Author: Busman

Stocks staggered to eight-month lows Friday after weak economic data from China and Europe set off more worries about the global economy. Mounting tensions in Europe over Britain's impeding departure from the European Union also darkened traders' moods. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped as much as 563 points. On the benchmark S&P 500 index, health care and technology companies absorbed the worst losses. Johnson & Johnson plunged by the most in 16 years after Reuters reported that the company has known since the 1970s that its talc Baby Powder sometimes contained carcinogenic asbestos. The company denied the report. China said industrial output and retail sales both slowed in November. That could be another sign that China's trade dispute with the U.S. and tighter lending conditions are chilling its economy, which…

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari said the country's economy was in "bad shape," the governor of a northwestern state told reporters Friday after a meeting with governors from across the country.  Buhari will seek a second term in an election to be held in February in which the economy is likely to be a campaign issue.  Africa's top oil producer last year emerged from its first recession in 25 years, caused by low crude prices, but growth remains sluggish.  "Mr. President, as usual, responded by telling us that the economy is in a bad shape and we have to come together and think and rethink on the way forward," Abdulaziz Yari, who chairs the Nigeria Governors' Forum, told reporters when asked how Buhari answered requests for a bailout to some states.  "Mr. President talked to us in the manner that we have a task ahead…

The federal budget deficit surged to a record for the month of November of $204.9 billion, but a big part of the increase reflected a calendar quirk.    In its monthly budget report, the Treasury Department said Thursday that the deficit for November was $66.4 billion higher than the imbalance in November 2017.    But $44 billion of that figure reflected the fact that December benefits in many government entitlement programs were paid in November this year because Dec. 1 fell on a Saturday.    For the first two months of this budget year, the deficit totals $305.4 billion, up 51.4 percent from the same period last year. The Trump administration is projecting that this year's deficit will top $1 trillion, reflecting increased government spending and the loss of revenue…

A gauge of world equities was little changed after giving up early gains on Thursday, continuing a pattern seen for the past several sessions, while the euro eased after the European Central Bank formally ended its bond purchasing scheme. In the United States, the S&P and Nasdaq finished in the red while the Dow closed well off its session highs as cautious trade optimism faded. Nervousness has heightened volatility in stocks recently, with a tendency for stocks to lose morning gains as the day wears on.  In Beijing, a commerce ministry spokesman said China and the United States were in close contact over trade, and any U.S. trade delegation would be welcome to visit.   Although signs of a trade thaw have been welcomed by investors, other worries have kept…

Wall Street stocks finished higher on Wednesday due to improved hopes for the US-China trade talks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.6 percent at 24,527.27. The broad-based S&P 500 advanced 0.5 percent to 2,651.07, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 1.0 percent to 7,098.31. Wall Street stocks have been volatile in recent weeks in part due to unpredictable and ambiguous events connected to the Beijing-Washington trade negotiations. The latest indicators have been more upbeat, with a Chinese Huawei executive granted bail in a Canadian court in a closely-watched legal case and confirmation from Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in a television interview that Beijing had offered to cut tariffs on autos imported from the United States and resume soybean purchases. Unlike the last two sessions, there were no major…

Wood consumption — including logging and the production of charcoal — is a leading cause of forest degradation in Africa. In some of Kenya's coastal regions, recurring droughts have made the problem even worse.  Now, farmers in those regions are planting trees, putting their once-barren land to use in a venture that enables them to earn a living and conserve the environment at the same time.  At Be Sulubu Tezo, in Kilifi county, Kenya, Kanze Kahindi Mbogo tends to her tree farm. She thins out the trees whose wood is now strong enough for her to sell for home-building and making fences.   The money she makes is for her six children.  A better life Kahindi says she has been able to educate her children, pay a couple of debts and do…

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak was charged Wednesday with tampering with the final audit report into a defunct state investment fund, adding to a long list of corruption allegations against him since his ouster in May elections. Najib was charged along with Arul Kanda Kandasamy, the former head of the 1MDB fund, which is being investigated in the U.S. and other countries for alleged cross-border embezzlement and money laundering. Najib pleaded not guilty to abusing power to order the modification of the report in February 2016 before it was presented to the Public Accounts Committee, in order to protect himself from disciplinary and legal action. Kandasamy, who was detained overnight by anti-graft officials, pleaded not guilty to abetting Najib. ​The charges came after the auditor-general revealed last month that…

Cash-strapped Avianca Brasil, the country's fourth-largest airline, on Tuesday sought bankruptcy protection from creditors but reassured passengers that flights will continue. "Due to resistance from the lessors (of their aircraft) to reaching a friendly settlement, we have filed seeking protection from creditors, to protect clients and passengers," a company statement said. Operations are not expected to be affected and "passengers can have complete peace of mind to make reservations and buy tickets, since all sales will be honored and flights will be operating," it said. The airline has debts of almost 493 million reais ($127 million) with multiple creditors, the business daily Valor reported. Avianca Brasil, a brand of Oceanair Linhas Aereas SA (Oceanair), is not part of the group Avianca Holdings S.A, based in Colombia. But both are parts…

Mining companies have invested at least $5 billion towards gold exploration in West Africa in the last decade but significant reserves are under-exploited, mineral industry experts said on Tuesday. Delegates at the Ecomof mining and petroleum forum in the Ivory Coast commercial capital Abidjan were told that more must be done to attract international investors to develop mining potential. "Throughout West Africa there are interesting minerals, gold, iron, nickel, manganese among others," said Kadjo Kouame, managing director of Sodemi, the Ivory Coast mining development company. Ivory Coast and Ghana are among the world's top cocoa producers but are now seeking to diversify their economies by mining precious metals and newly discovered reserves of oil. "But there is a real job to do to attract investors and diversify projects, too focused…

EU economics affairs commissioner Pierre Moscovici on Tuesday said Brussels will keep close watch over France's new spending plans, a day after President Emmanuel Macron unveiled new measures to quell violent protests. "The European Commission will closely monitor the impact of the announcements made by President Macron on the French deficit and any financing arrangements," Moscovici told AFP. "We are in constant contact with the French authorities," added Moscovici, who was attending a plenary session of European Parliament in Strasbourg. Meeting the EU's three percent deficit limit has been a centrepiece of Macron's European strategy in order to win the trust of powerful Berlin and its backing for EU reforms. Before the "yellow vests" protests, the 2019 public deficit was expected to reach 2.8 percent of gross domestic product (GDP),…

Taiwan is reinforcing its five-year-old ban on network equipment produced by Chinese companies Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corp. amid security concerns. Officials sought over the weekend to reassure lawmakers and the public that such measures have been effective and the threat to the communications sector is minimal.   Huawei has established a presence in Taiwan, with its handsets among the top sellers. The company also sponsors a Christmas extravaganza in a Taipei suburb that features a giant Santa emblazoned with Huawei's logo.   While several countries have similar bans in place, the risk for Taiwan is potentially greater since China claims the island as its own territory and threatens to use military force to bring it under its control. Back-doors that some allege Huawei has built into its products could…

Walt Disney Studios is again ending the year on a high note, posting more than $7 billion in global box office earnings, thanks to hits such as "Black Panther" and "Avengers: Infinity War." "This is only the second time in history any studio has surpassed the $7 billion mark, after Disney's own industry-record 2016 global gross of $7.6 billion," the company said in a statement on Monday. "The Studios' estimated international box office gross through December 9 is an estimated $4.069 billion, marking our second biggest year and the third biggest in industry history," it added. Disney's success comes as the studio is set to release "Mary Poppins Returns" on December 19, which is expected to top the box office during the holiday season. ​"To date, four of the top…

Environment ministers from nearly 200 countries are arriving in the Polish city of Katowice to join haggling over ways to advance the 2015 Paris accord to curb climate change. National leaders have stayed away from this year’s climate change conference largely because it is devoted to agreeing the details of the implementation of the Paris agreement. But as ever, the devil is in the details. Ahead of the ministerial arrivals, climate activists from around the world marched Saturday in the Polish city to vent their frustration and to urge governments to “wake up” and “make the planet green again.” “It’s time to save our home,” they chanted near the hall hosting the two-week U.N. Climate Change Conference. Meanwhile, 1,500 kilometers away police in Paris battled Yellow Vest protesters mounting their…

General Motors is fighting to retain a valuable tax credit for electric vehicles as the nation's largest automaker contends with the political fallout triggered by its plans to shutter several U.S. factories and shed thousands of workers. Preserving the $7,500 tax incentive for buyers is crucial for GM as the company pivots from internal combustion engines in favor of building cars powered by batteries or hydrogen fuel cells. Yet the layoffs and plant closings could imperil GM's push to keep the incentive. It helps make plug-ins such as the $36,000 Chevy Bolt more affordable at a time when competition from other electric vehicle makers is heating up. GM faces opposition from President Donald Trump and other Republicans who consider the credit a waste of taxpayer money and want it eliminated.…

Stocks around the world are falling Monday morning, and U.S. indexes gave up modest early gains and turned lower, hurt by sharp drops for energy and financial companies. The British pound is dropping after the U.K. prime minister postponed a vote on its departure from the European Union, and oil has resumed its sharp slide. Keeping score: The S&P 500 index lost 47 points, or 1.8 percent, to 2,585, as of 11 a.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 435 points, or 1.8 percent, to 23,904, and the Nasdaq composite dropped 73, or 1.1 percent, to 6,894. U.S. indexes have been lurching up and down since October, mostly down, and the S&P 500 plunged 4.6 percent last week for its biggest loss in more than eight months, as…

Despite repeated calls by U.S. President Donald Trump for oil production to remain steady, the Saudi-led Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, along with Russia and its allies, announced Friday they would cut their pumping of crude to reduce oil flows onto the global market by 1.2 million barrels of per day, a bigger-than-expected cut.    OPEC officials say there was no political motive behind the decision, arguing an oil glut forced the move and that their decision was spurred by oversupply concerns and forecasts for lower demand next year — as well as a surge of shale oil production in the U.S.  Price slide   Oil economists agree that a reduction is needed to stem a further slide in prices, which fell 30 percent in October, and OPEC's decision…

The International Monetary Fund says it has approved a three-year loan of about $3.7 billion for Angola, which seeks to diversify its economy and curb corruption after a new president took office last year. The IMF said Friday that the loan aims to help the southern African country restructure state-owned enterprises and take other measures to improve economic governance.   Angola had experienced a surge in growth because of oil exports under former president Jose Eduardo dos Santos, but poverty and cronyism persisted. A fall in commodity prices years ago tipped the Angolan economy into crisis and showed that it was too reliant on oil.     President Joao Lourenco, who succeeded dos Santos, has distanced his administration from his former boss, pledging to fight corruption and meeting with government…

China’s export growth slowed in November as global demand weakened, adding to pressure on Beijing ahead of trade talks with Washington. Exports rose 5.4 percent from a year ago to $227.4 billion, a marked decline from the previous month’s 12.6 percent increase, customs data showed Saturday. Imports rose 3 percent to $182.7 billion, a sharp reversal from October’s 20.3 percent surge. That adds to signs a slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy is deepening as Chinese leaders prepare for negotiations with President Donald Trump over Beijing’s technology policy and other irritants. Exports to US rise Chinese exports to the United States rose by a relatively robust 12.9 percent from a year ago to $46.2 billion. Shipments to the U.S. market have held up as exporters rush to fill orders before…

Wall Street capped a turbulent week of trading Friday with the biggest weekly loss since March as traders fret over rising trade tensions between Washington and Beijing and signals of slower economic growth.  The latest wave of selling erased more than 550 points from the Dow Jones Industrial Average, bringing its three-day loss to more than 1,400. For the week, major indexes are down more than 4 percent.  Worries that the testy U.S.-China trade dispute and higher interest rates will slow the economy has made investors uneasy, leading to volatile swings in the market from one day to the next. Dispute between U.S. and China  On Monday, news that the U.S. and China had agreed to a 90-day truce in their escalating trade conflict drove stocks sharply higher, adding to…

 The U.S. International Trade Commission said on Friday it made a final determination that American producers were being harmed by imports of common alloy aluminum sheet products from China, a finding that locks in duties on the products. The ITC determination means that duties ranging from 96.3 percent to 176.2 percent previously announced by the U.S. Commerce Department would be put in place for five years. The department said last month the products were being subsidized and dumped in the U.S. market. The decision marked the first time that final duties were issued in a trade remedy case initiated by the U.S. government since 1985. Usually, trade cases are launched based on a complaint from a U.S. producer or group of producers. The Trump administration has promised a more aggressive…

U.S. stocks fell sharply Friday, erasing an early gain, as the market closed in on its third weekly decline in four weeks. Losses in technology and health care stocks outweighed gains elsewhere in the market. Energy companies led the gainers as crude oil prices rose on news that OPEC members agreed to cut production next year. The government said job growth in November fell short of economists' expectations. Keeping score: The S&P 500 index fell 41 points, or 1.5 percent, to 2,654 as of 11:25 a.m. Eastern Time. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 411 points, or 1.7 percent, to 24,536. The Nasdaq composite slid 135 points, or 1.9 percent, to 7,053. The Russell 2000 index of small-company stocks slipped 4 points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,473. Energy: Oil prices…

U.S. employers added just 155,000 jobs in November, a slowdown from recent months but enough to suggest that the economy is expanding at a solid pace despite sharp gyrations in the stock market. The Labor Department said Friday the unemployment rate remained 3.7 percent, nearly a five-decade low, for the third straight month. Average hourly pay rose 3.1 percent from a year ago, matching the previous month's figure, which was the best since 2009. The economy is expanding at a healthy pace, but rising trade tensions between the U.S. and China, ongoing interest rate increases by the Federal Reserve and weakening global growth have roiled financial markets. Analysts expect growth to slow but remain solid in 2019 as the impact of last year's tax cuts fade. Hiring in November was…

U.S. stocks clawed most of their way back from a deep slide Thursday that at one point had wiped out the market's gains for the year.    An early plunge briefly knocked more than 700 points off the Dow Jones industrial average as the arrest of a senior Chinese technology executive threatened to cause another flare-up in tensions between Washington and Beijing.    The sell-off eased by late afternoon, however, after The Wall Street Journal reported that the Federal Reserve is considering breaking with its current approach of steady interest rate hikes, favoring a wait-and-see approach. That was relief to investors worried that the Fed might raise interest rates too fast, which could choke off economic growth.   No 'rigid schedule' of hikes    “The Fed is trying to, in essence,…

The US trade deficit hit a 10-year high in October as Americans used a stronger dollar to snap up record imports, the government reported Thursday. The result showed the trade gap has continued to swell despite the punitive tariffs imposed this year on allies and adversaries alike by US President Donald Trump, who has focused intently on the subject with the goal of reducing the deficit. Amid Trump's high-stakes trade war with Beijing, the total trade gap rose 1.7 percent to $55.5 billion, driven by all-time high imports, according to the Commerce Department. The gap in goods trade with China likewise continued to expand, rising two percent to $38 billion, seasonally adjusted, as key exports like soybeans fell. The October figure handily overshot analyst expectations, and could confirm weaker economic…

OPEC countries were gathered Thursday to find a way to support the falling price of oil, with analysts predicting the cartel and key ally Russia would agree to cut production by at least 1 million barrels per day. Crude prices have been falling since October because major producers — including the U.S. — are pumping oil at high rates and due to fears that weaker economic growth could dampen energy demand. The price of oil fell 22 percent in November and was down again on Thursday amid speculation that OPEC’s action might be too timid to support the market. Saudi Arabia, the heavyweight within OPEC, said Thursday it was in favor of a cut. “I think a million (barrels a day) will be adequate personally,” Saudi oil minister Khalid Al-Falih…

OPEC and Russia moved closer on Wednesday to agreeing cuts in oil production from next year despite pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to reduce the price of crude. OPEC meets on Thursday in Vienna, followed by talks with allies such as Russia on Friday. OPEC's de facto leader, Saudi Arabia, has indicated a need for steep output reductions from January, fearing a glut, but Russia has resisted a large cut. "All of us including Russia agreed there is a need for a reduction," Oman's Oil Minister Mohammed bin Hamad Al-Rumhy told reporters after a ministerial committee that groups Saudi Arabia, Russia and several other producers met on Wednesday. Exact volumes were still being discussed, he said. The cuts would take September or October 2018 as baseline figures and last…

A new study estimates 164 million people are migrating to foreign countries in search of work, an increase of 9 percent since 2013. The majority of migrant workers are men between the ages of 25 and 64, according to the International Labor Organization's second edition of Global Estimates on International Migrant Workers. While the number of migrant workers in upper-middle-income countries has grown, the report finds the vast majority head for richer countries in North America, Europe and the Arab region, particularly the Gulf States. Manuela Tomei, director of the ILO Conditions of Work and Equality Department, tells VOA most of the people who migrate for work are low skilled, and employed in fields such as construction, agriculture, the hospitality industry or as domestic help. She says migrant workers are…

U.S. President Donald Trump, who rattled global markets Tuesday after declaring himself "a Tariff Man," predicted in a series of tweets Wednesday the United States and China would negotiate a new trade deal. Trump said China is planning to resume buying U.S. soybeans and natural gas, which he said confirms his claims that China had agreed to start "immediately" buying U.S. products." Trump said he believes "President Xi (Jinping) meant every word of what he said" at their meeting recently in Argentina, including "his promise to me to criminalize the sale of deadly Fentanyl coming into the United States." The president's optimistic comments came one day after stock prices around the world plunged in response to a series of tweets he posted on Tuesday, warning a fragile accord between the…