Japan logged a record trade deficit with China in January as exports dropped by a fifth, underscoring concerns about how sharply China is slowing and its ability to buffer a frail global economy against European turmoil.
South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co, the world's biggest maker of televisions, is shifting its focus towards new generation OLED display technology, and said it will spin off its loss-making LCD flat-screen business into an affiliate.
Japan and China are committed to help resolve the European debt crisis through the International Monetary Fund once euro region members take additional steps themselves according to Japanese Finance Minister Jun Azumi.
Japan's largest IT services vendor Fujitsu plans to launch a wide range of smartphone and tablet devices for the first time in Europe, the Financial Times reported on Monday.
Asian markets rose across the board Monday as policy easing by China and expectations that Greece will secure a second bailout buoyed investor appetite for riskier assets, sending U.S. crude up nearly 2 percent and copper nearly 3 percent higher.
Japan logged a record trade deficit in January, government data showed on Monday, the clearest evidence to date of pain from a firm yen, a global slowdown and rising fuel imports needed to offset declining use of nuclear power.
Japan posted its biggest ever trade deficit in January, topping the previous record seen during the financial crisis in 2009, Ministry of Finance data showed Monday, underlining concerns that a persistent trade gap may undermine the country's ability to finance its debt.
Markets jumped Monday as policy easing by China and prospects for Greece to clinch a second bailout fund buoyed investor appetite for riskier assets, sending U.S. crude up nearly $2 a barrel and Asian shares up nearly 1 percent.
Japanese prosecutors are considering indicting the Olympus Corp. as a company for falsifying its financial reports to conceal huge investment losses in a $1.7 billion scandal, the Kyodo news agency reported on Sunday, quoting investigative sources.
In the latest in a string of asset sales, Canada's Encana Corp. will sell a 40 percent stake in British Columbia natural-gas assets to Japan's Mitsubishi Corp. in a C$2.9 billion ($2.9 billion) deal that will help the energy company strengthen a balance sheet weakened by low gas prices.
Japan's Emperor Akihito underwent on Saturday a successful heart bypass operation and doctors said they hoped he would be able to resume the normal lifestyle he wished for.
While threats that could pull down global economy are never far away, recent data depict a brightening outlook according to IHS, a global business and economic information provider.
The U.S. economy is growing at a respectable 2.8 percent annual rate, the U.S. jobs market has added 243,000 nonfarm payrolls in January and the S&P 500 Index is up eight percent year-to-date. Nouriel Roubini's economic prediction for 2012, however, is still decidedly bearish.
A pair of Russian cosmonauts floated outside the International Space Station on Thursday to prepare for the removal of a Russian docking module due to be flown into the atmosphere for incineration next year.
The stock market prediction for 2012 from most analysts is something along the lines of it will improve, but not by a lot.
The Fall 2012 runways at New York Fashion Week boasted some stunning new dress styles for the upcoming season including fur accents, lower hemlines, bright crimson hues and bold patterns.
France and England signed a new nuclear-energy pact on Friday that will lead to the construction of more nuclear power plants in the United Kingdom, with more than 500 million pounds sterling ($791 million) of private-sector investment.
The market capitalization of U.S. equity markets has increased by $3 trillion since last October.
Capital flight, soaring borrowing costs, tanking currency and stocks and a central bank forced to pump vast amounts of cash into local banks -- that is what Japan may have to contend with if it fails to tackle its snowballing debt.
Oil prices moved higher in Asian trade Friday as tension between Western countries and Iran continued to intensify.
Asian shares rebounded on Friday on signs that euro zone officials will soon approve a long-awaited bailout for Greece, and after jobs and factory data pointed to a healthier U.S. economy.
Now that President Barack Obama must nominate a new President of the World Bank, he’s keeping his mouth shut, especially in an election year.
