The Korea Herald

EU, US return to trade talks under spy scandal cloud

The EU and United States began a second round of talks Monday on the world's largest free-trade accord despite damaging revelations of US spying on its allies.Chief negotiators, the EU's Ignacio Garcia Bercero and Dan Mullaney for the United States, stepped before the cameras for an official handshake but made no statement as they began a weeklong round of negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.This second round was to have been held in October, but due to the US gove

Nov. 11, 2013

Apple working on curved iPhone screens

Apple Inc. is developing new iPhone designs including bigger screens with curved glass and enhanced sensors that can detect different levels of pressure, said a person familiar with the plans. Two models planned for release in the second half of next year would feature larger displays with glass that curves downward at the edges, said the person, declining to be identified because the details aren’t public. Sensors that can distinguish heavy or light touches on the screen may be incorporated int

Nov. 11, 2013

EU, U.S. resume talks despite spy scandal

BRUSSELS (AFP) ― The EU and United States resumed talks Monday on the world’s largest free-trade accord aiming to make progress despite damaging revelations of U.S. spying on its allies.This second round of negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership was meant to have been held in October, but due to the U.S. government shutdown had to be postponed just as the spy scandal worsened.Since then the steady flow of charges has sparked bitter recriminations and demands in some E

Nov. 11, 2013

Pay raises for bank risk officers in Asia trump N.Y., London

Salaries for banks’ risk and compliance officers in Singapore and Hong Kong rose at about twice the pace of pay for similar positions at New York and London firms amid a shortage of skilled staff members, a recruiter said. Pay excluding bonuses for people who changed jobs in the Asian cities rose as much as 20 percent this year, compared with 10 percent in the Western hubs, said Neil Owen, a director for Robert Half International Inc. in London. A senior official in Singapore is paid as much as

Nov. 11, 2013

Pay raises for bank risk officers in Asia trump N.Y., London

China growth gains strength

China’s industrial output growth unexpectedly accelerated and inflation stayed below a government target, providing a boost to Communist Party leaders meeting in Beijing to chart the economy’s course for coming years. Production rose 10.3 percent from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said Saturday, exceeding the 10 percent median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of economists and the previous month’s 10.2 percent. Inflation was a less-than-forecast 3.2 percent and producer pr

Nov. 10, 2013

Twitter stock slides on second trading day

NEW YORK (AP) ― Twitter’s stock slid more than 7 percent on its second trading day Friday, after the popular short messaging service saw a huge first-day pop in what turned out to be a smooth public debut.Such volatile trading is common for freshly public stocks as investors make decisions with limited insight into how well companies will do in the long run. Although there are a few outliers, most analysts believe the appropriate price range for Twitter’s stock is in the $30s and low $40s. The m

Nov. 10, 2013

Twitter stock slides on second trading day

U.S. finance chief to raise China currency on Asia trip

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew will raise concerns about China’s trade policies and seek headway on an Asian trade pact during a visit next week.Lew will start a trip Tuesday to Japan then visit three other countries in the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations ― Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam ― before talks Friday in Beijing, the Treasury Department said Friday.“In China, he will discuss progress on the reform agenda and efforts to level the playing field for U.S. workers

Nov. 10, 2013

Central banks renew reflation efforts as prices weaken

Central banks around the world renewed efforts this week to reflate their economies as slowing prices emerge as a threat to global prosperity. A day after the European Central Bank unexpectedly halved its benchmark interest rate to a record-low 0.25 percent and Peru cut its main rate for the first time in four years, the Czech central bank yesterday intervened in currency markets. The Reserve Bank of Australia Friday left open the chance of cheaper borrowing costs by forecasting below-trend econ

Nov. 10, 2013

Central banks renew reflation efforts as prices weaken

U.S. seeks $864m from BOA over Countrywide loans

NEW YORK (AP) ― Federal prosecutors want Bank of America Corp. pay about $864 million over losses incurred by the government after it bought thousands of home loans made by Countrywide Financial during the housing boom. U.S. attorney Preet Bharara made the request in documents filed late Friday with the U.S. District Court in Manhattan. A jury last month found Bank of America Corp., which acquired Countrywide in 2008, liable for knowingly selling thousands of bad home loans to Fannie Mae and Fre

Nov. 10, 2013

U.S. seeks $864m from BOA over Countrywide loans

U.S. to ban artery-clogging trans fat

WASHINGTON (AP) ― Heart-clogging trans fats were once a staple of the American diet, plentiful in baked goods, microwave popcorn and fried foods. Now, mindful of the health risks, the Food and Drug Administration is getting rid of what is left of them for good. Condemning artificial trans fats as a threat to public health, the FDA announced Thursday it will require the food industry to phase them out. Manufacturers already have eliminated many trans fats, responding to criticism from the medical

Nov. 8, 2013

Dazzling Twitter debut sends stock soaring 73 percent

Shares of Twitter went on sale to the public for the first time Thursday, instantly leaping more than 70 percent above their offering price in a dazzling debut that exceeded even Wall Street's lofty hopes.By the closing bell, the social network that reinvented global communication in 140-character bursts was valued at $31 billion _ nearly as much as Yahoo Inc., an Internet icon from another era, and just below Kraft Foods, the grocery conglomerate founded more than a century ago.The stock's sizz

Nov. 8, 2013

Google barge mystery solved

Internet giant Google says it is exploring using a large barge as an interactive learning center. A statement released Wednesday from Google’s press center may help end weeks of speculation about the purpose of structures on two barges, one being built in the San Francisco Bay, another off Portland, Maine. “Google Barge ... A floating data center? A wild party boat? A barge housing the last remaining dinosaur? Sadly, none of the above,” says the statement. “Although it’s still early days and thi

Nov. 7, 2013

Twitter set for public stock debut on NYSE

NEW YORK (AP) ― Twitter’s public stock debut, set for Thursday morning on the New York Stock Exchange, has been carefully orchestrated to avoid the glitches and eventual letdown that surrounded Facebook’s initial public offering 18 months ago. Twitter set a price of $26 per share for its initial public offering on Wednesday evening and will begin trading Thursday under the ticker symbol “TWTR” in the most highly anticipated IPO since its Silicon Valley rival’s 2012 debut. The price values Twitte

Nov. 7, 2013

Twitter set for public stock debut on NYSE

China’s leaders to meet on economic reform

BEIJING (AFP) ― China’s new leadership holds a key meeting this weekend that state media are trumpeting as a likely “watershed” for economic reform, but analysts caution details of its decisions are likely to be vague and implementation gradual.The four-day session of the full 376-strong Communist Party standing committee begins Saturday at a closely-guarded private hotel in Beijing.Known as the Third Plenum, it traditionally sets the economic tone for a government’s five-year term. In the past,

Nov. 7, 2013

China’s leaders to meet on economic reform

Investors lift Dow Jones to another record close

There weren't any major economic developments or blockbuster earnings. But that didn't stop investors from pushing the Dow Jones industrial average to another record Wednesday.Instead, investors focused on the big economic news yet to come this week _ third-quarter U.S. economic growth on Thursday and the October jobs report Friday. Both reports could signal how much longer the Federal Reserve will continue its $85 billion a month in bond purchases. That program has held down interest rates, kep

Nov. 7, 2013

Apple details government data requests

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― Apple on Tuesday released details of government requests for its data while protesting a “gag order” that limits what can be disclosed about U.S. national security orders.The iPhone and iPad maker followed the lead of other U.S. tech giants and released its first report on requests from governments around the world.Most of the requests involve criminal investigations into “robberies and other crimes or requests from law enforcement officers searching for missing persons or chi

Nov. 6, 2013

China seeks global role for yuan

BEIJING (AFP) ― With deals from London to Singapore, China is seeking a greater role for its yuan currency in global markets to challenge the hegemony of the almighty dollar.The most attention-grabbing reform planned for Shanghai’s new free trade zone is free convertibility of the yuan ― also known as the renminbi, or “people’s money” ― an unprecedented change which would allow greater use of the currency.But no timetable has been specified, and a true contest between Mao Zedong, Communist China

Nov. 6, 2013

Rosengren: Fed may keep rate near zero until 2016

The Federal Reserve will probably keep its main interest rate “quite low for quite some time,” possibly until 2016, amid languid economic growth, Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren said. “You could easily imagine if we have relatively slow growth in the overall economy, even though it picks up from where we are now, that it could be 2016,” Rosengren, who votes on monetary policy this year, said Tuesday on CNBC television. “You’d certainly need to have growth 3 percent or faster if you’d want t

Nov. 6, 2013

Rosengren: Fed may keep rate near zero until 2016

EU expects weak recovery to leave joblessness high

BRUSSELS (AP) ― Europe’s economy will continue to recover through next year, but at a subdued pace that will leave unemployment near record highs, the European Commission said Tuesday. The Commission, the EU’s executive arm, said rising business confidence and strengthening domestic demand are expected to underpin the recovery as governments also slow the pace of austerity measures such as spending cuts and tax increases. “There are increasing signs that the European economy has reached a turnin

Nov. 6, 2013

BlackBerry abandons sale, CEO quits

TORONTO (AP) ― BlackBerry has abandoned its bid to sell itself and is replacing its chief executive. Fairfax Financial, BlackBerry’s largest shareholder with a 10 percent stake, said Monday it won’t buy the struggling smartphone company and take it private. Instead, Fairfax and other investors will inject $1 billion as part of a revised investment proposal. BlackBerry said CEO Thorsten Heins is stepping down. Heins took over in early 2012 after the company lost billions in market value, but he f

Nov. 5, 2013