 as the cash-strapped SpiceJet seeks to win new customers in the vast but fiercely competitive Indian market.

Media and entertainment giant Disney is in talks to buy Maker Studios, one of the largest content providers for online video sharing website YouTube, a report said Tuesday.

Specialist website Re/code cited "people familiar with the negotiations" and said the transaction would value Maker Studios at $500 million or more.

Switzerland, which led a push to block assets of ousted Ukrainian leader Viktor Yanukovych and others, has frozen the holdings of nine more individuals including one of his sons.

Swiss authorities, which last month ordered a freeze on the assets of Yanukovych, his coal magnate son Oleksandr and 18 other Ukrainians, published an order late on Monday extending their net.

EU finance ministers met on Tuesday to find a compromise with the European Parliament on how to wind up failing banks before they can damage the wider economy.

Ministers going into the talks voiced cautious optimism that some progress on 'banking union' was being made but stressed the need to get an agreement they can put before MEPs who oppose the current plans.

The collapse of Japan's Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange is spilling into U.S. bankruptcy court as the company scrambles for legal cover after losing digital currency valued at $473 million.

Mt. Gox's bankruptcy filing in Dallas late Sunday supplements a similar petition made in Japan late last month following the exchange's abrupt closure. The U.S. case is being brought under Chapter 15 of the country's bankruptcy code, which provides a haven for foreign companies seeking to reorganize their finances.

With Portugal's 78-billion-euro IMF-EU aid program about to come to an end, its creditors are not only expecting the country to exit its massive bailout on May 17, but urging it to do so without a safety net.

Analysts however warned that it is too soon for Portugal, which only shook off a 2.5-years-long recession in the second quarter of 2013, to raise its own funds on the open markets without any recourse to credit as back-up.

China's bank lending halved in February from January, the government said Monday, amid worries over a near-default on a financial product structured by the risky trust sector.

Domestic banks extended 644.5 billion yuan ($105.0 billion) in new loans last month, up 24.5 billion yuan from the same month last year, the central bank said in a statement.

The price of oil fell below $102 on Monday after a surprise drop in China's exports and weaker economic growth in Japan suggested demand for crude could weaken.

Benchmark U.S. crude for April delivery was down $1.18 to $101.40 per barrel at 0810 GMT in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Friday, the contract rose $1.02 to close at $102.58 after strong U.S. employment figures for February. Brent crude, used to set prices for international varieties of crude, was down 90 cents to $108.11.