Janet Yellen says Fed could raise rates in coming months

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said Friday that an interest rate hike would be appropriate in the coming months if the economy keeps improving.While economic growth was relatively weak at the end of last year and beginning of this year, it appears to be picking up now based on recent data, Yellen said during a discussion at Harvard University.She said she expects the Fed to “gradually and cautiously increase” its key interest rate “and probably in the coming months, such a move would be appr

May 28, 2016

China weakens yuan fixing to lowest since 2011

China’s central bank weakened its currency fixing to the lowest since March 2011 as the dollar strengthened.The reference rate was lowered by 0.3 percent to 6.5693 per dollar. A gauge of the dollar’s strength rose to a two-month high Tuesday as traders boosted wagers that U.S. interest rates will rise. The yuan weakened 0.1 percent to 6.5636 in a third day of losses as of 10:27 a.m. in Hong Kong.A resurgent greenback is shaking up a strategy that the People’s Bank of China pursued over the past

May 25, 2016

China criticizes U.S. steel anti-dumping measures

BEIJING (AP) -- China has criticized U.S. anti-dumping penalties imposed on Chinese steel amid mounting complaints Beijing is exporting at improperly low prices to clear a backlog at home.The Commerce Ministry complained Wednesday that the duties of 522 percent announced on cold-rolled steel used in automobiles and other manufacturing were excessive and called on Washington to rescind them.Beijing faces mounting criticism from the United States and Europe over a flood of low-cost steel that West

May 19, 2016

Fed: June hike likely if economy picks up

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Catching many investors off guard, the Federal Reserve made clear Wednesday that an interest rate hike in June is likely if the economy keeps improving.The minutes of their most recent meeting in late April showed that Fed officials widely felt it would be time to raise rates at their June 14-15 meeting as long as hiring and economic growth strengthened and inflation showed signs of accelerating toward the Fed's 2 percent target rate.The Fed had voted 9-1 in April to keep rate

May 19, 2016

Dollar rallies on US interest rate hike talk

TOKYO (AFP) - The dollar rallied broadly in Asia on Wednesday as a string of US economic data and bullish commentary from two Federal Reserve policymakers spurred talk of a US interest rate hike.The greenback surged against emerging market currencies as investors ran for cover after overnight news that US industrial production, consumer prices and housing starts all rose in April.The US central bank earlier this year said it would not raise rates again-- after December's first hike in almost a d

May 18, 2016

Elephant in room at G7 is sure to be yen

When finance chiefs and central bankers from the Group of Seven countries gather this week at a hot springs resort in northern Japan, the official agenda has them focusing on ways to revitalize global growth and crack down on cross-border tax evasion.Left off the discussion list is one of the most pressing concerns for the host nation: How to counter a 10 percent surge in the yen that’s squeezing an economy unable to escape a cycle of expansion and contraction. Cries for sympathy are likely to f

May 18, 2016

Asian markets mostly higher, Buffett Apple move boosts techs

HONG KONG (AFP) -- Most Asian markets climbed Tuesday, as tech firms were boosted by Warren Buffett's billion-dollar stake in Apple, while energy stocks tracked further gains in oil prices.After last week’s sell-off, U.S. investors provided a blistering lead Monday with all three main indexes sharply higher, pumped up by news of Buffett's giant stake in the iPhone maker.Apple, which has tumbled since it last month reported its first fall in sales of the popular smartphones, rallied 3.7 on the an

May 18, 2016

Oil at fresh 2016 highs on hopes of supply glut easing

SINGAPORE (AFP) -- Oil rose to fresh 2016 highs in Asia Monday as a slowdown in U.S. drilling and increase in Chinese crude refinery processing bolstered hopes a supply glut would ease sooner than expected.U.S. oilfield services firm Baker Hughes said the number of U.S. drilling rigs fell to its lowest level since October 2009, which is good news for prices as U.S. production is a key contributor to the oversupply.Chinese crude refineries also processed crude at record rates in April while produ

May 16, 2016

China’s economy grinds down a gear as heavy industry drags

China's economy resumed its grind toward slower growth in April, weighed by overcapacity industries such as steel and coal.Industrial production climbed 6 percent in April from a year earlier, down from 6.8 percent in March and missing economists' estimates for 6.5 percent. Retail sales also missed analyst forecasts, rising 10.1 percent, while fixed-asset investment increased 10.5 percent in the January-April period versus economists' expectation for 11 percent.After a rocky start to 2016 marked

May 14, 2016

Japan PM to delay tax hike over economy fears: report

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to postpone a sales tax hike a second time, judging that boosting the tariff could hurt the world's third-largest economy, a newspaper said Saturday.Abe has already informed senior government officials he plans delay the consumption tax hike, scheduled for next April, that would raise levy from eight to 10 percent, the Nikkei business daily said.The last such rise, in April 2014 -- the nation's first in 17 years -- was blamed for pushing Japan into recess

May 14, 2016

Fed officials signal markets may be wrong to doubt June hike

Two regional Federal Reserve presidents said that an interest rate increase should be on the table next month, pushing back against market expectations that the U.S. central bank will keep policy on hold for a fourth consecutive meeting.Atlanta Fed chief Dennis Lockhart and San Francisco’s John Williams both signaled on Tuesday that the U.S. economy could warrant a rate hike when the policy setting Federal Open Market Committee gathers on June 14-15. Investors currently only see a 12 percent cha

May 4, 2016

Xi's Silk Road dream hits a speed-bump in Thailand

President Xi Jinping is so devoted to his Silk Road project for China to deepen economic ties across Asia that he recently had top Communist officials attend a "study" session on the millennia-old history of the route.References to the initiative, launched by Xi in 2013 and known as the "belt and road" plan, have become ubiquitous in China, down to even in-flight magazines on its aircraft. As part of the Communist party boss’s vision of moving China beyond a century of humiliation at the hands o

May 4, 2016

Yen rally eases after Tokyo hints at intervention

The yen's soaring rally took a breather in Asian trading Monday after Japanese finance minister Taro Aso warned over the surge, vowing to take action "when necessary".The weekend remarks hinted at a possible market intervention in the wake of the Bank of Japan's shock policy decision last week that caused the yen to surge to an 18-month high against the dollar.On Monday, the greenback edged up to 106.56 yen from 106.31 yen in New York Friday, its lowest level since October 2014.But the unit was

May 2, 2016

Aso says Japan will take action with currency if needed: Nikkei

Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso said that one-sided speculative movements in the dollar-yen rate are “extremely concerning,” the Nikkei newspaper reported Sunday.Japan will carefully watch currency markets to ensure speculation doesn’t continue and will take action as may be necessary, Aso told reporters at Haneda Airport late Saturday.The yen surged against the dollar to 106.5 on Friday for an 18-month high after the Bank of Japan didn’t deliver further monetary easing as markets had expecte

May 1, 2016

BoJ surprises as it holds off stimulus, delays inflation target

BoJ surprises as it holds off stimulus, delays inflation targetThe Bank of Japan shocked markets Thursday as it held fire on a fresh round of widely expected stimulus measures, sparking questions about whether it had anything left in its arsenal to kickstart the stuttering economy.Dealers were caught off guard by the decision, especially after another set of weak economic data in the morning had turned up the heat on policymakers to help ignite growth.The yen soared on the decision -- the BoJ al

April 28, 2016

Saudi to sell less than 5% of Aramco, create $2 trillion fund

RIYADH (AFP) -- Saudi Arabia will sell shares in state oil giant Aramco and set up the world‘s largest wealth fund under a long-term economic reform plan, the deputy crown prince said Monday.　Prince Mohammed bin Salman said the plan, dubbed “Saudi Vision 2030”, aimed to end the country’s dependence on oil by 2020.　“We have all developed an oil addiction in Saudi Arabia and this is dangerous and has hampered development in many sectors during past years,” 　Prince Mohammed said in an interview wit

April 25, 2016

Japan's next generation of farmers could be robots

As the average age of farmers globally creeps higher and retirement looms, Japan has a solution: robots and driver-less tractors.The Group-of-Seven agriculture ministers meet in Japan’s northern prefecture of Niigata this weekend for the first time in seven years to discuss how to meet increasing food demand as aging farmers retire without successors. With the average age of Japanese farmers now 67, Agriculture Minister Hiroshi Moriyama will outline his idea of replacing retiring growers with Ja

April 23, 2016

China property boost to GDP risks fading after debt-fueled rise

China’s expansion may face stronger headwinds this year should the debt-fueled boost from real estate, a key driver of recent economic growth, prove unsustainable.The economy grew 1.1 percent in the first quarter from the prior quarter, the slowest quarter-to-quarter expansion in data since 2011, the National Bureau of Statistics said. Housing demand helped boost growth, with output of real-estate services adding 9.1 percent from a year earlier while construction activities rose 7.8 percent, NBS

April 18, 2016