EUROPEAN UNION REGULATORS FINE MICROSOFT $1.3 BILLION

The European Commission fined Microsoft $1.3 billion for failing to comply with a 2004 judgment that found the software giant guilty of abusing its market dominance. This fine brings the total Microsoft has paid due to European Commission rulings to $2.5 billion.

From The New York Times:

Microsoft had earlier been fined after the commission determined in 2004 that the company had abused the dominance of its Windows operating system to gain unfair market advantage. The commission imposed the new fine Wednesday, it said, because the company had not met the prescribed remedies after the earlier judgment.

“Microsoft was the first company in 50 years of E.U. competition policy that the commission has had to fine for failure to comply with an antitrust decision,” the European competition commissioner, Neelie Kroes, said in a statement.

Microsoft said it was “reviewing the commission’s action.”

The company, the world’s biggest maker of software, said in a statement that the commission had announced in October 2007 “that Microsoft was in full compliance with the 2004 decision, so these fines are about past issues that have been resolved.”

BANK OF ENGLAND CUTS RATE, ECB HOLDS STEADY

The Bank of England, the central bank of the United Kingdom, cut its key interest rate from 5.5% to 5.25% today while the European Central Bank (ECB) held firm at 4.0%. This is the second rate cut for the Bank of England while the ECB has been at 4.0% since June of 2007.

From USA Today:

Many say the bank [ECB] may have to cut rates later this year despite the rising level of inflation in the 15-nation euro zone — a bloc of more than 318 million people that accounts for more than 15% of the world's gross domestic product.

The Bank of England's decision was expected given that its governor, Mervyn King has acknowledged that the bank is facing a "difficult balancing act," with inflationary pressures from higher energy and food prices and a falling British pound weighed against data showing slowing economic activity and turbulence on financial markets.

"The prospects for output growth abroad have deteriorated and the disruption to global financial markets has continued," the Bank of England said in the statement explaining its rate cut.