The Korea Herald

Fed steady as trouble zones multiply

Jan 1, 2012
Bank of Japan pumps $183b into market

Jan 1, 2012
2012: make-or-break year for the euro

Dec 29, 2011

BRUSSELS (AFP) ― The new year promises to be make or break time for the eurozone, with dramatic integration into a new fiscal union for most and predictions that one “small country” could leave the currency area.If 2011 went down as the “annus horribilis” for the European Union’s symbol of integration, leaders of Germany, France and debt-laden monetary partners face stark choices as they enter 2012, a decade after euro notes and coins first entered into everyday circulation.The euro debt crisis
Gold posts longest slump since 2009

Dec 29, 2011

Gold fell, capping the longest slump since October 2009, and silver tumbled to a three-month low as Europe’s deepening debt crisis drove commodities and stocks lower. The euro dropped to an 11-month low against the dollar as lending to financial institutions sent the European Central Bank’s balance sheet to a record high. The Standard & Poor’s GSCI index of 24 raw materials and the MSCI World Index of equities were poised for the biggest declines in two weeks. Platinum approached the lowest sinc
Can foreign tourists help U.S. economy?

Dec 29, 2011

Tourism industry pushes U.S. to allow more foreign visitors, move could help economyLAS VEGAS (AP) ― Agustina Ocampo is the kind of foreign traveler businesses salivate over.The 22-year-old Argentine recently dropped more than $5,000 on food, hotels and clothes in Las Vegas during a trip that also took her to Seattle’s Space Needle, Disneyland and the San Diego Zoo. But she doubts she will return soon.“It is a little bit of a headache,” said Ocampo, a student who waited months to find out whethe
Japan, India seal $15b currency deal

Dec 29, 2011

Japan agreed to make $15 billion available to India in a currency swap arrangement as Europe’s deepening debt crisis threatens to curtail developing Asia’s access to dollar funding. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda renewed a bilateral swap agreement with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi Wednesday. The two nations had signed a $3 billion accord in June 2008 that has since expired. The agreement may help India battle this year’s more- than 16 percent decline in the rupee as
Greece gets more time to rescue economy

Dec 29, 2011

ATHENS (AFP) ― Early elections in Greece have been delayed to give the interim government more time to rescue the country’s crisis-hit economy, but political uncertainty looks set to complicate delicate talks with creditors.Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos late on Tuesday said ballots would be set in late April to enable critical negotiations with the eurozone and banks holding Greek sovereign debt to be concluded.Venizelos made the announcement at an internal meeting of the Socialist party.
Company to close at least 100 Sears, Kmart stores

Dec 28, 2011

NEW YORK (AP) ― After a disastrous holiday shopping season, the parent company of Sears and Kmart will close at least 100 stores to raise cash ― a move that sparked speculation about whether the 125-year-old retailer can avoid a death spiral fed by declining sales and deteriorating stores.Sears Holdings Corp., a pillar of American retailing that famously began with a mail-order catalog in the 1880s, declared Tuesday that it would no longer prop up “marginally performing” locations. The company p
Austerity fuels worst Christmas in 10 years for Italy’s retailers

Dec 28, 2011

Italian retailers had the worst Christmas in 10 years, consumer group Codacons said, as austerity measures to combat the sovereign debt crisis prompted households to cut spending. Italians spent 48 euros ($62.75) less per person this holiday season than the average of the past five years, Rome- based Codacons said in a statement on its website. The shoe and clothing sector was hit the most, with sales dropping 30 percent from previous years, it said, adding retailers won’t recover the decline du
Japan deflation returns as production slides

Dec 28, 2011

Industrial output slumps 2.6 percent on Thailand floodsJapan’s rebound from the March earthquake and tsunami sputtered in November as production and retail sales tumbled, deepening the nation’s return to the deflation that first took hold a decade ago. Industrial output slumped 2.6 percent from October, more than all the forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey of 29 economists, a government report showed Wednesday in Tokyo. Retail sales slid 2.1 percent. Consumer prices excluding fresh food fell 0.
ECB overnight deposits reach record

Dec 28, 2011

The European Central Bank said financial institutions’ overnight deposits with it rose to a record after it awarded them three-year loans.Euro-area banks parked 411.8 billion euros ($538.4 billion) with the Frankfurt-based ECB Monday, the most recorded since the euro’s introduction in 1999 and up from 346.9 billion euros a day earlier. The previous record was 384.3 billion euros on June 11, 2010.The ECB last week lent 523 banks a record 489 billion euros for three years in its latest attempt to
Goldman: BRIC decade ends as growth peaked

Dec 28, 2011

In the past decade, mutual funds poured almost $70 billion into Brazil, Russia, India and China, stocks more than quadrupled gains in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index and the economies grew four times faster than America’s. Now Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which coined the term BRIC, says the best is over for the largest emerging markets. BRIC funds recorded $15 billion of outflows this year as the MSCI BRIC Index sank 24 percent, EPFR Global data show. The gauge, which beat the S&P 500 by 390 perce
Obama to seek $1.2tr increase in U.S. debt limit Dec. 30

Dec 28, 2011

The Obama administration will ask Congress to increase federal borrowing authority by $1.2 trillion as the nation approaches the debt limit set by law, according to a Treasury Department official. The White House will send the request to Congress on Dec. 30, the day the debt is projected to rise to within $100 billion of the $15.194 trillion limit, the Treasury official told reporters Tuesday on condition of anonymity. Congress will be notified under the terms of a deal to raise the limit worked
Home price declines deepen in U.S.

Dec 27, 2011
Toyota adds to Prius lineup with smallest hybrid aimed at Fit

Dec 27, 2011

Toyota Motor Corp. , Asia’s largest automaker, will begin selling its smallest hybrid car in Japan Monday to compete with Honda Motor Co. for younger consumers seeking an entry-level fuel-efficient vehicle. The Aqua compact hybrid, to be marketed as the Prius C in the U.S., will cost from 1.69 million yen ($21,700), the Toyota City, Japan-based carmaker said Monday in a statement. The company aims to sell 12,000 Aquas a month in its home market. Toyota is counting on gasoline-electric models, le