President Barack Obama's fiscal 2014 budget released Wednesday sees US economic growth picking up to 3.2 percent next year from 2.3 percent this year. The $3.77 trillion proposed budget also assumes that unemployment will average 7.2 percent next year, down from the current 7.6 percent. The budget for the fiscal year beginning October 1 foresees the US deficit falling to $744 billion, compared to a projected shortfall of $973 billion in the current year. That would bring the country's deficit down to 4.4 percent of gross domestic product from 6.0 percent this year.

Oil extended gains in Asia on Tuesday as financial markets cheered Japan's aggressive monetary easing policy seen as key to reviving the world's third largest economy, analysts said. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in May, added 29 cents to $93.65 a barrel and Brent North Sea crude for May delivery rose 51 cents to $105.17 in mid-morning trade in Asia. Both contracts closed higher on Monday.

President Barack Obama will make key concessions to Republican foes next week when he unveils his US budget that proposes cuts to cherished entitlement programs, the White House said Friday. Obama's fiscal blueprint slashes the deficit by $1.8 trillion over 10 years, in what a senior administration official described as a "compromise offer" that cuts federal spending, finds savings in Social Security, and raises tax revenue from the wealthy.

The Bank of England on Thursday voted to leave its main lending rate at a record-low level of 0.50 percent and refrained from pumping out more new cash to help stimulate Britain's recession-threatened economy. "The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee today voted to maintain the official Bank Rate paid on commercial bank reserves at 0.5 percent," the BoE said in a brief statement at the conclusion of a regular monthly meeting, whose minutes will be published on April 17.