The Korea Herald

Central banks seeing limits of powers to revive growth: BIS

Jun 24, 2013

Central banks can’t expand loose monetary policy without exacerbating risks to world economies, the Bank for International Settlements said. “Central banks cannot do ‘whatever it takes’ to return still-sluggish economies to strong and sustainable growth,” Stephen Cecchetti, economic adviser and head of the monetary and economic department at the BIS in Basel, Switzerland, told reporters on a conference call. “Central banks cannot do more without compounding the risks they have already created.”
Putin pledges $43 billion for infrastructure

Jun 23, 2013

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) ― President Vladimir Putin pledged on Friday that Russia would invest at least $43 billion to upgrade the country’s roads and railways to help spur growth and leave a lasting legacy for generations. Russia is looking at ways to boost its economy, which is expected to grow by only 2.4 percent this year, the lowest in more than a decade. Addressing an international economic forum on Friday, Putin said at least half of Russia’s $86.7 billion so-called rainy-day fund will
First Apple computer could net $500,000

Jun 23, 2013

NEW YORK (AP) ― It’s the kind of electronic junk that piles up in basements and garages ― an old computer motherboard with wires sticking out.But because it was designed and sold by two college dropouts named Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, it could be worth more than half a million dollars.An Apple 1 from 1976, one of the first Apple computers ever built and forerunner of today’s MacBooks, IPads and IPhones, goes on the auction block at Christie’s next week. The bidding starts at $300,000, with a
Japan’s MUFG to buy major Thai bank: report

Jun 23, 2013

TOKYO (AFP) ― Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group plans to buy a 51 percent stake in Thailand’s Bank of Ayudhya for about 400 billion yen ($4.1 billion) in a bid to expand its business in Southeast Asia, a report said Saturday.By turning Thailand’s fifth-largest commercial bank into a subsidiary, MUFG aims to offer a wide range of financial services to consumers and businesses in Thailand, the business daily Nikkei said.This will mark the first time that a Japanese bank takes direct control o
EU differs on bank restructuring rules

Jun 23, 2013

Finance ministers fail to agree on rules for bank failures despite marathon negotiations
EU finance ministers aim for progress in bank reform

Jun 21, 2013

LUXEMBOURG (AFP) ― European Union finance ministers tackled bank sector reform on Friday, aiming to build on a eurozone deal to inject capital directly into failing lenders to prevent wider damage to the economy.On Thursday, the 17 eurozone finance ministers agreed how the single currency’s rescue fund, the European Stability Mechanism, could help the banks without adding to the already large debt burden on member states.German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said that the accord marked an “
Mitsubishi UFJ $250 mn for illegal Iran transfers

Jun 21, 2013

New York state hit Japan's largest bank Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi-UFJ with a $250 million fine Thursday for handling money transfers that violated sanctions on Iran as well as Sudan and Myanmar.The state's Department of Financial Services (DFS) said Mitsubishi-UFJ moved billions of dollars through its New York branch between 2002 and 2007 for state and private entities in Iran, Sudan and Myanmar, including entities on the US Treasury's blacklist.In that period banking services and money transfers
Stocks extend slide as China heightens anxiety

Jun 21, 2013

For investors, there was no place to go on Thursday.A day after the Federal Reserve roiled Wall Street when it said it could reduce its aggressive economic stimulus program later this year, financial markets around the world plunged. A slowdown in Chinese manufacturing and reports of a squeeze in the world's second-biggest economy heightened worries.The global sell-off began in Asia and quickly spread to Europe and then the U.S., where the Dow Jones industrial average fell 353 points, wiping out
Norway opens Arctic border area to oil drilling

Jun 20, 2013

Norway's Parliament has opened up a new area on the fringe of the Arctic Ocean to offshore oil drilling despite protests from opponents who fear catastrophic oil spills in the remote and icy region.Most of the Norwegian sector of the Barents Sea, which the Nordic country shares with Russia, is already open to petroleum activities.But environmentalists and some opposition lawmakers say the risk to Arctic sea ice is higher in a Switzerland-sized area straddling the Russian maritime border, and wan
Ford CEO Mulally calls Japan currency manipulator

Jun 20, 2013

Ford Motor Co. Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally called Japan a currency manipulator that’s giving local exporters an unfair edge as the weaker yen threatens to undermine U.S. automakers’ profits. Japan is “absolutely” manipulating its currency, the CEO of the second-biggest U.S. automaker said in a Bloomberg TV interview Thursday. “With the currency manipulation, we just have to get back to the place where the currencies are set by the markets and the free trade agreements really are free tr
Airbus takes off with big orders

Jun 20, 2013

The Airbus next-generation A350 plane took center stage at the Paris Air Show on Wednesday, winning multi-billion-dollar deals ahead of a much-anticipated possible fly-over.The news comes just days after the new plane took to the skies in its first-ever test flight on Friday, stealing the limelight before the start of the air show ― a key event where Airbus and Boeing compete fiercely for plane orders.The European plane maker is currently ahead of its archrival at the show ― $53.2 billion in new
Senate backs Froman as trade representative

Jun 20, 2013

WASHINGTON (AP) ― Michael Froman, a senior White House economic adviser and classmate of President Barack Obama at Harvard Law School, on Wednesday won Senate confirmation to be the next U.S. trade representative. The confirmation vote was 93-4, elevating the 50-year-old Froman to the head of an agency now involved in two of the most significant trade deals in recent history. “In his new position, Mike will stay focused on our primary economic goals ― promoting growth, creating jobs and strength
Markets misinterpreting Bernanke on inflation: Gross

Jun 20, 2013

Pacific Investment Management Co.’s Bill Gross, manager of the world’s biggest mutual fund, said investors who are selling Treasuries on expectations that the Federal Reserve will scale back its accommodative policy are missing the influence of inflation on the Fed’s decision. “The market basically has misinterpreted the growth and unemployment targets while leaving out the inflation targets going forward,” Gross said in an interview Wednesday on Bloomberg Television’s “Street Smart” with Trish
Asian stocks down as Fed sees slower bond buys

Jun 20, 2013

Asian stock markets plummeted Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve said it could start scaling back its huge economic stimulus program later this year.The announcement Wednesday in Washington drew sharp reaction in financial markets, showing just how dependent investors have become on the Fed's easy money policies.The Fed has been buying $85 billion worth of bonds each month to keep long-term interest rates low to boost borrowing and spending. On Wednesday, however, the Fed said the U.S. econ
Fed suggests it's closer to slowing bond purchases

Jun 20, 2013

In a move that could send interest rates higher, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke ended weeks of speculation Wednesday by saying the Federal Reserve will likely slow its bond-buying program this year and end it next year because the economy is strengthening.The Fed's purchases of Treasury and mortgage bonds have helped keep long-term interest rates at record lows. A pullback in its extraordinary $85 billion-a-month program would likely mean higher rates on mortgages and other consumer and business loan