Business

Asian markets swing as dealers battle uncertainty

HONG KONG, China (AFP) –Asian markets fluctuated Wednesday following a negative lead from Wall Street as investors grow nervous about the chances of success in China-US trade talks ahead of a crunch meeting next week. The mood remains cautious, with the rally that has characterized the start of the year stuttering owing to a slowing Chinese economy, a softer global outlook and other issues including Brexit and the US government shutdown, which shows no sign […]

Global stocks fall amid revived trade worries

by John BIERS Agence France Presse NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Global stocks fell Tuesday amid revived worries over US-China trade relations and a sense the January rally is fading. Wall Street indices, which have been on a nearly unbroken ride higher the last four weeks, following December’s rout, fell more than one percent. Earlier, European and Asian shares also pulled back due in part also to profit taking and economic worries after the […]

Asian markets turn lower, pound holds up against dollar

HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Asian markets edged down Tuesday as profit-takers stepped in following a recent run-up, while the pound maintained gains on hopes Britain will avoid crashing out of the European Union. While there were few catalysts to drive business and Wall Street was closed for a holiday investors are keeping tabs on developments in various issues including the US government shutdown, Brexit and China’s stuttering economy. The optimism surrounding China-US trade talks […]

S. Korea growth falls to 2.7%, slowest in six years

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korea’s GDP growth slowed to its weakest in six years at 2.7 percent in 2018, the central bank said Tuesday, as President Moon Jae-in’s ratings fall amid concerns over the health of the world’s 11th-largest economy. Public discontent over the sluggish economy, especially on relatively high youth unemployment, has dragged Moon’s approval ratings below 50 percent, down from the 80s he was scoring in May after his first summit […]

China’s economy grew at slowest pace in 28 years in 2018

by Ryan MCMORROW Agence France-Presse BEIJING, China (AFP) — China’s economy grew at its slowest pace in almost three decades in 2018, losing more steam in the last quarter as it battles a massive debt pile and a US trade war, official data showed Monday. The 6.6 percent growth comes in above the official target of around 6.5 percent and matches a forecast by analysts polled by AFP, but is down from the 6.8 percent […]

Tokyo stocks close higher

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Tokyo stocks closed higher on Monday, extending global rallies as optimism grew over a breakthrough in efforts to defuse a US-China trade war. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 0.26 percent or 53.26 points to 20,719.33 while the broader Topix index was up 0.56 percent or 8.78 points at 1,566.37. “A set of positive factors — hopes for progress in US-China trade talks, rallies on Wall Street and a relatively weak […]

Asian markets post fresh gains, China growth slows to 28-year low

HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Asian markets on Monday built on last week’s rally as investors cheered a report that China had offered to eliminate its massive trade surplus with the United States, while data showed Chinese economic growth hit forecasts in 2018. Regional equities picked up where they finished Friday after Bloomberg said Beijing had pledged to ramp up spending on US goods over the next five years. While there was some scepticism over […]

Wall Street wary of progressive Democrats on the House finance committee

  Washington, United States | AFP | Sunday 1/20/2019 by Elodie CUZIN avec Luc OLINGA à New York Wall Street is bunkering down for a wave of intense scrutiny as a group of progressive Democrats, including social media star Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, have joined a powerful House of Representatives committee overseeing banking activities. “It’s a huge victory,” said Ocasio-Cortez, at 29 the youngest member of Congress and a self-described socialist — a word that shocks conservatives, who brandish it as a […]

Has Davos made the world better?

Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | Sunday 1/20/2019 by Ben Simon Klaus Schwab, who founded the World Economic Forum (WEF), has said his childhood during World War II inspired him to build an organisation that would make the world a better place. His foundation, which hosts many of the world’s most powerful, famous and wealthy people at its annual meeting in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, has clearly made an impact. But questions have grown about whether the organisation is […]

Tesla announces 7 percent cut to workforce

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Elon Musk’s electric car manufacturer Tesla announced Friday it is cutting its workforce by about seven percent as it works to meet its timetable for producing the Model 3. Musk said in a blog post that Tesla is making the staff cut as it aims to reach more customers who can afford its vehicles. He said that currently Tesla’s most affordable offering is the mid-range (264 mile) Model 3 at […]

China growth hit slowest pace in decades in 2018: AFP survey

by Lillian DING / Lianchao LAN Agence France Presse HONG KONG, China (AFP) — China’s economy grew at its slowest pace in almost three decades in 2018, analysts in an AFP poll said, as the government struggles to contain ballooning debt and a bruising trade war with the United States. And in a sign of the battle Beijing faces in getting things back on track, the survey of 13 economists also forecast expansion in the […]

Netflix shares slip as spending weighs on profits

by Glenn CHAPMAN Agence France Presse SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Netflix shares swung lower Thursday as spending on original shows at the leading streaming television service weighed on quarterly revenue and competition heated up. Shares sank nearly four percent to $339.70 in after-market trades that followed release of earnings figures that showed the Silicon Valley company logged profit of $134 million on revenue of $4.2 billion in the final three months of last […]