U.N.: Latin America is grinding to a halt

SANTIAGO (AFP) ― Latin America’s economies, hit by falling investment, will grow just 1.1 percent in 2014 ― their lowest level in five years, a U.N. commission on the region said Tuesday.The poor performance of several of Latin America’s biggest economies dragged down growth across the region, found the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.Argentina’s economy will contract by 0.2 percent this year and Venezuela’s by 3 percent, it said. Regional giant Brazil’s wi

Dec. 3, 2014

Russia predicts recession on sanctions, oil slump

MOSCOW (AFP) ― The Russian economy ministry on Tuesday slashed its economic forecast for 2015, announcing a contraction of 0.8 percent because of Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis combined with falling oil prices.The ministry cut its previous outlook of 1.2 percent growth by two percentage points, referring to worsening economic indicators and a “more conservative” assumption that Western sanctions will remain through 2015.Plunging oil prices also led to the revision, with a weakening ru

Dec. 3, 2014

Oil decline will strengthen U.S. recovery

The sharp drop in oil prices will support U.S. growth by boosting spending, two top Federal Reserve officials said, playing down the risk that plunging energy costs could push inflation further below the Fed’s goal. Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer and New York Fed President William C. Dudley, speaking at separate events Monday in New York, both stressed the positive impact on the U.S. economy from the steepest decline in oil prices for five years. “I’m not very worried,” Fischer told an audien

Dec. 2, 2014

Oil at $40 possible

Oil’s decline is proving to be the worst since the collapse of the financial system in 2008 and threatening to have the same global impact of falling prices three decades ago that led to the Mexican debt crisis and the end of the Soviet Union. Russia, the world’s largest producer, can no longer rely on the same oil revenues to rescue an economy suffering from European and U.S. sanctions. Iran, also reeling from similar sanctions, will need to reduce subsidies that have partly insulated its growi

Dec. 1, 2014

Foreign automakers find Iranian market has gone local

TEHRAN (AFP) ― Foreign automakers seeking a return to the potentially huge Iranian market with the lifting of international sanctions will find the business environment has changed: former joint venture partners now want to play the game by their own rules.Iran’s auto industry has been a major casualty of penalties imposed over the Islamic republic’s nuclear program, with production plummeting and workers laid off because of the ensuing economic slowdown.France’s PSA Peugeot-Citroen and South Ko

Dec. 1, 2014

Online sales spike on a less chaotic Black Friday

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― The top U.S. shopping “holiday” saw a surge this year in online sales with smaller crowds in stores ― but Black Friday still brought some of its trademark shopping mall pandemonium.Businesses usually offer deep discounts starting early Friday morning, prompting massive crowds that have led to numerous injuries and a number of deaths in years past. This year, businesses continued a trend in starting shopping deals earlier and extending them longer, leading to smaller crowds.But

Nov. 30, 2014

OPEC move puts U.S. shale in tight spot

NEW YORK (AFP) ― In taking no action on production, OPEC did the opposite of what it usually does. It effectively rubber-stamped a supply glut that already has sent prices plunging.But to many analysts, the cartel’s seeming enthusiasm for lower crude oil prices was not really all that surprising. Rather, the tactic made sense in light of an American shale boom that has put OPEC on the defensive.“OPEC is all in and will continue to flood the globe with oil in an effort to bury the U.S. shale oil

Nov. 30, 2014

Swiss to vote on gold-buying plan

GENEVA (AP) ― In Switzerland, a campaign is on to protect the country’s wealth by investing in gold ― a lot of gold. In a test of their sense of financial security, the Swiss are being asked to vote on a proposal to make the central bank hold a fifth of its reserves in gold within five years. That would mean buying about 1,500 metric tons, or 1,650 short tons, of gold worth more than $60 billion. If the initiative wins the backing of a majority of voters this Sunday, the Swiss National Bank woul

Nov. 30, 2014

Ruble scrapes new lows as Russia braces for cheap oil

MOSCOW (AFP) ― Energy-rich Russia’s currency extended Friday its slide into record low territory and the government lowered its crucial oil price forecast in the wake of OPEC’s decision to leave its output target unchanged.The ruble shed another 1.6 percent against the dollar and stood near the 49.35 mark in evening trading on the Moscow Exchange. It gave up the same percentage point and was valued at almost 61.55 against the euro ― also a historic low.The beleaguered currency has been trying to

Nov. 30, 2014

‘Russia seen risking junk status’

Russian ruble banknotes. (Bloomberg)Russia has limited room for tapping one of its sovereign wealth funds before jeopardizing its investment-grade debt rating, according to Standard & Poor’s.“If money is spent to support the economy, to support specific companies ― that would lead to a decline of those fiscal buffers beyond what we currently expect,” S&P analyst Christian Esters said in an interview in Moscow. The rainy-day funds “are strong mitigating factors for the stresses Russia has been ex

Nov. 27, 2014

Alibaba plans to invest more in India

NEW DELHI (AFP) ― E-commerce giant Alibaba’s founder Jack Ma promised Wednesday to invest more in India where online sales are soaring, predicting that the Internet will transform the country’s future.Ma, on a whirlwind 48-hour trip with a nearly 100-member Chinese business delegation to India, has been scouting for investment opportunities to drive Alibaba’s revenues following its record $25-billion initial public offer in September.“We’ll invest more in India, work with Indian entrepreneurs, I

Nov. 27, 2014