The Korea Herald

EU inks deal on bank oversight

BRUSSELS (AP) ― European Union finance ministers reached an agreement early Thursday to create a single supervisor for their banks ― one of the most significant transfers of authority from national governments to regional authorities since the creation of the euro currency.Under the deal, banks with more than 30 billion euros ($39 billion) in assets supervised or those that represent a significant proportion of their national economies will be placed under the oversight of the European Central B

Dec. 13, 2012

Fed sends clearer signal on keeping rates low

The Federal Reserve sent its clearest signal to date Wednesday that it will keep interest rates super-low to support the U.S. economy even after the job market has improved significantly.The Fed said it plans to keep its key short-term rate near zero until the unemployment rate reaches 6.5 percent or less _ as long as expected inflation remains tame. Unemployment is now 7.7 percent.That plan adds detail to what the Fed had said before: that it expects to keep the rate low until at least mid-2015

Dec. 13, 2012

Fed to spend $45B to sustain bond purchases

The Federal Reserve will spend $45 billion a month to sustain an aggressive drive to keep long-term interest rates low. And it says it plans to keep a key short-term rate near zero until unemployment drops below 6.5 percent.The policies are intended to help an economy that the Fed says is growing only modestly with 7.7 percent unemployment in November.Stocks and bond yields rose after the Fed's statement was released Wednesday after its final policy meeting of the year. The Dow Jones industrial

Dec. 13, 2012

OPEC to discuss output, name key post

VIENNA (AP) ― Tough decisions await OPEC oil ministers sitting down this week for a policy meeting. The 12-nation cartel has to deal not only with how much crude to produce for the next few months but must also fill a senior position coveted both by Saudi Arabia and archrival Iran.With world supplies ample, there is some rationale for curbing output when the ministers meet Wednesday in Vienna.Oil inventories in the major industrialized countries are high, with an energy boom in the United States

Dec. 12, 2012

Delta buys 49% stake in Virgin tlantic

NEW YORK (AFP) ― Delta Air Lines is buying a 49 percent stake in Virgin Atlantic Airways, forging a joint venture to expand their trans-Atlantic network, the companies announced Tuesday.Delta, the second-biggest U.S. airline by traffic, will invest $360 million in the joint venture, acquiring the stake from Singapore Airlines.British mogul Richard Branson and his Virgin Atlantic will keep the majority 51 percent stake and the airline will retain its brand and operating certificate.“Our new partn

Dec. 12, 2012

Japan machine orders rise as Abe vows stimulus ahead of poll

Japan’s machinery orders rose for the first time in three months, a sign that companies may expect the world’s third largest economy to return to growth in 2013. Orders, an indicator of capital spending, climbed 2.6 percent in October from the previous month, the Cabinet Office said today in Tokyo. The median estimate of 25 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a 3 percent increase. Large orders can cause volatile results. Rising orders and production in October suggest the economy is la

Dec. 12, 2012

Michigan approves right-to-work bills

LANSING, Michigan (AP) ― Over the chants of thousands of angry protesters, Republican lawmakers made Michigan a right-to-work state Tuesday, dealing a devastating and once-unthinkable defeat to organized labor in a place that has been a bastion of the movement for generations. The GOP-dominated House ignored Democrats’ pleas to delay the final passage and instead approved two bills with the same ruthless efficiency that the Senate showed last week. One measure dealt with private-sector workers,

Dec. 12, 2012

World Bank will not lend to Greece: chief

STOCKHOLM (AFP) ― The World Bank will limit its work in Greece to offering expertise, and will not provide loans, the bank’s president, Jim Yong Kim, said on Tuesday.“We will not lend money to Greece” because “this is not a country that qualifies, for example, for an IBRD loan,” Kim told a press conference in Stockholm.The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) is an arm of the World Bank which extends loans to governments, but Greece is classed as a “high income” country,

Dec. 12, 2012

World Bank will not lend to Greece: chief

Britain steps up Libor rate-rigging investigation, makes first arrests

LONDON (AFP) ― Britain has stepped up its probe into rigging of the Libor interbank lending rate, making its first arrests in a scandal that has shaken faith in London’s role at the heart of the global financial system.Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO), which is responsible for investigating and prosecuting complex fraud cases, said three people had been held for questioning on Tuesday concerning manipulation of the rate used as a reference in lending across the world.“Three men, aged 33, 41

Dec. 12, 2012

Britain steps up Libor rate-rigging investigation, makes first arrests

Fed likely to revamp bond purchases

WASHINGTON (AP) ― The Federal Reserve is expected to announce a revamped bond-buying plan Wednesday to maintain its support for the U.S. economy.The Fed’s goal would be to keep downward pressure on long-term interest rates and encourage individuals and companies to borrow and spend. If it succeeds, the Fed might at least soften the blow from tax increases and spending cuts that will kick in in January if Congress can’t reach a budget deal.But its actions wouldn’t rescue the economy. Chairman Ben

Dec. 12, 2012

'Cliff' movement? Obama, Boehner trade proposals

President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner sought an elusive compromise Tuesday to prevent automatic economy-damaging tax increases and spending cuts at year's end, conferring by phone after a secretive exchange of proposals.Many economists say failure to reach a deal that would pull the U.S. economy back from the Jan. 1 ``fiscal cliff'' that would trigger a combination of tax increases and spending cuts could push the country back into economic recession.Details were sparse and evide

Dec. 12, 2012

UK anti-fraud agency arrests three in Libor probe

Britain’s Serious Fraud Office has made the first arrests as part of a global investigation into the manipulation of interbank lending rates.The SFO said on Tuesday three British men, aged 33, 41 and 47, had been taken to a London police station for interviews. They had all been living in Britain.Sources had said that regulators and prosecutors in the U.S. and Europe were closing in on individual traders they suspected of colluding to rig key benchmark lending rates such as Libor (London interba

Dec. 11, 2012

GM’s Opel to shutter German auto plant

General Motors Co.’s Opel division will stop making cars at its plant in Bochum, Germany, in 2016, threatening 3,100 jobs, as the U.S. automaker seeks to stem European losses during a prolonged vehicle-market contraction. Opel will end auto production at the factory when the current version of the Zafira minivan is replaced, the unit, based in the Frankfurt suburb of Ruesselsheim, said on its website. The carmaker will look to develop component and distribution operations at Bochum to limit job

Dec. 11, 2012

Bad Apple Maps directions lead to desert

SYDNEY (AP) ― The city of Mildura is not at the end of a dirt road in the Australian bush, in tire-choking desert sand far from food and water. Unfortunately, Apple’s much-maligned mapping application thinks it is.More than two months after Apple’s CEO apologized for errors in its Maps service, Australian police say the app is “potentially life threatening” because of the bad directions it has given to the southern city. On Tuesday, a police official said Apple had “sort of half-fixed” the probl

Dec. 11, 2012

HSBC to pay $1.9b to settle probe

WASHINGTON (AP) ― HSBC, the British banking giant, will pay $1.9 billion to settle a money-laundering probe by federal and state authorities in the United States, a law enforcement official said Monday. The probe of the bank ― Europe’s largest by market value ― has focused on the transfer of billions of dollars on behalf of nations like Iran, which are under international sanctions, and the transfer of money through the U.S. financial system from Mexican drug cartels. According to the official,

Dec. 11, 2012

Italy’s Monti seeks to calm market concerns

ROME (AP) ― Seeking to calm financial markets, Premier Mario Monti said Monday he will lead Italy until the next government takes power, insisting there will be “no decision-making vacuum” despite his intention to resign ahead of time. What happens after the election, however, kept markets on edge, sending stocks and bonds plunging. Monti announced Saturday he is resigning early because Silvio Berlusconi’s party, Parliament’s largest, yanked its support for his economic policies. The same day, B

Dec. 11, 2012

Italy’s Monti seeks to calm market concerns

Obama: I won’t compromise on taxes

REDFORD, Michigan (AP) ― President Barack Obama warned Monday that he “won’t compromise” on his demands that the wealthiest Americans pay higher tax rates, digging in on the chief sticking point between the White House and Republicans as they seek a way to avert the “fiscal cliff.” Obama brought his pressure-Congress campaign to the heart of industrial America, ripping lines from his own reelection bid as the nation inched closer to a perilous economic cliff. He said the country couldn’t afford

Dec. 11, 2012

China trade surplus down 39% to $19.6b

BEIJING (AFP) ― China’s monthly trade surplus fell to $19.6 billion in November, down 38.6 percent from October, the government said Monday as weak overseas demand weighed on the world’s second-largest economy.The national customs bureau said China’s November exports rose 2.9 percent year-on-year to $179.4 billion, while imports were flat at $159.8 billion. November’s surplus is far below the median forecast of $27.8 billion given by economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires. They also predicte

Dec. 10, 2012

Obama, Boehner meet on ‘fiscal cliff’

WASHINGTON (AP) ― President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner met Sunday at the White House to discuss the ongoing negotiations over the impending “fiscal cliff,” the first meeting between just the two leaders since Election Day. Spokesmen for both Obama and Boehner said they agreed to not release details of the conversation, but emphasized that the lines of communication remain open. The meeting comes as the White House and Congress try to break an impasse over finding a way to stop a

Dec. 10, 2012

Canada OKs CNOOC’s takeover bid for Nexen

TORONTO (AP) ― Canada approved China’s biggest overseas energy acquisition, a $15.1 billion takeover by state-owned CNOOC of Canadian oil and gas producer Nexen, but vowed to reject any future foreign takeovers in the oil sands sector by state-owned companies.Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Friday the government would only consider future takeover deals in the oil sands by state-owned companies in exceptional circumstances. “To be blunt, Canadians have not spent years reducing ownership of se

Dec. 9, 2012

Canada OKs CNOOC’s takeover bid for Nexen