Almost half of US adults say they’re worried about the safety of their deposits in banks and other financial institutions — levels of concern that are as high or higher than they were during the 2008 financial crisis. A Gallup poll shows 48 percent of Americans are very or moderately worried about their money following the worst spate of bank failures in 15 years. Only 20 percent say they’re not worried at all. Levels of concern break somewhat among party lines, with 55 percent

Shipments of Apple Macs plunged during the first quarter of this year as the global personal computer market suffered due to tough economic conditions, a market research report said. Weak demand, excess inventory and a worsening macroeconomic climate contributed to a “precipitous drop in shipments of traditional PCs” in the first three months of this year, according to the report from IDC. PC shipments globally tallied 56.9 million, some 29 percent less than the same period a year ea

Ukraine’s gross domestic product fell by 29.1 percent in 2022 as Russia’s full-scale invasion battered the economy, the state statistics service said. The final 2022 GDP figure was slightly better than the 30 percent drop previously forecast by the government. Russia’s economy contracted by 2.1 percent last year, shrinking less than expected despite sanctions imposed by European nations and the United States. Moscow’s February 2022 invasion has killed tens of thousands, u

The demise of the 16th-largest bank in the US, Silicon Valley Bank, on March 10, followed by that of Signature Bank two days later, sent global banking stocks on a roller-coaster ride as investors feared another Lehman Brothers moment, the Wall Street giant whose failure triggered the global financial crisis more than a decade ago. Two large banks that cater to the tech industry have collapsed after a bank run, government agencies are taking emergency measures to backstop the financial system, a

Global smartphone shipments suffered their worst quarterly drop on record in a clear sign of cooling consumer demand that signals more pain for manufacturing hubs like South Korea and Vietnam. Shipments declined 18.3 percent in the December quarter compared to a year earlier, to a little over 300 million units, Needham, a Massachusetts-based IDC said. For the year, shipments fell 11.3 percent and marked the lowest total for a decade, the researchers said. Turmoil in Apple’s main Chinese pr

South Koreans consumed the most luxury goods in the world last year, according to a report. Morgan Stanley estimated that total spending on luxury goods by Koreans on-year grew around 24 percent to $16.8 billion, or $325 per capita, which is much more than the $55 and $280 on luxury goods spent per capita by Chinese and Americans, respectively. Moncler said sales in Korea more than doubled in the second quarter of last year compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic. Cartier owner Richemont Group

Global semiconductor revenue grew only around 1 percent on-year last year, a recent report showed, with the memory chip sector suffering the most. According to tech research firm Gartner, worldwide chip revenue is estimated to have risen 1.1 percent to $601.7 billion in 2022, a significant drop from a 26.3 percent annual growth seen the previous year. While 2022 got off to a relatively good start due to lingering chip shortages, Gartner said “by the second half of 2022, the global economy

SAN FRANCISCO -- Elon Musk said Tuesday that he plans on remaining as Twitter's CEO until he can find someone willing to replace him in the job. Musk's announcement came after millions of Twitter users asked him to step down in an unscientific poll the billionaire himself created and promised to abide by. "I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job!" Musk tweeted. "After that, I will just run the software & servers teams."

WASHINGTON -- Twitter's owner Elon Musk has pledged the platform will not become a "hellscape," but experts fear a staff exodus following mass layoffs may have devastated its ability to combat misinformation, impersonation and data theft. Twitter devolved into what campaigners described as a cesspit of falsehoods and hate speech after recent layoffs cut half the company's 7,500 staff and fake accounts proliferated following its botched rollout of a paid verification system. Further thr

　Qatar Airways was named the world’s best airline at the Skytrax World Airline Awards 2022, while Singapore Airlines and Emirates landed in the second and third spots respectively. 　In a strong showing for Asia-Pacific carriers, Japan’s All Nippon Airways and Australia’s Qantas Airways rounded out the top five. Korean Air, South Korea’s largest air carrier, was named the world’s ninth best air carrier. 　The World Airline Awards were determined by an online custom

　SK Telecom, South Korea’s largest wireless carrier, ranks No. 1 in terms of download speed of 5G networks, an industry report showed. 　According to global mobile industry tracker Opensignal, the average download speed using SK Telecom’s 5G network was recorded at 469.6 megabits per second (Mbps), 2.55 times faster than the 184.2 Mbps average among global mobile carriers. 　LG Uplus, the country's third-largest mobile carrier, ranked second, with 429.6 Mbps, followed by Bulgaria&rs

　South Korean chipmakers Samsung Electronics and SK hynix were the biggest NAND flash sellers in the world in the second quarter, an industry report showed. 　According to Taiwan-based market analyst firm TrendForce, Samsung's NAND flash sales during the April-June period reached $5.98 billion, with its global market share at 33 percent, down 2.3 percentage points from the previous quarter. 　NAND flash is a type of non-volatile storage technology that does not require power to retain data. (Yo

　South Korea was ranked ninth among countries with trade surpluses with the United States in the first half of the year, as Asia‘s fourth-largest economy recorded strong on-year growth in shipments to the US during the period, US government data showed. 　According to the Department of Commerce, South Korea’s trade surplus with the US during the January-June period amounted to $21.67 billion, up 86.9 percent from a year ago. 　The trade surplus grew as South Korean shipments to the

　Global TV sales fell more than 6 percent from a year prior in the first half of this year on slow demand and macroeconomic woes, research showed, as Samsung Electronics remained the top player in the TV segment. 　Across the globe, 92.6 million TVs were sold, down 6.6 percent from a year earlier. By value, the decrease was sharper at 12.5 percent, according to industry tracker Omdia. 　Consumer electronics companies have been struggling to combat lackluster demand after two years of a pandemic

　Foldable smartphone shipments are expected to hit 16 million units this year, growing 73 percent from 9 million units last year, according to industry tracker Counterpoint Research. 　South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics continued to lead the foldable category it created with the first Galaxy Fold device. China’s Huawei and Oppo came in a distant second and third. 　Samsung’s share of the foldable market was 62 percent in the first half of this year which is expected to jump