China, the largest foreign U.S. creditor, reduced holdings of U.S. Treasury debt in December by the most in two years as the Federal Reserve announced plans to slow asset purchases.The nation pared its position in U.S. government bonds by $47.8 billion, or 3.6 percent, to $1.27 trillion, the largest decline since December 2011, according to U.S. Treasury Department data released yesterday. At the same time, international investors increased holdings by 1.4 percent, or by $78 billion, in December

Facebook said Wednesday it was buying the fast-growing mobile messaging service WhatsApp for more than $16 billion in cash and stock, expanding the global footprint of the social networking giant. The deal bolsters the world's biggest social network by adding the 450 million users of WhatsApp, which will be operated independently with its own board.It is Facebook's biggest acquisition and comes less than two years after Mark Zuckerberg's firm raised $16 billion in the richest tech sector public

BEIJING (AFP) ― Chinese carmaker Dongfeng hopes its acquisition of a $1.1 billion stake in struggling French manufacturer PSA Peugeot Citroen will bring it a technology dividend and access to Western markets, but analysts said the road is likely to be long and bumpy.Peugeot’s board Tuesday approved an agreement for state-controlled Dongfeng Motor Corp. and the French government to each inject 800 million euros ($1.1 billion) for 14 percent stakes in the company, leaving the Peugeot family with a

PARIS (AFP) ― President Francois Hollande sought to woo sceptical investors back to France on Monday, telling global business chiefs his government had no fear of foreign capital.Anxious to bring the French economy back to sustained growth and turn around his record-low poll numbers, Hollande met some 30 top executives at the Elysee Palace for talks on France’s business climate.The heads of leading companies including Volvo, Bosch, Siemens, Samsung, General Electric, Intel and Nestle were joined

Janet Yellen and Mario Draghi have a new reason to consider what International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde calls the “ogre” of deflation: Eroding confidence in emerging markets. Weaker growth from Brazil to South Africa risks unleashing a “disinflationary impulse through the global economy,” said Bruce Kasman, chief economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in New York. Cheaper commodities, slower trade and sliding exchange rates in developing markets all could soften price pressures internati

BRUSSELS (AFP) ― The eurozone economy grew 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013, enough of an improvement on 0.1 percent in the previous quarter to suggest that modest recovery remains on track, official data showed on Friday.Analysts had expected a gain of 0.2-0.3 percent. In the wider European Union, the economy expanded 0.4 percent, after 0.3 percent in the third quarter, the Eurostat statistics agency said.Compared with fourth quarter 2012, the then 17-nation eurozone economy expanded y

WASHINGTON (AP) ― President Barack Obama says Congress should finish the job he started by raising the U.S. minimum wage to $10.10.In his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama says Americans deserve to know where their representatives stand. He says if lawmakers oppose a wage hike, Americans should ask why. He says opponents have been making the same arguments for years and are always proved wrong.Obama recorded his address at the White House before leaving Friday for California. On Wednesday