The Korea Herald

Parrot to launch drone controlled by smartphone

May 12, 2014

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) ― Wireless products maker Parrot unveiled a drone Sunday aimed squarely at smartphone or tablet owners keen on getting bird’s eye views of the world.Parrot billed its Bebop Drone as a flying high-quality camera that will land in the market in the final three months this year.The Paris-based maker of wireless accessories for automobiles and handheld mobile devices did not disclose how much it plans to charge for the drones.“The experience is like being a bird, an insect,” Parr
Lockhart expects Fed to use reverse repos during stimulus exit

May 12, 2014

Dennis Lockhart, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta (Bloomberg)Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Dennis Lockhart said he expects the central bank will use a reverse-repurchase program when it eventually begins to tighten monetary policy. “I am confident reverse repos will be among our tool bag and will therefore may very well have a role in how we try to influence short-term interest rates,” Lockhart said to reporters Sunday after a speech in Dubai. He doesn’t vote on polic
Financiers still optimistic about global economy

May 12, 2014

Financial professionals are optimistic about the global economy, just not as fervent about it as they were at the start of the year. That’s the message from the latest Bloomberg Markets Global Investor Poll, which shows concern about risks ranging from the turmoil in Ukraine to the threat of deflation in Europe. Forty percent of respondents in the survey of Bloomberg customers say the global economy is improving, another 43 percent say it’s stable, and only 12 percent say it’s deteriorating. Sti
Pfizer argues for AstraZeneca deal in online videos

May 11, 2014

Logos of Pfizer and AstraZeneca ( Bloomberg)NEW YORK (AP) ― Pfizer posted videos online Saturday in its latest effort to win over critics of its proposed purchase of British drugmaker AstraZeneca.In four videos on Pfizer’s website, CEO Ian Read sought to allay concerns that the deal would lead to a loss of stature in science in the United Kingdom. He said Pfizer had expanded its research in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and envisions pursuing a similar strategy for Britain’s Cambridge, north of Lond
Murdoch to seek $14b deal to combine satellite carriers

May 11, 2014

Rupert Murdoch is pursuing a long-awaited transaction that would transform British Sky Broadcasting Group into a European satellite-TV giant while also leaving his U.S.-based 21st Century Fox Inc. focused on entertainment programming.BSkyB, partly owned by Fox, is working on a deal valued at about 10 billion euros ($14 billion) to acquire control of satellite carriers Sky Deutschland AG and Sky Italia from Fox, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Fox has 55 percent of Sky Deutschla
Boehner: Russian banks should be sanctioned to punish Putin

May 11, 2014

U.S. Speaker of the House John Boehner. ( AFP-Yonhap)Russian banks should bear some economic penalties for Vladimir Putin’s government and President Barack Obama needs to push harder to get a tougher response from European nations, House Speaker John Boehner said. “You go after their banks,” Boehner said on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo” in an interview airing Sunday. “I’m concerned that we’ve not pushed the Europeans hard enough to take a firmer line against th
Moody’s upgrades Portugal debt rating

May 11, 2014

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― Moody’s raised the debt rating of Portugal one notch to “Ba2” Friday and said a further upgrade was possible as the country begins to pull away from its financial crisis.“Portugal’s fiscal situation has improved more rapidly than initially targeted and the public debt ratio will start declining this year,” Moody’s said. A “Ba2” rating leaves Portugal in junk bond territory, two notches below investment grade.Moody’s noted that the country’s fiscal deficit had been reduced by o
Lew says China must avoid putting off economic reforms

May 11, 2014

U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew listens to a question during a Bloomberg Television interview in Washington, D.C., Friday. (Bloomberg)U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew said he will call on Chinese leaders to let markets determine the value of the yuan and to avoid postponing measures to overhaul their economy even as growth falters. “They obviously have to worry about their short-term economic situation,” Lew said in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt,
Xi says China must adapt to ‘new normal’ of slower growth

May 11, 2014

Chinese President Xi Jinping said the nation needs to adapt to a “new normal” in the pace of economic growth and remain “cool-minded” amid a slowdown in expansion. China’s growth fundamentals haven’t changed and the country is still in a “significant period of strategic opportunity,” Xi said, according to a Xinhua News Agency report on the central government website late Saturday. At the same time, the government must prevent risks and take “timely countermeasures to reduce potential negative ef
Credit Suisse: Ending U.S. tax dispute ‘top priority’

May 11, 2014

ZURICH (AFP) ― Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse said Friday that resolving a dispute with Washington over its past assistance to U.S. tax dodgers was a top priority.Chairman of the Credit Suisse board, Urs Rohner, opened a general assembly meeting in Zurich by assuring shareholders the bank was doing everything in its power to bring the crippling dispute to an end.“The resolution of the tax dispute is one of the most pressing issues currently facing Credit Suisse,” Rohner told the assembly.Cred
ECB prepares way for further policy move next month

May 9, 2014

Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank (Bloomberg)The European Central Bank held its key rates steady Thursday, but president Mario Draghi gave a strong hint that the bank is ready to act next month to avert looming deflation.At its monthly meeting, held in Brussels this time instead of the usual venue of Frankfurt, the ECB’s governing council kept the key interest rate at the current all-time low of 0.25 percent for the seventh month in a row.The announcement sent the euro spiking
Master Blenders, Mondelez brew up global coffee leader

May 8, 2014

THE HAGUE (AFP) ― Leading Dutch coffee supplier DE Master Blenders 1753 is linking up with U.S. snacks giant Mondelez International to create a global coffee leader.The Dutch company’s best-known coffee brand Douwe Egberts will team up with Mondelez’s Jacobs and Carte Noir brands in a new company to take on other giants in the coffee market like Nestle, the companies said Wednesday.Master Blenders will pay $5 billion in cash to Mondelez for its coffee business, and give Modelez a 49 percent stak
Son makes $58b on Alibaba with Buffett-type return

May 8, 2014

With Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. filing to go public, the biggest winner won’t be founder Jack Ma or his fellow executives or even venture capital backers like Silver Lake Management LLC. It’ll be Japan’s Masayoshi Son. Fourteen years ago, Son’s SoftBank Corp. started with a $20 million bet on a then-unknown Web portal connecting Chinese manufacturers with overseas buyers. That site evolved into China’s biggest Internet shopping mall and SoftBank’s stake is now estimated to be worth about $58 bil
Global economy may signal return to ‘Great Moderation’

May 8, 2014

The global economy is going back to the future. Barely five years after the worst financial turmoil and recession since the Great Depression, the U.S. and fellow advanced nations are showing a stability in output growth and hiring last witnessed in the two decades prior to the crisis, in an era dubbed the “Great Moderation.” The lull points to a worldwide economic expansion that will endure longer than most. Volatility in growth among the main industrial countries is the lowest since 2007 and ha
Barclays to cut 20,000 jobs

May 8, 2014

A pedestrian walks under a sign outside a Barclays bank branch in London. (Bloomberg)LONDON (AFP) ― Britain’s scandal-hit Barclays bank is expected on Thursday to announce 20,000 job losses over the next three years in a major shake-up of its investment division, according to media reports.Chief executive Antony Jenkins has already said that as many as 12,000 jobs would go worldwide this year out of a global workforce of about 139,000, but that could now be raised to 15,000, according to Sky New