The Korea Herald

Apple, Google must face group antitrust hiring lawsuit

Apple Inc., Google Inc. and two other Silicon Valley companies must face a group lawsuit representing more than 64,000 technical employees claiming their incomes were held down by the companies’ agreements not to recruit one another’s workers. U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, yesterday granted class-action certification. Koh’s ruling follows an April ruling rejecting the employees’ bid to proceed as a class -- partly because they failed to demonstrate that all or almost all

Oct. 26, 2013

JPMorgan to pay $5.1 billion to settle mortgage claims

JPMorgan Chase & Co. agreed to pay $5.1 billion to settle Federal Housing Finance Agency claims related to home loans and mortgage-backed securities the bank sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, resolving part of a $13 billion accord the company has been negotiating. The deal includes $4 billion to end a 2011 lawsuit accusing the bank of selling Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac faulty mortgage bonds, the FHFA said today in a statement. The remaining $1.1 billion settles claims that the bank sold the co

Oct. 26, 2013

Japan says winning war on deflation

TOKYO (AFP) ― Japan on Friday hailed a key inflation indicator touching a five-year high as proof its growth blitz, dubbed Abenomics, was winning the war on falling prices, but analysts warned consumer spending had yet to gain traction.Stripping out volatile fresh food and energy prices, which have largely driven recent increases, prices did not fall in September ― deflation-plagued Japan’s best result since December 2008.The broader consumer price index, which measures a basket of everyday good

Oct. 25, 2013

Japan consumer prices rise for 4th straight month

Japan's consumer prices rose in September for the fourth straight month, boosted mainly by higher energy costs, in the latest set of data showing fitful progress toward revitalizing the economy.The core consumer price index, which excludes food, was up 0.7 percent compared with 0.8 percent in August, the Management and Coordination Agency said. With food prices factored in, the index was up 1.1 percent.The government is striving to end a long bout of deflation through aggressive monetary easing

Oct. 25, 2013

Twitter sets $17 to $20 per share range for IPO

Twitter has set a price range of $17 to $20 per share for its initial public offering and says it could raise as much as $1.6 billion in the process. The pricing is relatively conservative considering that Twitter is poised to pull off the year's hottest IPO.Twitter Inc. said in a regulatory filing Thursday that it will put forth 70 million shares in the offering. If all the shares are sold, the underwriters can buy another 10.5 million shares.At the $20 share price, Twitter's market value would

Oct. 25, 2013

Microsoft 1Q profit, sales top views; shares jump

Microsoft posted quarterly revenue and earnings Thursday that easily topped Wall Street forecasts, marking a healthy start to a companywide overhaul it announced in July that should help the software giant transform into a devices and services company.Its stock rose nearly 6 percent in after-hours trading.“Our devices and services transformation is progressing,” CEO Steve Ballmer said in a statement with the company's fiscal first-quarter results. Ballmer said in August he'll step down within 12

Oct. 25, 2013

More Americans than forecast filed jobless claims

More Americans than forecast filed applications for unemployment benefits last week as California continued to work through a backlog.Jobless claims decreased by 12,000 to 350,000 in the week ended Oct. 19 from a revised 362,000 in the prior period, a Labor Department report showed today in Washington.The median forecast of 48 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a decrease to 340,000. Applications in California remained elevated and analysts weren’t able to determine how many non- federa

Oct. 24, 2013

Boeing soars on strong demand for new planes

Boeing is riding a wave of demand for new fuel-efficient planes from airlines around the globe. Now the trick is to build them fast enough. With a backlog of orders worth $344 billion, Boeing has been speeding up production of its big commercial planes. It now says it will boost output of the new 787 by 40 percent by the end of the decade. On Wednesday, Boeing reported a better-than-expected third-quarter profit and raised its full-year outlook. Its shares hit an all-time high. Along with automa

Oct. 24, 2013

China manufacturing gauge tops forecasts in recovery boost

China’s manufacturing strengthened more than anticipated this month, a sign that the nation’s recovery is extending into the fourth quarter. The preliminary 50.9 reading for a Purchasing Managers’ Index released Thursday by HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics compared with a 50.4 median estimate from analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News. Readings above 50 indicate expansion. Premier Li Keqiang has presided over the biggest home-price gains in major Chinese cities in more than two years as well

Oct. 24, 2013

China manufacturing gauge tops forecasts in recovery boost

Panasonic to halve chipmaking staff

TOKYO (AFP) ― Panasonic is set to cut its chip division workforce in half, axing thousands of jobs as the electronics giant overhauls its battered balance sheet after record losses, Japanese media reports said Thursday.The plan to shrink Panasonic’s money-losing semiconductor business could also see it sell off some chip manufacturing plants, the leading Nikkei business daily said, without citing sources.Panasonic, which has chip factories both in Japan and overseas, would axe 7,000 jobs from th

Oct. 24, 2013

BOA liable in mortgage fraud: jury

NEW YORK (AP) ― Bank of America Corp., accused of lying about the quality of mortgages it passed along to financial firms Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, was found liable for fraud on Wednesday in a civil case the government said captured the frenzied pursuit of profits at all costs just before the economy collapsed in 2008. A Manhattan jury returned its verdict following a monthlong trial focusing on prime mortgages that Bank of America’s Countrywide Financial unit completed in late 2007 and 2008.

Oct. 24, 2013

Spain exits two-year recession, raising timid hopes for Europe

MADRID (AFP) ― Spain inched out of its two-year recession with timid growth in the third quarter, the country’s central bank said on Wednesday, fuelling fragile hopes of a broader eurozone recovery.News that the zone’s fourth-biggest economy may be on the mend followed signs that the bloc was heading out of its five-year crisis, but analysts warned the recovery was still slow and risk-bound.After nine straight quarters of contraction in the second trough of a double-dip recession, the Spanish ec

Oct. 24, 2013

Spain exits two-year recession, raising timid hopes for Europe

Stocks are ‘relatively low’ and headed upward: Greenspan

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said the stock market has room to rise from record levels. “In a sense, we are actually at relatively low stock prices,” Greenspan, who guided the central bank for more than 18 years, said in an interview with Sara Eisen on Bloomberg Television Wednesday. “So-called equity premiums are still at a very high level, and that means that the momentum of the market is still ultimately up.” The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index advanced 23.03 percent this year t

Oct. 24, 2013

Stocks are ‘relatively low’ and headed upward: Greenspan

Fed stimulus still makes sense for economy: Goldman’s Cohn

The Federal Reserve may not taper its stimulus efforts soon as the U.S. economy has failed to pick up and inflation remains low, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. president Gary D. Cohn said. “If you look at where we are economically, versus where we were a year ago, we’re virtually in the exact same place,” Cohn, 53, said Wednesday in a Bloomberg Television interview with Stephanie Ruhle. “So if quantitative easing made sense a year ago, it probably still makes sense today.” The Fed decided in Septembe

Oct. 24, 2013

Fed stimulus still makes sense for economy: Goldman’s Cohn

S&P 500 index falls after 4 days of record closes

A four-day streak of record closes ended for the Standard & Poor's 500 index Wednesday after Caterpillar reported weak earnings and falling oil prices hurt energy stocks.Caterpillar, which makes mining and construction equipment, is considered an important barometer of the global economy. The plunge in Caterpillar's third-quarter profit discouraged investors and stalled a two-week surge in the stock market. Energy stocks dropped as the price of oil fell to its lowest in almost four months.The S&

Oct. 24, 2013

Smart watches pose threat to Swiss industry

In the 1970s, Switzerland’s watchmakers were almost put out of business when they underestimated the importance of the quartz watch. Though the industry recovered and is even prospering, today it faces a new technological challenge from “smart watches” such as Samsung Electronics Co.’s $299 Galaxy Gear. As with quartz four decades ago, the devices are being met with a shrug. According to a survey by consultants Deloitte, two-thirds of executives in the Swiss industry say smart watches pose no th

Oct. 23, 2013

Smart watches pose threat to Swiss industry

Cuba launches currency unification

HAVANA (AP) ― Cuba’s government announced Tuesday that it will take the first small, symbolic step toward eliminating a two-currency system that has become an uncomfortable manifestation of economic inequality on the island. President Raul Castro said this year that the communist government must scrap the system, in which businesses driven by trade with foreigners use a currency known as convertible pesos that is pegged to the U.S. dollar. Most of the rest of Cuba’s heavily subsidized communist

Oct. 23, 2013

Tepid U.S. employment data stokes Fed stimulus hopes

NEW YORK (AP) ― The prospect of more economic stimulus from the Federal Reserve pushed the Standard & Poor’s 500 index to a fourth consecutive record close Tuesday. Investors also were encouraged by strong earnings from major U.S. companies such as Whirlpool, Delta Air Lines and Kimberly-Clark. The U.S. economy added 148,000 jobs in September, the Labor Department reported Tuesday, lower than the 180,000 jobs forecast. The report was delayed for 2 1/2 weeks because of a 16-day partial government

Oct. 23, 2013

Tepid U.S. employment data stokes Fed stimulus hopes

‘Shutdown drama hit growth’

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― The White House said Tuesday this month’s political showdown likely shaved at least a quarter percent off fourth-quarter economic growth and meant 120,000 fewer jobs were created in October.Jason Furman, chairman of the president’s Council of Economic Advisors, presented the first detailed official analysis of the government shutdown and debt default saga, which he called a “self inflicted economic wound.”Furman said that the study, using multiple streams of data, showed that

Oct. 23, 2013

Apple unveils new Macs, iPad ahead of holidays

Apple Inc. is refreshing its iPad lineup and slashing the price of its Mac computers ahead of the holiday shopping season, as it faces an eroding tablet market share and growing competition from rival gadget makers.Apple unveiled a new, thinner, lighter tablet called the “iPad Air” along with a slew of new Macs Tuesday at an event in San Francisco. The iPad Air weighs just 0.45 kilogram, compared with 1.4 pounds (0.64 kilogram) for the previous version. Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller called

Oct. 23, 2013

Apple unveils new Macs, iPad ahead of holidays