The Korea Herald

Denmark plans to stick with euro peg

Banks in Scandinavia are joining the Danish government in trying to persuade offshore investors that the Nordic country isn’t about to copy Switzerland and drop its euro peg. SEB AB, the Nordic region’s largest currency trader, said it’s been fielding calls from hedge funds wondering whether Denmark might be next after the Swiss National Bank shocked markets by exiting a three-year-old euro cap on Jan. 15. Economy Minister Morten Oestergaard a day later sought to silence doubts surrounding Denma

Jan. 19, 2015

Richest 1% to own more than rest by 2016: Oxfam

PARIS (AFP) ― Wealth accumulated by the richest 1 percent will exceed that of the other 99 percent in 2016, the Oxfam charity said Monday, ahead of the annual meeting of the world’s most powerful at Davos, Switzerland.“The scale of global inequality is quite simply staggering and despite the issues shooting up the global agenda, the gap between the richest and the rest is widening fast,” Oxfam executive director Winnie Byanyima said.The richest 1 percent’s share of global wealth increased from 4

Jan. 19, 2015

Google Glass sales stopping ― for now

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) ― Google said it is halting sales of its Internet-linked eyewear Glass but insisted the technology would live on in a future consumer product.The technology titan is putting brakes on an “explorer” program that let people interested in dabbling with Glass buy eyewear for $1,500 apiece.“Glass was in its infancy, and you took those very first steps and taught us how to walk,” the team said of its “explorer” clients in a post on the Google+ social network.“Well, we still have so

Jan. 18, 2015

Swiss lose battle in currency war that could spread

PARIS (AFP) ― Historically neutral Switzerland’s foray into the global currency war ended in defeat this past week after its central bank left markets shell-shocked by abandoning the franc’s exchange rate floor, analysts said.But with major shifts in monetary policy under way, the currency war is hardly over and the front lines will move to other countries.“The Swiss central bank was the first to throw itself into the currency war, (and) it is the first to capitulate,” said Christopher Dembik, a

Jan. 18, 2015

Obama to seek higher tax on wealthy to help middle class

WASHINGTON (AP) ― President Barack Obama will call for increasing taxes on the wealthiest Americans then using the revenue to fund new tax credits and other cost-saving measures for the middle class in his first address before a Republican-led Congress. The president’s proposals are likely to be cheered by the Democratic Party’s liberal base, but the tax increases are all but certain to be non-starters with the new Republican majority in Congress. Obama will announce the tax proposals Tuesday ni

Jan. 18, 2015

Obama to seek higher tax on wealthy to help middle class

China’s economic growth hits 24-year low: survey

BEIJING (AFP) ― China’s annual GDP growth slowed to its weakest rate in more than two decades in 2014, according to an AFP survey, projecting further deceleration in the world’s second-largest economy this year.The median forecast in a poll of 15 economists saw the Asian giant’s gross domestic product expanding 7.3 percent last year, down from 7.7 percent in 2013.That would be the worst full-year result since the 3.8 percent recorded in 1990 ― the year after the Tiananmen Square crackdown.The Na

Jan. 18, 2015

Moody’s cuts Russia debt rating one notch

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― Moody’s cut Russia’s credit rating to one step above junk level Friday and warned the country was under review for a further downgrade.Moody’s said that the plunge in oil prices and in the ruble would further erode Russia’s economic growth potential and that it had concerns about the government’s financial strength.The grade was cut by one notch to “Baa3” from “Baa2.” “Baa3” is the lowest level for “investment grade” sovereign bonds; another cut would take it into “speculative

Jan. 18, 2015

Moody’s cuts Russia debt rating one notch

Oil price slump puts at risk clean energy push

Falling oil prices could have a negative impact on global efforts to develop renewable energy sources, experts warned Saturday at a conference in Abu Dhabi.Oil prices have fallen by almost 60 percent since June, crashing on worries over global oversupply and weak demand in a faltering world economy.Participants at the International Renewable Energy Agency conference that opened Saturday in the oil-rich United Arab Emirates said the trend could spell doom for plans to shift to clean energy.The fa

Jan. 18, 2015

Carlos Slim boosts New York Times stake with options

NEW YORK (AFP) ― Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim has boosted his stake in the New York Times, exercising an option to convert some $100 million from loans to equity, the media company said Wednesday.A statement from New York Times Co. said Slim ― estimated to be the world’s second richest individual ― has agreed to exercise an option to buy 15.9 million Class A shares at $6.35.That gives him around 16.8 percent of the Times Co. common stock. But control of the newspaper will remain with the Sulz

Jan. 15, 2015

Carlos Slim boosts New York Times stake with options

GM sees slower global growth as buyers resist price rises

General Motors Co., the largest U.S. automaker, sees slowing global auto sales growth and said it will invest more in new cars as consumers pay less for the company’s older models. The automaker’s shares fell. Global auto sales may increase about 3 percent to 98 million vehicles, said Chief Financial Officer Chuck Stevens. President Dan Ammann said China, GM’s biggest market, is “maturing rapidly” amid a global slowdown of industry growth. The Detroit-based automaker is boosting capital expendit

Jan. 15, 2015

GM sees slower global growth as buyers resist price rises

Google to test its first modular smartphone

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) ― Google announced Wednesday that it will unveil a modular smartphone in Puerto Rico this year as part of a pilot program that will allow people to choose their own hardware based on their needs and interests.The company will partner with Mexico-based carrier Claro and local carrier Open Mobile to offer the product, which will be sold from free-standing stores that look like food trucks, said Jessica Beavers, a Google marketing executive.She said Puerto Rico was chosen

Jan. 15, 2015

Obama touts high-speed Internet

WASHINGTON (AP) ― President Barack Obama is once again challenging major cable and telephone companies by encouraging the Federal Communications Commission to preempt state laws that stifle competition for high-speed Internet service.Obama wants to expand access to broadband communications services, siding with local communities that want either to expand competition or provide municipal services themselves. To promote it, he is announcing that his administration will provide technical and finan

Jan. 15, 2015

Wall Street now sees oil falling to $40

Brace for $40-a-barrel oil. The U.S. benchmark crude price, down more than $60 since June to below $45 Wednesday, is on the way to this next threshold, said Societe Generale SA and Bank of America Corp. And Goldman Sachs Group Inc. says that West Texas Intermediate needs to remain near $40 during the first half to deter investment in new supplies that would add to the glut. “The markets are continuing to price in huge oversupply in the first half of 2015,” Mike Wittner, head of research at Socie

Jan. 15, 2015

U.S. economy continues moderate growth: Fed survey

WASHINGTON (AP) ― The U.S. economy was growing at a moderate pace in December and early January, helped by gains in sales of autos and other consumer products, but a big drop in oil prices was starting to have an impact in Texas and other energy regions, the Federal Reserve reported Wednesday.The Fed said business contacts in its 12 regional banking districts were seeing “modest” or “moderate” growth. General merchandise retailers in the New York area reported largely sluggish holiday sales whil

Jan. 15, 2015

U.S. economy continues moderate growth: Fed survey

U.S. House eases bank, Wall St. rules

WASHINGTON (AP) ― The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives voted to soften a law that brought the strictest rules for banks and Wall Street since the 1930s, more than six years after the 2008 financial crisis struck.The bill is one of several that President Barack Obama has threatened to veto as he clashes with newly empowered Republicans who now control all of Congress. The vote was 271-154 on legislation pushed by the newly bulked-up Republican majority in the House. It now goes

Jan. 15, 2015

Hollande to join Merkel, Li at Davos next week

GENEVA (AFP) ― World leaders including France’s Francois Hollande, Germany’s Angela Merkel and China’s Li Keqiang will gather at the annual Davos forum next week, seeking to chart a path away from fundamentalism towards solidarity.“We are in a critical situation, at the crossroads,” the World Economic Forum’s founder Klaus Schwab said Wednesday.“We have two roads in front of us, one is the road of disintegration, hate and fundamentalism, the other is the road of solidarity,” he said, citing the

Jan. 15, 2015

Oil prices under pressure before U.S. energy report

World oil prices slid Wednesday after major crude producers stressed they will maintain output levels despite global oversupply, while traders awaited the latest update on U.S. crude inventories.Oil sentiment was also soured after the World Bank slashed its global 2015 economic growth forecast to 3.0 percent from 3.4 percent, raising fresh doubts about future crude demand.In early afternoon deals in London, Brent North Sea crude for February delivery lost 10 cents to $46.49 per barrel.U.S. bench

Jan. 15, 2015

Big and bad is back

DETROIT (AFP) ― Big and brash is beautiful after all.Or so it appears in the world of the American vehicle enthusiast, after the Detroit auto show this week rolled out a series of ever-larger cars and menacing trucks.At a time when there is a trend for many objects to become smaller, and after some hints the auto world was going the same way, this year’s Detroit auto extravaganza presents a stark contrast.It has much to do with the low cost of gasoline, experts say, but is also about taste.Take

Jan. 14, 2015

Automakers salivate over ‘oasis’ Cuba

DETROIT (AFP) ― The world’s most prominent automakers are hungrily eyeing up Cuba after its rapprochement deal with the United States.But trade restrictions that are still in place for Americans and a litany of concerns about Havana’s policies means they are unlikely to dive in any time soon. Washington and communist Cuba in December began the painstaking process of restoring diplomatic relations and easing the five-decade-old trade embargo.President Barack Obama declared that the United States

Jan. 14, 2015

‘No change in OPEC policy’

A customer removes a fuel pump from its holder at a BP gas station in London. (Bloomberg)ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) ― The energy minister for the United Arab Emirates said Tuesday there are no plans for OPEC to curb production to shore up falling crude prices, and instead put the onus on shale oil drillers for oversupplying the market. Oil prices have lost well over half their value since late June, with benchmark U.S. crude trading below $45 a barrel. OPEC, which includes the Emirates

Jan. 14, 2015