SHANGHAI/HONG KONG The Di Mei shopping center in downtown Shanghai is a surprisingly depressing place to shop. The underground mall is located in one of the most shopping-mad cities in China, and yet it is run down and starved of customers. “Sometimes I cannot... More »
SINGAPORE Countries should not bank on oil prices remaining low when formulating their energy policies, as supplies could tighten from mid-2016 due to a drop in investment and falling U.S. output, a senior industry official said on Monday. Global oil prices LC... More »
BEIJING/SHANGHAI China’s ruling Communist Party opened a key meeting on Monday that will focus on financial reforms and how to maintain growth of around seven percent and more broadly map out economic and social targets for the next five years. The Central Com... More »
BEIJING Liberalizing China’s interest rates is a key element of financial reform, the country’s central bank said on Monday, adding that cutting borrowing costs and lowering the amount of cash banks must keep as reserves do not equate to quantitative easing. T... More »
TOKYO Toshiba Corp is set to sell its image sensor business to Sony Corp for around 20 billion yen ($164.68 million) as part of a restructuring plan laid out earlier this year, sources with knowledge of the deal said on Saturday. Toshiba, whose businesses rang... More »
Hackers associated with the Chinese government have tried to penetrate at least seven U.S. companies in the three weeks since Washington and Beijing agreed not to spy on each other for commercial reasons, according to a prominent U.S. security firm. CrowdStrik... More »
BEIJING China’s economic growth dipped below 7 percent for the first time since the global financial crisis on Monday, hurt partly by cooling investment, raising pressure on Beijing to further cut interest rates and take other measures to stoke activity. The w... More »
BEIJING China’s economy will maintain stable growth in the future, a spokesman for the National Bureau of Statistics said on Monday, after growth eased to the slowest since the global financial crisis. China’s exports face increased downward pressure and the g... More »
BEIJING China’s economic growth eased to 6.9 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, beating expectations but still the slowest since the global financial crisis, putting pressure on policymakers to roll out more support measures as fears of a sharpe... More »
HONG KONG Asian shares held two-month highs on Monday as a batch of Chinese data showed the economy slowing while still managing to reassure investors it was not in danger of a hard landing. Adding to optimism wee growing bets that the U.S. Federal Reserve wil... More »
Yahoo Inc’s (YHOO.O) chief development officer, Jacqueline Reses, is leaving the company to join mobile payments company Square Inc, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Reses’ role changed earlier this year when she shifted her focus to... More »
Suppliers of everything from groceries to sports equipment are already being squeezed for price cuts and cost sharing by Wal-Mart Stores (WMT.N). Now they are bracing for the pressure to ratchet up even more after a shock earnings warning from the retailer las... More »
HONG KONG China’s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd on Monday said it will spend $1 billion to support information and communication technology developers over the next five years. “The aim is to help developers create innovative services and rapidly respond to custo... More »
SAN FRANCISCO International Business Machines Corp said on Friday it allows certain countries to review, under strict control, portions of the U.S. technology company’s product source code to detect any security flaws in its software. China is among those coun... More »
NEW YORK Stocks in major world markets rose to a two-month high on Friday and the dollar ticked up, boosted by views that the European Central Bank may provide more stimulus to the euro zone economy. Oil prices rose nearly 2 percent as traders covered short po... More »
Big fish Chinese gamblers afraid of a corruption crackdown and poorly paid Walmart workers in the United States might seem to have little in common. But in the global economy, they are in some ways two sides of the same coin, and to understand that is to under... More »
BRUSSELS Anheuser-Busch InBev’s (ABI.BR) CEO says a study of SABMiller’s (SAB.L) African beer markets and talks with top shareholders led to an “alignment of stars” that drew it to its nearest rival. But observers say the real catalysts for the $100 billion ta... More »
HONG KONG Asian shares rose on Monday, extending an October rally, as investors hunted for bargains in industrials and basic materials, fueled by a rebound in commodities while the dollar struggled as hopes of a Fed rate rise this year faded. European stocks w... More »
SHANGHAI Ford Motor Co (F.N) said on Monday it will invest 11.4 billion yuan ($1.8 billion) over the next five years to expand research and development in China, the latest effort by the U.S. carmaker to secure a larger slice of the world’s biggest auto market... More »
BEIJING China’s quality watchdog said on Monday it was “highly concerned” about the mechanism in Volkswagen AG’s (VOWG_p.DE) diesel cars designed to trick emissions tests and would take appropriate follow-up measures. The General Administration of Quality Supe... More »
SHANGHAI Now is not the right time for the United States to raise interest rates, given the global economic situation, China’s Finance Minister Lou Jiwei said in an interview published in the China Business News on Monday. Speaking on the sidelines of the annu... More »
SHANGHAI China’s stock market correction is “almost over”, the official China Securities Journal quoted a senior central banker as saying. Yi Gang, deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China told an annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and Worl... More »
SHANGHAI China on Saturday published draft rules to regulate online car hailing businesses, a booming sector where U.S. firm Uber Technologies Inc [UBER.UL] and Chinese rival Didi Kuaidi have been aggressively competing for market share. The draft rules, publi... More »
BEIJING A typhoon bringing heavy rain churned inland through southern China on Monday, a day after making landfall, killing at least six people, injuring hundreds, knocking out power and overturning cars. The storm made landfall in the southern province of Gua... More »
HONG KONG Hong Kong’s former leader, Donald Tsang, was charged on Monday with two counts of misconduct in public office, the latest in a string of scandals that have ensnared senior business and former political figures in the financial hub. Tsang, 70, retired... More »
TOKYO Asian stocks rose on Monday as expectations for a U.S. interest rate hike this year faded after weaker-than-expected employment data. Spreadbetters forecast a higher open for Britain’s FTSE .FTSE, Germany’s DAX .GDAXI and France’s CAC .FCHI as investors ... More »
LONDON The world’s nine biggest insurance companies will have to hold more capital under new rules just finalised by global regulators that aim to prevent taxpayer bailouts of the industry in a crisis. Regulators decided to look at the multi-trillion dollar in... More »
BENGALURU/LONDON World economic growth lost momentum in September, with China’s factory output shrinking again, euro zone manufacturing growth slowing, and U.S. activity steady. The latest business surveys across Asia, Europe and the Americas paint a gloomier ... More »
BRUGELETTE, Belgium Belgian researchers are examining the excrement of giant pandas to try to understand how they can digest tough bamboo, hoping for clues on how to develop new generations of biofuel. The genetic make-up of endangered pandas is that of a carn... More »
BEIJING/WASHINGTON On Friday morning, Chinese President Xi Jinping enjoyed the symbolic high point of his first state visit to the United States – a 21-gun salute as he stood with President Barack Obama outside the White House. For most Americans, it was a sid... More »
UNITED NATIONS China’s President Xi Jinping told the United Nations on Sunday that all Chinese women have the opportunity to excel, touting his government’s record on women’s rights as the United States slammed Beijing and others for jailing women for their vi... More »
NEW DELHI India launched its first space research observatory and several U.S. satellites on Monday, part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s drive to expand his country’s influence in the competitive, $300 billion global space industry. The observatory, named A... More »
HONG KONG Hundreds of pro-democracy activists rallied near government headquarters on Monday amid tight security to mark the first anniversary of pro-democracy protests that crippled parts of the Chinese-controlled city. Police were on alert to avoid a repeat ... More »
SHANGHAI China stocks inched up in thin trading on Monday, as investors remained cautious while shrugging off data showing profits of Chinese industrial companies in August declined at the sharpest rate in four years. The CSI300 index .CSI300 of the largest li... More »
SAN JOSE, California Lights flashed and chants of “Modi, Modi” filled the 18,000-seat sports arena in San Jose, California, on Sunday as the Indian premier took the stage for the final event of his Silicon Valley tour, marked by sporadic protests over his huma... More »
SHANGHAI/BEIJING China’s most popular ride-hailing app Didi Kuaidi said on Monday it has invested in Indian peer Ola, forging a new alliance within a network of companies challenging U.S. rival Uber Technologies Inc [UBER.UL]. Didi joins existing investors inc... More »
MENLO PARK, California Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi received a warm welcome at Facebook headquarters on Sunday for a town hall hosted by CEO Mark Zuckerberg that focused as much on the two men’s backgrounds as the business potential of the world’s secon... More »
LONDON Euro zone inflation and U.S. jobs data will offer clues to the health of major developed economies in the coming week while the malaise gripping emerging markets is expected to prompt India to cut interest rates. China may release monthly foreign exchan... More »
WASHINGTON The origins of the enamel that gives our teeth their bite is no ordinary fish tale.Scientists said on Wednesday fossil and genetic evidence indicates enamel did not originate in the teeth but in the scales of ancient fish that lived more than 400 mi... More »
BOSTON Apple Inc APPL.O said on Sunday it is cleaning up its iOS App Store to remove malicious iPhone and iPad programs identified in the first large-scale attack on the popular mobile software outlet. The company disclosed the effort after several cyber secur... More »
BEIJING British finance minister George Osborne said on Monday Britain would like to continue helping the gradual internationalization of the yuan and that it welcomed the potential for majority Chinese investment in future nuclear projects. Speaking at the st... More »
SINGAPORE Asian shares and emerging currencies fell on Monday after the U.S. Federal Reserve’s decision to keep interest rates at record lows raised fresh concerns about growth globally, particularly in China. European markets were set to follow suit, with fin... More »
ZURICH Zurich Insurance Group AG (ZURN.VX) abandoned its proposed 5.6 billion pound ($8.7 billion) bid for British insurer RSA Insurance Group PLC (RSA.L) on Monday after forecasting a $200 million loss in its general insurance business due to explosions at th... More »
BEIJING China and Russia are set to sign an agreement on developing a wide-bodied airliner before the end of the year, the China Daily reported on Monday, quoting the president of Russia’s state-controlled United Aircraft Corp, Yury Slyusar. United Aircraft an... More »
HONG KONG Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Monday he hopes the economy will grow faster this year than last, and expects that Asia’s third-largest economy will not see a big hit from China’s slowdown. Jaitley, who is on a road trip meeting foreign ... More »
BEIJING Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has called for state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to press ahead with mergers and acquisitions to improve their competitiveness and for the disposal of “zombie” enterprises, the official Xinhua news agency said late on Sunday. St... More »
TOKYO Public support for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe fell after the passage of controversial national security bills, which could let troops fight overseas for the first time since the end of World War Two, polls published on Monday showed. Support for ... More »
China’s yuan slipped against the dollar on Monday after the central bank fixed a weaker guidance rate, traders said. The People’s Bank of China set the midpoint rate CNY=SAEC at 6.3676 per dollar prior to the market open, 0.11 percent weaker than the previous ... More »
TOKYO Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (2317.TW) offered to buy Sharp Corp’s (6753.T) struggling liquid panel display business and plans to seek funding from Apple Inc (AAPL.O), the Nikkei business daily reported on Monday. The report did not specify how... More »
SHANGHAI Profit margins at Chinese firms improved in the third quarter while loan demand remained weak, a private survey showed , with the overall results suggesting the stock market crash would have minimal impact on the broader economy. The quarterly survey ... More »
BOSTON Apple Inc APPL.O said on Sunday it is cleaning up its iOS App Store to remove malicious iPhone and iPad programs identified in the first large-scale attack on the popular mobile software outlet. The company disclosed the effort after several cyber secur... More »
DALIAN, China In a cavernous showroom on the outskirts of this port city in northeastern China, softly whirring lathes and svelte robot arms represent Dalian Machine Tools Group’s (DMTG) vision of an automated future for Chinese manufacturing. On closer inspec... More »
FRANKFURT The falling cost of intelligent robots may help repatriate some car manufacturing work away from low-cost locations like China back to factories in Germany and North America, Donald Walker, Chief Executive of auto supplier Magna told Reuters. Rising ... More »
PARIS Business confidence data from China and the euro zone will offer some pointers this week to where the global economy is going after the U.S. Federal Reserve kept markets guessing about when it will begin raising rates. With a Chinese slowdown blamed for ... More »
LONDON Dissident artist Ai Weiwei has had his run-ins with the authorities in his native China, but the Royal Academy of Arts is giving him all the space he needs for a mammoth retrospective opening in London on Saturday. Among the works on display are securit... More »
TOKYO Asian shares rose in choppy trade on Monday after Chinese markets were hit by soft economic data, while the dollar sagged as investors questioned whether the U.S. Federal Reserve will be confident enough to raise rates for the first time in almost a deca... More »
Shares of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (BABA.N), which recently slipped below their initial offering price after having rocketed 75 percent in their first two months of trading, could lose another 50 percent of their value, Barron’s said in the cover story of its... More »
BEIJING China issued some details on Sunday on plans to reform state-owned enterprises (SOEs), including the introduction of “mixed ownership” by bringing in private investment, and said it expected decisive results by 2020. Reform of mammoth state-owned firms... More »
FRANKFURT The U.S. Federal Reserve takes center stage in the coming week, eclipsing industry data from China, another grim inflation reading from the euro zone and rate decisions in Japan and Switzerland. Guessing whether the Fed hikes rates on Thursday or opt... More »
WASHINGTON Senior U.S. and Chinese officials concluded four days of meetings on Saturday on cyber security and other issues, ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Washington later this month, the White House said. Cyber security has been a divisive ... More »
We may well not get a global recession in the coming year or two but if we do, bank on one thing: an inadequate policy response. Citibank Chief Economist Willem Buiter attracted attention this week with a call for a 55 percent chance of a global recession some... More »
LONDON Investors pulled another $19 billion from equity funds over the past week as they sought safety in government bond funds, which have enjoyed the longest run of inflows in four years, Bank of America/Merrill Lynch said on Friday. The exodus from emerging... More »
TOKYO Asian stocks were subdued on Monday, lacking clear direction as Shanghai shares see-sawed in and out of the red after the Chinese markets resumed trading following a four-day long weekend. Spreadbetters forecast Britain’s FTSE .FTSE, Germany’s DAX .GDAXI... More »
SHANGHAI China’s policymakers and regulators tried to soothe the country’s jittery markets on Monday, promising deeper financial market reforms and stressing the economy was showing signs of stabilizing, as stocks resumed trading after a four-day long weekend.... More »
SHANGHAI China’s yuan weakened against the dollar on Monday in spite of a firmer midpoint, as investors sold the Chinese currency and the central bank was seen to be less heavily intervening in the market via state-owned banks. “Dollar sales by state-owned ban... More »
BEIJING China has revised its annual economic growth rate in 2014 to 7.3 percent from the previously released figure of 7.4 percent, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Monday. Gross domestic product stood at 63.6 trillion yuan ($10.00 trillion) last yea... More »
SHANGHAI China’s markets are more stable and risks associated with high levels of leverage have eased following a period of high volatility, the country’s stocks regulator said late on Sunday. The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) added in a post o... More »
XUZHOU, China Two years after China unveiled a sweeping plan to rebuild Silk Road trade links with Europe and Asia, machinery maker XCMG Group has opened a factory in Uzbekistan, sent 300 staff abroad and set ambitious goals to grow overseas. XCMG’s foreign ve... More »
NEW YORK Stocks edged higher on Wall Street in another volatile session on Thursday while the euro fell 1 percent on a darkening euro zone outlook as investors grew cautious ahead of the closely watched U.S. monthly jobs report. Global stock markets rallied ea... More »
LONDON/NEW YORK Global manufacturing and service sector activity expanded in August at the same pace as in July, with both the U.S. and euro zone doing better than Asia, according to purchasing manager surveys. “Scratching beneath the headline numbers, however... More »
LONDON China’s giant manufacturing industry contracted and euro zone and U.S. growth eased in August in data published on Tuesday, while the International Monetary Fund cut its forecast for world growth this year. Stocks on major markets tumbled along with com... More »
SHANGHAI China stocks fell sharply on Monday before recovering much of their losses as regulators cracked down on speculators which Beijing blames for a 40 percent crash in the country’s stock markets since June. Both main indexes plunged more than 4 percent a... More »
HONG KONG Global financial markets looked set for another rough week on Monday, with stocks and commodities falling ahead of data that could give clues on when the U.S. will raise interest rates and surveys which are likely to point to further weakness in Chin... More »
BEIJING The removal of a stone plinth sign written by former Chinese president Jiang Zemin at the entrance of a key Communist Party training center is not a sign of disrespect, a senior official said on Monday, after rumors of destabilizing party infighting. J... More »
BEIJING People whose apartments were damaged in explosions in the northeastern Chinese port city of Tianjin can sell their homes to a group of property developers or choose to have the government renovate them, the official Xinhua news agency said. Hundreds of... More »
SHANGHAI， China’s yuan firmed on Monday after the central bank set a stronger guidance rate while it also appeared to continue using state-owned banks to support the Chinese currency, traders said. For August, the currency is set to depreciate 2.7 percent if i... More »
WASHINGTON The White House is considering applying sanctions against companies and individuals in China it believes have benefited from Chinese hacking of U.S. trade secrets, the Washington Post reported on Sunday. The newspaper, citing several unidentified Ob... More »
BEIJING China’s slowing economy has taken its toll on the first-half earnings of major construction machinery makers Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science and Technology Co Ltd (000157.SZ) and Sany Heavy Industry Co Ltd (600031.SS). Encouraged to expand after Beijin... More »
JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. Central bankers from around the world are telling their American counterparts that they are ready for a U.S. interest rate hike and would prefer that the Federal Reserve make the move without further ado. In private and in public at last wee... More »
SAN FRANCISCO In 2009, Eugene Kaspersky, co-founder of one of the world’s top security companies, told some of his lieutenants that they should attack rival antivirus software maker AVG Technologies N.V. (AVG.N) by “rubbing them out in the outhouse,” one of se... More »
BEIJING A television cameraman and his Segway succeeded in doing what none of Usain Bolt’s rivals could in the 200 meters final at world championships on Thursday — knock the Jamaican off his stride, and his feet, during his lap of honor. Bolt was taking the p... More »
SHANGHAI China’s Bank of Communications Co Ltd, the country’s fifth-largest listed bank by assets, reported a 1.5 percent rise in first half net profit, even as its bad debts continued to rise. BoCom on Thursday posted a net profit of 37.32 billion yuan ($11.0... More »
SHANGHAI Chinese stocks tumbled again on Tuesday, despite a rebound in markets elsewhere in Asia, as investors despaired at the lack of policy action from Beijing in response to recent data suggesting the downturn in the world’s second-largest economy is deepe... More »
BERLIN French Economy Ministry Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday developments in China pose a risk that should not be underestimated. He was speaking at an event with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier in the German capital. (Reporting by Andreas Ri... More »
SHANGHAI， China’s yuan dipped against the dollar on Tuesday after closing at its weakest level since 2011 on Monday, hit by another slump in the mainland’s stock market and a weak central bank midpoint. Traders said they believed the yuan’s current range betwe... More »
LONDON Volatile global markets got some respite from the latest blood-letting on Tuesday as bargain hunters nudged up Asian and European stocks, though China, at the center of the rout, was smashed again. The dollar and oil prices saw their first rises in five... More »
BEIJING China said it would launch a three-month crackdown on underground banking to curb money-laundering and illegal funds transfers as unstable markets stoke fears of capital flight. Worries over China’s economic slowdown and possible interest rate rises by... More »
BEIJING Boeing Co (BA.N) on Tuesday raised its forecast for China’s aircraft demand over the next 20 years despite a slowing economy and a tumbling stock market that have triggered a worldwide slide in equity and commodity prices. The U.S. plane maker expects ... More »
SEOUL North and South Korea agreed early on Tuesday to end a military standoff that sparked an exchange of artillery fire and had ratcheted up tension on one of the world’s most heavily-fortified borders. Under an accord reached in the early hours, following m... More »
TOKYO Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso warned market players against pushing up the yen too much further, saying that its spike against the dollar overnight was “rough” and undesirable for the economy. Aso said that while there was no immediate plan for G20 ... More »
NEW YORK Wall Street’s selloff on Monday, sparked by a near-9 percent dive in Chinese shares, was a long-overdue correction that analysts said is unlikely to undermine support for U.S. stocks going forward. “We are unlikely to be going into a bear market,” sai... More »
NEW YORK DoubleLine Capital co-founder Jeffrey Gundlach, widely followed for his investment calls, warned on Monday that the U.S. equity markets face another round of selling pressure. “The U.S. stock market is in a mode of uncertainty, at best,” Gundlach said... More »
Apple Inc’s Chief Executive Tim Cook took an unusual step of reassuring shareholders on Monday in comments to CNBC about the iPhone maker’s business in China ahead of a dramatic 13 percent drop and rebound in its stock that put it in positive territory. Chines... More »
SHANGHAI China’s currency fell to a four-year low on Wednesday, slumping for a second day, after a central bank devaluation on Tuesday, and government sources believe the yuan may be allowed to slide even further to help the country’s exporters. The yuan trade... More »
NEW YORK Stocks, the U.S. dollar, and emerging market currencies around the world remained under pressure for a second day on Wednesday after China’s yuan weakened again, a day after the country devalued its currency. Major Wall Street averages pared losses by... More »
LONDON British-Indian sculptor Anish Kapoor said on Wednesday he would take legal action based on copyright concerns after noting a close similarity between a huge stainless-steel, globe-like sculpture in China and his “Cloud Gate” sculpture in Chicago. The sc... More »
BEIJING China’s move to devalue its currency reflects a growing clamor within government circles for a weaker yuan to help struggling exporters, ensuring the central bank remains under pressure to drag it down further in the months ahead, sources said. The yua... More »
HONG KONG Police raided the Hong Kong offices of taxi-hailing service Uber Inc on Tuesday and arrested five drivers for the “illegal use of vehicles for hire”, police said. A Hong Kong police senior inspector, Bruce Hung, said undercover police officers had us... More »
YANGON Myanmar was evacuating parts of a city on Wednesday after mudslides wiped away hundreds of houses and torrential rain threatened further damage in the worst floods to hit the country in decades. The government in Hakha, the capital of impoverished Chin ... More »
BEIJING Growth in China’s factory output, investment and retail sales were all weaker than expected in July, adding pressure on Beijing to roll out more measures to prevent a deeper slowdown, days after it shocked markets by devaluing its currency. While the c... More »
