India, China leaders to discuss trade, investment

NEW DELHI (AP) ― Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed to bring prosperity to Asia and create opportunities for the world as he and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi began talks Thursday to deepen cooperation through investment and trade.Xi said India and China as the world’s largest developing countries and emerging markets shared a relationship of strategic and global significance“We can bring prosperity to Asia, and we can create opportunities for the world,” Xi said during a ceremonial welco

Sept. 18, 2014

Asia’s billionaires see fastest wealth growth

SINGAPORE (AFP) ― Asia’s billionaires led by Chinese tycoons enjoyed the fastest increase in their wealth this year compared to their peers in the rest of the world, a report said Wednesday.The combined wealth of Asia’s billionaires grew 18.7 percent from last year to $1.41 trillion, said the report by Wealth-X, a research firm specializing in ultra-high net worth individuals, and Swiss bank UBS.Asia added 52 new U.S.-dollar billionaires so far this year, bringing the region’s total to 560, with

Sept. 18, 2014

Fed keeps rates low, for now

WASHINGTON (AP) ― Record-low interest rates will be around for at least a few more months, the Federal Reserve made clear Wednesday.Enjoy the easy money while it lasts.By mid-2015, economists expect the Fed to abandon a nearly 6-year-old policy of keeping short-term rates at record lows. Those rates have helped support the economy, cheered the stock market and shrunk mortgage rates. A Fed rate increase could potentially reverse those trends.Mortgages could cost more. So could car loans. Investor

Sept. 18, 2014

Apple sees record orders for iPhones

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) ― Apple on Monday said it had received record preorders for its new iPhone models, and that some customers will have to wait for the larger-screen versions of the smartphones.The California tech giant said more than four million preorders were received in the 24 hours after the new devices went on sale last Friday.“Demand for the new iPhones exceeds the initial preorder supply and while a significant amount will be delivered to customers beginning on Friday and throughout Sep

Sept. 16, 2014

GM expert says 19 deaths eligible for compensation

General Motors’ headquarters in Detroit, Michigan. (Bloomberg)DETROIT (AP) ― The death toll tied to faulty ignition switches in General Motors small cars has risen to 19, according to a compensation expert hired by the company. The number is likely to go higher. Kenneth Feinberg said Monday that he has determined that 19 wrongful death claims are eligible for payments from GM. General Motors’ estimate of deaths has stood at 13 for months, although the automaker acknowledged the possibility of a

Sept. 16, 2014

Microsoft powers up game platform with ‘Minecraft’

NEW YORK (AFP) ― Microsoft agreed Monday to buy the Swedish group behind the hugely popular video game “Minecraft” for $2.5 billion, bolstering the increasingly important gaming division of the U.S. tech giant.The deal for Swedish-based Mojang gives Microsoft one of the best-known video games of all time ― one which is played on game consoles as well as PCs and mobile devices.Mojang will be merged into Microsoft Studios, which includes the studios behind global franchises including “Halo.”“Gamin

Sept. 16, 2014

Alibaba boosts IPO price

NEW YORK (AFP) ― Chinese online giant Alibaba on Monday boosted the price range for what was already expected to be the biggest stock offering on record, to as much as $25.03 billion.Documents filed with U.S. regulators upped the price range for the stock offering to $66-$68 per share, resulting in proceeds which would break the record for stock flotations, set in 2010 by China’s AgBank.Alibaba would raise between $24.3 billion and $25.03 billion based on the new documents filed with the Securit

Sept. 16, 2014

U.S. said to complain to China over antimonopoly crackdown

U.S. expressions of concern that China is selectively applying antimonopoly laws to discriminate against foreign companies escalated, with the Treasury chief sending a letter on the matter to his counterpart in Beijing. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said in the note to Vice Premier Wang Yang that China is using competition law to force companies to cut prices its consumers pay for products relying on foreign intellectual property, according to a person with knowledge of the correspondence. Lew sa

Sept. 16, 2014

Ukraine outrage over delay on EU trade deal

KIEV (AFP) ― Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is facing a backlash from his staunchest supporters for bowing to Russian pressure and postponing the implementation of an EU trade deal the two sides plan to ratify Tuesday.Some warned the decision to delay the ex-Soviet state’s economic tilt westward could spark a repeat of the deadly EuroMaidan protests that toppled Kremlin-backed Viktor Yanukovych three months after his November rejection of the same pact.“I am speechless,” central Dnipropetr

Sept. 16, 2014

Speculation swirls over Fed on rate hike

WASHINGTON (AP) ― When the Federal Reserve issues a policy statement after it meets this week, the financial world will be on high alert for two words: “Considerable time.” The presence or absence of that phrase will trigger a rush to assess the likely timing of the Fed’s first increase in interest rates since it cut them to record lows in 2008. The Fed’s recent statements have said it expects to keep its key short-term rate near zero for a “considerable time” after it stops buying Treasurys and

Sept. 16, 2014

[Newsmaker] Will Apple Pay kill the card swipe?

NEW YORK (AP) ― Apple wants the plastic credit card to become as rare as the paper check. On Tuesday, the company announced Apple Pay, a digital payment system that lets people pay for retail store purchases using their phones rather than cash or credit cards. The service, which will work both with iPhones and Apple’s new Watch, is backed by a host of big retailers, along with most major banks and credit card issuers, including Visa, MasterCard and American Express. So-called contactless payment

Sept. 14, 2014

China demand to fuel H.K. iPhone gray market

HONG KONG (AFP) ― Wealthy mainland Chinese looking to buy the new iPhone 6 this week could expect to pay an eye-watering $2,500 for the handsets in Hong Kong, following Apple’s decision to delay the launch in China.Hong Kong has long been a hub for resold and refurbished phones, and delighted vendors there were coping with a flood of preorders from the Apple-obsessed mainland.The price, say sellers in the southern Chinese city, is a bargain ― the phones can then be resold on the mainland, where

Sept. 14, 2014

U.S. widens sanctions on Russia

WASHINGTON (AP) ― The United States hit Russia Friday with a new round of economic sanctions, levying penalties on Russia’s largest bank and expanding financing restrictions on major energy and defense companies. The sanctions were imposed in coordination with the European Union, which unveiled its own package of penalties hours earlier. Officials said the parallel penalties are aimed at punishing Russia for deepening its provocations in Ukraine, including sending forces and weaponry across the

Sept. 14, 2014

HSBC agrees on $550m payment to end U.S. mortgage claims

WASHINGTON (AP) ― British bank HSBC has agreed to pay $550 million to resolve U.S. claims that it misled U.S. mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac about risky mortgage securities it sold them before the housing market collapsed in 2007.The Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees Fannie and Freddie, announced the settlement Friday with HSBC. London-based HSBC is Europe’s largest bank and also has extensive operations in the U.S. Its U.S. division has about $289 billion in assets, mak

Sept. 14, 2014

Argentina faces new devaluation

BUENOS AIRES (AFP) ― Recession-hit Argentines are flocking to buy dollars, nervous over the government’s latest debt default and pressure from the business community to devalue the peso for the second time this year.Officially, a dollar is worth 8.42 Argentine pesos.But it takes 14.26 pesos to buy one on the black market, a gap that only shows signs of widening.President Cristina Kirchner has tried to convince Argentines to stop hoarding greenbacks and spend their pesos instead.“You have to inve

Sept. 14, 2014