World

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations may face a bigger challenge on Myanmar issues in 2022 as the group’s semblance of unity may be tested under the leadership of Cambodia, the group’s rotating chair for this year. Political turmoil in Myanmar is continuing since the military seized power in a coup in February last year, and the junta has rejected ASEAN’s appeal for ending the violence and the request of the group’s special envoy to meet with all stakeholders in the conflict. Two weeks after over 30 people were killed by the military in eastern Kayah state, where its clashes with an armed ethnic minority group are ongoing, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen visited Myanmar and met the junta chief despite criticism from opponents in the country and human rights groups. In their joint...

1. Stocks set to drop as Dow stock JPMorgan falls after quarterly results Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Jan. 13, 2022. Source: NYSE U.S. stock futures accelerated to the downside Friday after Dow stock JPMorgan fell 4% in the premarket as investors parsed quarterly results from the nation's largest bank by assets. The company's fourth-quarter per-share earnings of $3.33 and revenue of $30.35 billion, both beat estimates. However, JPMorgan said it took a $1.8 billion net benefit from releasing reserves for loan losses that never materialized; without that benefit earnings would have been $2.86 per share, missing expectations. This week's bounce in tech stocks was wiped out Thursday, sending the Nasdaq down 2.5% and the S&P 500 down 1.4%. The Dow Jones Industrial Ave...

NEW DELHI :India has forecast its economy will grow 8per cent to 8.5per cent for the fiscal year starting in April, down from 9.2per cent projected in the current year, as it fights a spike in COVID-19 cases and rising inflationary pressure. At that pace, India's economic growth next fiscal year will still be the fastest among major economies. All macro indicators indicated Asia's third-largest economy was well placed to face challenges, helped by improving farm and industrial output growth, the government's annual economic survey said on Monday. The report, tabled by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in parliament ahead of the annual budget on Tuesday, warned about risks from global inflation and pandemic-related disruptions. "India does need to be wary of imported inflation, especi...

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. It can be easy to feel like you need to achieve all your financial goals at the same time — maxing out your retirement contributions, paying off thousands of dollars in debt, saving for a house, saving for your kids' college tuition, purchasing a car and more. That list can be overwhelming to even start thinking about. In some cases, it might even be necessary to work on more than one goal at the same time. For example, most financial experts nowadays recommend paying down debt and investing money simultaneously. This can feel daunting and sometimes even impossible. B...

NEW YORK : The dollar rose to a five-week high on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve said it is likely to raise U.S. interest rates in March as expected and later launch a significant reduction in its asset holdings. The combined moves, along with reaffirmed plans to end its bond purchases in March, will complete a pivot away from the loose U.S. monetary policy that has defined the pandemic era and toward a more urgent fight against inflation. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the U.S. central bank will be open-minded as it adjusts monetary policy to keep persistently high inflation from becoming entrenched. While no decisions have been made, "we'll be humble and nimble," he said. Stocks on Wall Street mostly sold off as the comments raised uncertainty. The Fed's statement at the end of its...

MOMBASA, Kenya: China said on Thursday (Jan 6) it would appoint a special envoy to foster peace in the turbulent Horn of Africa and wanted to shift focus on the continent to trade over infrastructure. Foreign Minister Wang Yi made the comments in Kenya, which has been active in diplomatic efforts to halt war in Ethiopia since late 2020 between the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's federal government. He also visited Eritrea, which borders the northern Tigray region and has been an ally of Abiy in a conflict that has killed thousands of people, uprooted hundreds of thousands, and spread hunger. "To share political consensus and to coordinate actions, China will appoint a special envoy of the Chinese ministry of foreign affairs for the Horn of Africa,...

Myanmar has “all the ingredients for civil war,” Cambodia, chair of Southeast Asia’s regional bloc, has warned ahead of a visit by Prime Minister Hun Sen to the crisis-wracked country. Myanmar has been in chaos since a coup last year, with more than 1,400 people killed in a crackdown on dissent by security forces, according to a local monitoring group. Hun Sen, whose country this year holds the rotating chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc, will visit Myanmar on Friday and Saturday in an effort to defuse the crisis. But Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn warned the outlook was dire. “The political and security crisis in Myanmar is deepening, and has led to (an) economic, health and humanitarian crisis,” he said. “We feel that all the ingredients...

Mark Cuban doesn't get emotional on television. Or, at least, he didn't until now. On Friday's episode of ABC's "Shark Tank," the billionaire investor got choked up — a first, according to the other investors on the show — after hearing 19-year-old start-up founder Tania Speaks pitch her beauty company, Tania Speaks Organic Skincare. Cuban then offered Speaks $400,000 in return for a 15% stake in her company, which had made $1.4 million in annual revenue at the time of filming, according to Speaks. The deal came with a caveat: Cuban wanted Speaks to teach his two teenage daughters how she built her business. "I want [my daughters] to meet you, and I want them to learn from you," Cuban said, posing Speaks' mentorship as a contingency. "Maybe you'll even learn something from them." Speak...

As the fastest-aging country in the world, Japan urgently needs to restore the younger population’s trust in the future. The nation is facing economic and societal gridlock due to a vicious cycle: Anemic economic growth in the past three decades has depressed wages, and despite several policy changes, the younger population thus does not have enough confidence to begin starting families. This has resulted in a gradual shrinkage of the population — a 620,000 decrease this month from a year ago, according to a report by the Ministry of Interior and Communications. Meanwhile, the older population’s personal wealth has, naturally, grown over time, but this has not necessarily driven up consumption as older people are more likely to save in this era of ever-extending longevity. These issues a...

HONG KONG: South Korea's equity offering boom has created a money spinning opportunity for issuers and investors, but it has brought little cheer to at least one segment of the capital market: Investment banks and brokerages working on those transactions. LG Energy Solution Ltd's (LGES) US$10.8 billion initial public offering (IPO), the largest ever in South Korea, netted bankers working on the deal less than 1 per cent of the proceeds, Dealogic data showed. Such rates make the country one of the lowest fee-paying major equity capital markets (ECM) in the world. Hong Kong IPOs generally pay fees of 2 per cent, in line with the New York Stock Exchange, while Nasdaq listings net bankers an average of 3.4 per cent, according to Dealogic data. In 2021, the average paid in those markets sat ...