Business

Hyundai shipbuilding stocks plunge on grim earnings forecast

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Shares in Hyundai Heavy Industries plunged by nearly a third on Wednesday after the world’s largest shipbuilder by sales announced a plan to issue new stocks in a bid to shore up its ailing finances. The South Korean firm has struggled amid an industry-wide slump in recent years, as global demand slowed and competition from China intensified while overcapacity slashed prices. Hyundai announced on Tuesday the plan to raise 1.3 […]

Asia markets edge up as commodities rise, Apple fears ease

HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Asian markets edged upward Wednesday in thin holiday trading, with investors shrugging off a negative Wall Street lead as fears over lackluster iPhone demand eased, and commodities rose. Shares in Apple, the biggest US company by market capitalisation, had slumped 2.5 percent Tuesday, mirroring a move by its Asian suppliers, after a report in Taiwan’s Economic Daily warned of weak demand for the iPhone X. But that slide was arrested […]

Chinese court auctions skyscraper for $84 million

  BEIJING, China (AFP) — A Chinese court is auctioning a skyscraper on the country’s largest e-commerce website — with a sky-high starting price of 553 million yuan ($84.2 million). The 39-floor building in Taiyuan, northern Shanxi province, along with the land on which it sits, goes on the block January 2 on Taobao, Alibaba’s e-commerce platform. Construction on the skyscraper began in 2006. Standing 156 meters high and with over 76,000 square meters of […]

BPO, nananatiling highest job generator sa 2017 – PhilJobNet

MANILA, Philippines (Eagle News) — Nananatili pa rin ang Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry na pinakamalaking job generator ngayong 2017. Ayon sa PhilJobNet, halos nasa 140,000 job vacancies ang naitala mula sa BPO industry  ngayong taon. Nanguna sa listahan ng job openings ang posisyon na call center agent kung saan naitala ang pinakamataas na job vacancies mula Agosto hanggang Setyembre. Ito ay umabot sa 21,986 at 21,858. Nasa kabuuang 133,300 call center agent positions ang […]

‘Virtual gold’ may glitter, but mining it can be really dirty

  by Chris Wright Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — As the poster child for the growing ranks of computer-generated currencies, bitcoin’s recent stratospheric price rises have propelled it from the chat forum-hosted depths of nerddom into the global consciousness. As it rose from under $1,000 to over $19,500 at one point this year, hordes of tech-savvy punters have rushed in to buy, while any investors can now do the same on the US […]

Bitcoin suffers fresh plunge, losing a third since start of week

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Bitcoin prices suffered a dramatic plunge on Friday, dropping 20 percent at one point towards the $13,000-mark in volatile Asian trading. The cryptocurrency kicked the week off with a bang, almost hitting $20,000 as it extended its astonishing rise but it has suffered a significant correction this week, losing a third of its value. Bitcoin dropped to $13,048 briefly from around $16,500 in late trading on Thursday, according to data compiled […]

Eric Schmidt stepping down as chair of Alphabet board

by Glenn Chapman Agence France Presse SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Google’s parent company Alphabet on Thursday announced that Eric Schmidt will step down as chairman, remaining on the board but shifting into a role as a technical adviser. “In recent years, I’ve been spending a lot of my time on science and technology issues, and philanthropy, and I plan to expand that work,” Schmidt said in a release. Schmidt’s stint as executive chairman […]

Apple admits to slowing iPhones as batteries age

SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Apple on Thursday confirmed what some conspiracy theorists suspected, that it intentionally slows performance of older iPhones as batteries weaken from age. The admission played into concerns that Apple was stealthily nudging iPhone users to upgrade to newer models by letting them think it was the handsets that needed replacing and that it was not just a matter of getting new batteries. “Our goal is to deliver the best […]

Shifting to crypto cash, NY iced tea maker sees shares triple

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Shares in a New York beverage company nearly tripled by midafternoon Thursday after it announced it was shifting into cryptocurrency-related investments. Long Island Iced Tea Corp of Farmingdale, New York — which says it currently produces the soft drink with a proprietary recipe — announced Thursday it was changing its name to “Long Blockchain Corp” and would explore investments in the technology underlying cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. Shares in the company were up […]

EU seeks ‘urgent’ response to bitcoin bonanza

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — The EU’s top official for the euro single currency on Wednesday pressed European regulators to urgently update financial rules in order to face bitcoin’s dizzying volatility. Crypto-currency bitcoin has soared almost 20-fold since the start of the year and this month saw it move into the mainstream as two major US exchanges began trading futures in the unit. “The developments relating to bitcoin and crypto-currencies in recent weeks require our heightened […]

Bank of Japan holds rates as inflation remains low

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — The Bank of Japan kept its ultra-loose monetary policy in place Thursday as inflation remains stubbornly low in the world’s third-biggest economy, bucking a trend of gradually tighter policy in major economies. The bank said it would purchase 10-year government bonds so that long-term interest rates would remain “at around zero percent.” The BoJ will also keep charging a negative interest rate on some accounts held by financial institutions at the […]

US union rips Ford plan to move electric vehicles to Mexico

 by Joseph Szczesny Agence France-PresseDETROIT, United States (AFP) — The United Auto Workers chief on Wednesday blasted Ford’s decision to send production of electric vehicles to Mexico, out of its home base in Michigan. UAW President Dennis Williams also complained that the massive tax bill approved by Congress on Wednesday failed to provide funding to key investments to make the US more competitive. “I’m not happy with Ford,” Williams told reporters at the union’s headquarters. “I think we’re […]