ALGIERS (AP) ― Algeria’s oil minister on Sunday called on OPEC to cut production and raise the price of oil, which has plunged dramatically in the last six months.The call by Youcef Yousfi to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, of which Algeria is a member, comes as the country is struggling to deal with a halving of oil prices from $120 barrel to $60 a barrel.“For us, OPEC has to intervene to correct the imbalance and cut production to bring up prices and defend the income of its

Dec. 29, 2014

The Kingdom Tower stands illuminated at night on King Fahad Road in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Bloomberg)Saudi Arabia is seeking to open its $509 billion stock exchange to foreign investors in April, according to three people briefed on the country’s plans. The Capital Market Authority informed brokers and fund managers of the timeline in London last month, two of the people said, asking not to be identified as the meeting was private. Saudi Arabia isn’t planning significant changes to draft rules p

Dec. 29, 2014

Foreign investors have had just about enough of Abenomics. After pumping record amounts of cash into Japanese shares last year, they’ve hardly added to holdings in 2014. Inflows are down 94 percent this year to 898 billion yen ($7.5 billion), on pace for the smallest annual amount since the 2008 global financial crisis. The month of April 2013 alone registered almost three times as much foreign investment in the stock market as all of 2014. These figures provide the clearest look at how global i

Dec. 29, 2014

Amazon.com Inc. and other retailers are on pace to sell more products online than ever this holiday season, aided by early promotions and investments in delivery systems that helped avoid the widespread shipping delays of last year. Web sales rose 14 percent from Nov. 27 to Dec. 21, consulting firm ChannelAdvisor Corp. said in a statement earlier this week. That’s roughly in line with ComScore Inc.’s November forecast that online purchases would gain 16 percent to $61 billion during the three mo

Dec. 28, 2014

China’s industrial profits fell the most in two years last month, the latest data to show a deepening slowdown in the world’s second-biggest economy as pressure grows on the nation’s central bank to ease monetary conditions. Total profits of China’s industrial enterprises in November dropped 4.2 percent from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said Saturday in Beijing. That followed October’s 2.1 percent decline and a 0.4 percent increase in September. It’s the biggest slide since

Dec. 28, 2014

NEW DELHI (AFP) ― India’s central bank chief lashed out at Uber, already under fire over the alleged rape of a passenger, saying the U.S. taxi-hailing firm violated the country’s financial regulations by using an overseas payment system.A row over the highly valued start-up’s financial transactions erupted in India earlier this year after domestic taxi firms complained Uber was not following the country’s two-step authentication system for e-commerce credit card payments.“They (Uber) were using

Dec. 28, 2014

TOKYO (AP) ― Japan’s Cabinet approved 3.5 trillion yen ($29 billion) in fresh stimulus Saturday for the ailing economy, pledging to get growth back on track and restore the country’s precarious public finances.Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is wrapping up his second year in office hard-pressed to salvage a recovery that fizzled into recession after a sales tax hike in April.The stimulus plan endorsed by the Cabinet includes 600 billion yen earmarked for stagnant regional economies. It also lays out A

Dec. 28, 2014

Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc., the world’s biggest payments networks, halted services to Crimea after the U.S. escalated sanctions in response to Russia’s annexation of the peninsula and its activities in Ukraine. The card firms are responding to an executive order from the Obama administration last week, according to emails Friday from the companies’ Russian press offices. “Visa is now prohibited from offering Visa-branded products and services to Crimea,” the company said. “This means that we

Dec. 28, 2014

OPEC will need to “step in” amid further declines in oil prices, which are fair at about $70 to $80 a barrel, according to the group’s second-biggest producer. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries could still hold back from intervening in the market for one or two years, Iraq’s Oil Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi said in an interview. Brent oil dropped about 20 percent since OPEC decided to maintain output at its November meeting in Vienna. Global oil supply is growing as the highest U.S.

Dec. 25, 2014

ABU DHABI (AFP) ― The determination of powerful Gulf OPEC members to stifle competition from new oil producers has left the global energy market reeling and sparked unprecedented uncertainty, officials and experts say.Gathered in Abu Dhabi for a key conference, senior energy officials from Arab Gulf nations insisted they will not cut production despite the freefall in oil prices.A supply glut, lower demand and the stronger U.S. dollar have all contributed to pushing down oil prices, which have d

Dec. 23, 2014

Last month, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s Jack Ma invited 1,600 former employees to its home turf in Hangzhou, China. The company’s $25 billion initial public offering had made many of them wealthy and he urged them to start businesses that would be meaningful in the long term. “He knew a lot of us got rich and wanted to tell us not to waste our money,” said Sun Shuihua, who worked at Alibaba for a decade. “He told us to treat our wealth responsibly.” Sun, 36, has already started: She’s spending

Dec. 22, 2014

A tank truck driver pumps out gasoline into reserve tanks at an Idemitsu Kosan gas station in Tokyo. (Bloomberg)Japan’s refiners surged after two of the largest said they were discussing a tie-up, as falling demand for fuels spurs the industry to consider consolidation. Idemitsu Kosan Co., Japan’s third-biggest refiner by capacity, and Showa Shell Sekiyu KK, the fifth-ranked, are holding talks, the companies said in separate statements Dec. 20. The announcements followed a Nikkei newspaper repor

Dec. 22, 2014

WASHINGTON (AP) ― Cargill aims to sell more corn and soybeans. MasterCard covets another site for Americans to swipe credit cards. Marriott sees beachfront property that needs hotels.And outside Orlando, Florida, Danny Howell just knows there would be demand for his classic Chevrolet parts.American businesses have begun imagining ways to capitalize on last week’s announcement that the United States will restore diplomatic ties with Cuba and ease curbs on trade with one of the last surviving Comm

Dec. 22, 2014

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s victory in elections this month, an endorsement of his economic policies, may help the nation’s biggest companies get richer while extending a surge in bankruptcies among smaller ones. Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. are expected to post record profit this year after the policies known as “Abenomics” weakened the yen, boosting their earnings from overseas. Aggregate net income at 196 of the largest listed companies will rise to a record 18 trillion yen

Dec. 22, 2014

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― Uber promises to focus on rider safety amid increasing concerns that its drivers are not adequately screened for past criminal convictions. In a blog post Wednesday, Uber’s head of global safety defended the company’s safety record but also wrote that “as we look to 2015, we will build new safety programs and intensify others.”The taxi alternative, valued at $40 billion, lets passengers summon cars through an app in more than 250 cities around the world. It faces multiples leg

Dec. 18, 2014