MOSCOW (AFP) ― Several Russian banks on Friday saw their customers barred from using Visa and MasterCard credit cards as U.S. economic sanctions over Russia’s takeover of Crimea began to dig in.U.S.-based Visa and MasterCard have stopped servicing the credit cards of customers at Russian banks due to the economic sanctions announced in Washington, the banks said Friday.A Visa spokesman told ITAR-TASS news agency that the move was to “in order to comply with U.S. law” and concerned four banks: Ba

March 23, 2014

The U.S. move to further scale back its monthly bond purchases is within an expected range and its impact on the Korean economy will be “limited,” Deputy Finance Minister Eun Sung-soo said Thursday.“The additional tapering action has been expected, and such market indicators as U.S. stocks and interest rates remain within a range expected by the (Seoul) government,” Eun told reporters after holding a closed-door meeting to discuss responses to the Fed’s latest decision. “We expect that its impac

March 20, 2014

TOKYO (AFP) ― Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda on Thursday marked his first year in the job as critics and skeptics alike keep an eye how his unprecedented monetary easing program ripples through the economy.Prime Minister Shinzo Abe hand picked the former Asian Development Bank boss to help lead Tokyo’s bid to kickstart growth and reverse years of deflation which held back the once world-beating economy.Within weeks of stepping into the job on March 20 last year, Kuroda had unleashed a vast a

March 20, 2014

Companies with investments in Russia ― such as General Electric Co. and Boeing Co. ― are growing concerned as the U.S. prepares to impose tougher sanctions over the crisis in Crimea that may spur retribution against corporate interests. Almost 100 chief executive officers with the Business Roundtable met in Washington Wednesday with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel. Prior to the meeting, John Engler, the group’s president and former governor of Michigan, said the CEOs are “obviously very concerned

March 20, 2014

The tide of hot money is turning in favor of Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines. Overseas investors have bought a net $1.6 billion of shares in the three Southeast Asian countries in March, poised for the biggest monthly inflow since January 2013. That follows $4.2 billion of withdrawals in the fourth quarter, which matched the largest outflow since Bloomberg began tracking the data in 1999. The combination of easing political unrest in Thailand, a shrinking current-account deficit in Indon

March 20, 2014

Apple Inc. is selling a new, cheaper version of the iPhone 5C with less memory in the U.K., France, Germany, Australia and China.The latest iPhone 5C has 8 gigabytes and is priced at 429 pounds ($712) without a contract, compared with 469 pounds for the 16-gigabyte model, according to Apple’s U.K. store. The Cupertino, California-based company isn’t yet offering this version of the 5C in the U.S.Apple introduced the plastic-cased iPhone 5C last year in a bid to capture more budget-conscious smar

March 19, 2014

Japan’s trade deficit exceeded analysts’ estimates in February, underscoring drags on the nation’s recovery ahead of a sales-tax increase in April that will weigh on domestic demand. The 800 billion yen ($7.9 billion) shortfall reported by the finance ministry in Tokyo Wednesday was more than the 600 billion yen median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of 31 economists. Imports expanded 9 percent from a year earlier, and exports rose 9.8 percent. Sustained trade deficits and limited gains in e

March 19, 2014

ATHENS (AP) ― Greece concluded seven months of tortuous negotiations with its international debt inspectors Tuesday, reaching a deal that will allow it to access a long-delayed rescue loan installment. The deal does not require Greece to impose any new austerity policies, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras insisted, as he outlined a series of relief measures for the most needy. “Today a long period of tribulations has ended, and a new beginning is being made,” Samaras said.  Greece has depended on i

March 19, 2014

Economists are split over how long Japan’s government has to rein in the world’s biggest debt burden, a Bloomberg News survey shows, adding to a debate on whether the government should keep ratcheting up a sales tax. Eleven of 34 analysts said the government has four years or less to put fiscal policy on a sustainable path and avoid a crisis, while seven said it has over 10 years. BNP Paribas SA and Credit Suisse Group AG were among five saying it’s too late to avert one. UBS AG says chances of

March 18, 2014

Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov sold shares in Apple Inc. and Facebook Inc. and bought into technology investments such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. in China, one of his advisers said. “Chinese companies account for about 70 percent to 80 percent of the portfolio of our foreign Internet investments,” Ivan Streshinskiy, head of Usmanov’s asset-management company USM Advisors LLC, said in an interview on March 14 in Moscow. Most of the investment is in “Alibaba, JD.com and some other companie

March 18, 2014

WASHINGTON (AP) ― The Janet Yellen era at the Federal Reserve begins in earnest this week with a two-day meeting, a policy statement and fresh economic forecasts. Yet all that will be a prelude to the marquee event: Yellen’s first news conference as Fed chair. The financial world will be parsing every word for any hint of a policy shift. Will Yellen, having succeeded Ben Bernanke, embrace Bernanke’s approach of keeping rates low while gradually paring the Fed’s economic stimulus? Or, as some spe

March 18, 2014