A 23-month-old child from Texas became the first American to die from the swine flu on Wednesday morning, as the Mexican government raised its own death count to 159 people.

Meanwhile Cuba became the first country to impose an outright travel ban against Mexico, and nations across the globe released travel advisories.

On Wednesday, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling said spending growth will be "pretty tight" in the coming years, and that both the public debt and deficit must be reduced.

Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee member Kate Barker said that banks are right to be careful about lending due to a rise in UK unemployment and repossession rates.

Meanwhile, BOE designate Miles says it will be sensible for banks to hold a higher level of capital reserves than in the past.

In the equity markets, the UK FTSE 100 was up 56 points to 4153.

All data taken at 7:54 a.m. EDT,

GBP/USD up 1.32 cents to 1.4766

Euro/GBP up 0.01 pence to 0.8987

GBP/CAD down 0.66 cents to 1.7774

By Erik Kevin Franco, This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it ; edited by Nick Say, This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

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