World

WASHINGTON: US stocks retreated on Thursday (Jan 27) after a solid opening, while the dollar gained as investors prepared for future rate hikes from the Federal Reserve. All three major US stock indexes ended lower, having been whipsawed by uncertainty in recent days, marked by wide fluctuations and heightened volatility. The Dow Jones Industrial Average 0.02 per cent, the S&P 500 lost 0.54 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.4 per cent. The MSCI world equity index, which tracks shares in 45 nations, fell 0.94 per cent. Markets opened higher as new data showed the US economy accelerated in the fourth quarter, growing 6.9 per cent - the fastest rate since 1984. But, as has been the case most of the week, gains were pared as investors processed how strong economic growth might infor...

Select’s editorial team works independently to review financial products and write articles we think our readers will find useful. We may receive a commission when you click on links for products from our affiliate partners. There are few things that are as synonymous with American culture as the iconic Big Mac burger from McDonald's. Invented in 1957 by an early McDonald's franchisee, the Big Mac remains a very popular fast-food item. And because of its global popularity, The Economist invented the "Big Mac index" in 1986 as a unique way to track the price of the famous sandwich against other currencies. The index incorporates the concept of purchasing-power parity, which is the way to track the strength of an individual currency, and what 'purchasing power' it has. So why does this matt...

New iPhone 13s are displayed at an Apple store on Jan. 27, 2022, in Corte Madera, California. Justin Sullivan | Getty Images News | Getty Images The global smartphone market grew for the first time in four years — but the total number of devices shipped last year remained below the pre-pandemic level, according to a report from market research firm Counterpart Research. Annual smartphone shipment grew 4% year on year to 1.39 billion handsets in 2021 even as the Covid pandemic and a worldwide components shortage hampered supplies. Counterpoint data showed that in 2017, smartphone makers shipped 1.56 billion units and that figure subsequently declined every year from 2018 to 2020. Pent-up demand in places like North America, Latin America and India contributed to the market's overall growth...

SINGAPORE: Top national marathoner Soh Rui Yong was excluded from the Singapore team for the upcoming Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Hanoi as his conduct and behaviour have continued to "fall short" of what's expected, said the Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC) on Thursday (Feb 17). The comments prompted Soh to speak out against the decision, saying Singapore would lose out the most as it would cost the country a good chance at a gold medal. He noted that he had clocked a time of 2:22:59 in the qualifying window, which is more than 10 minutes faster than the qualifying mark of 2:33:08 set by SNOC. This is the second consecutive SEA Games where the two-time marathon champion was not selected. He was left out of the contingent for the 2019 SEA Games in the Philippines, despite mee...

The Bank of Japan said Thursday it would buy an unlimited amount of 10-year government bonds at 0.25%, underscoring its resolve to prevent rising global yields from pushing up domestic borrowing costs too much. This is the first such operation since July 2018 as yields creep closer to its tolerated level under its yield curve control (YCC) policy. The offer will be made Monday, the central bank said in a statement posted on its website after the Japanese Government Bond (JGB) market closed Thursday. Stubbornly hot inflation in the West and growing hawkishness from other major central banks such as the U.S. Federal Reserve had spurred some bets that the BOJ would need to taper its ultraloose monetary policy soon, pushing JGB yields to multiyear highs. But inflation in Japan, while edgin...

SINGAPORE: Singapore on Wednesday (Jan 26) signed a free trade agreement with the Pacific Alliance, a bloc made up of Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru and a combined gross domestic product of more than US$2 trillion, said the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) on Thursday. Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong and his counterparts from the member states signed the free trade deal as well as a joint declaration at the 16th Pacific Alliance Summit in Colombia. The deal is a "modern and comprehensive" agreement that complements Singapore's network of free trade agreements and builds on existing agreements that the country has with the Pacific Alliance countries, said MTI in a press release. It will enable Singapore companies to enjoy greater market access to the Pacific Alliance,...

HONG KONG :The China Securities and Regulatory Commission (CSRC) met this week with executives at top western banks and asset managers to reassure them about the country's economic prospects after regulatory crackdowns in 2021, three sources said on Friday. CSRC Vice Chairman Fang Xinghai hosted the virtual meeting with more than a dozen foreign financial institutions on Tuesday, said the sources, who had direct knowledge of the meeting, declining to be identified as they were not authorized to speak to the media. Senior executives from firms including BlackRock, Credit Suisse, Fidelity International, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley and UBS attended the meeting, said two of the sources. Fang reassured the meeting participants that China will achieve "respectable growth" in 2022,...

JAKARTA : Top Indonesian economic officials on Wednesday backed the expanded use of local currencies in trade and investment, instead of the U.S. dollar, to help maintain stability in global financial markets as pandemic-era stimulus is withdrawn. Indonesia, which holds the presidency of the Group of 20 major economies this year, and a number of Asian countries have bilateral deals to settle transactions in domestic currencies, known as local currency settlement (LCS) arrangements, which cut demand for the dollar. Bilateral currency swaps among members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), China, Japan and South Korea have reached $380 billion, according to the People's Bank of China. Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said LCS arrangements should be repl...

NEW DELHI :Opener Rohit Sharma was named India's test captain on Saturday, succeeding Virat Kohli as the team's leader in all three formats ahead of the home series against Sri Lanka. Kohli, India's most successful test captain, resigned from the role in a shock move last month after seven years in charge. "Rohit is the number one player in the country. We spoke to him and he's absolutely OK (to lead the team in all formats)," selection committee chairman Chetan Sharma told a virtual news conference. "Under a player as experienced as Rohit, we can also groom future leaders of the team." India play Sri Lanka in three Twenty20 internationals starting on Thursday, before the two-test series next month. Fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah is Rohit's deputy in both the squads. The opening test in ...

UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations said destruction caused by Typhoon Rai in the Philippines had been "badly underestimated" in initial assessments, tripling the number of people "seriously affected" to 9 million. A UN campaign to raise US$107.2 million in aid for victims was launched a week after the storm ravaged southern and central regions of the archipelago on Dec 16, leaving 406 people dead and hundreds of thousands homeless. But UN Resident Coordinator in the Philippines Gustavo Gonzalez said Thursday (Jan 20) the target would be revised after more than 66 field assessments showed the destruction was far worse than initially thought. "One month since the first landfall of Super Typhoon Rai we realise that we have badly underestimated the scale of devastation," Gonzalez told a vir...