Australia keeps rates on hold ahead of growth data
Australia’s central bank kept interest rates at a record low Tuesday for a 20th consecutive meeting as it waits for signs of wage and price inflation as well as a drop in unemployment.The widely expected decision was made ahead of growth data Wednesday, with economists tipping the economy to have expanded a solid 0.9 percent…
Flu season helps CSL lift profit guidance
CSL has lifted its full-year profit guidance thanks to strong sales of products, including its Seqirus flu vaccine in the northern hemisphere. The vaccines and blood products supplier says sales of drugs to treat haemophilia and angiodema – a hereditary condition that can cause swelling of the face, abdomen and limbs – were stronger than…
US hopes to narrow wide gap in China trade talks
US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Thursday he hopes to reduce large differences with China in trade talks where hundreds of billions of dollars in commerce are at stake.‘The gap is wide,’ Ross said in congressional testimony, a week after he led a delegation to Beijing to try to resolve the thorny dispute.A high-level Chinese…
German minister offers hope of detente on Trump tariffs
A compromise could be reached as soon as this week between the European Union and United States over the tariffs President Donald Trump imposed on steel and aluminum, a German official said Monday.Talks with US officials could make it ‘possible to find a solution that can still avoid a decline into a heavy trade conflict,’…
Surprise trade deficit in November
Trade deficits return; Import growth at 7-year highsInternational tradeTrade deficits return: A trade deficit of $628 million was posted in November, rising from a revised $302 million deficit in October (previously reported as a $105 million surplus). The deficits followed five consecutive surpluses to September and it is the first time since October 2016 that…
Toyota first-half net profit up 16%, lifts full-year forecast
Japanese car giant Toyota upgraded its full-year forecast Tuesday, as the firm posted a 16 percent gain in net profit for the six months to September thanks to steady global sales and cost-cutting efforts. The maker of the Camry sedan and Prius hybrid revised upward its net profit forecast to 2.3 trillion yen ($20.3 billion)…
Digital Health Stocks Win From Technology and Health Care Boom
Many Investors with the time and temperament to manage their own portfolios of individual stocks gravitate towards high growth opportunities. After all, given the effort required to research individual stocks, why not look for outstanding rewards? For the risk averse with little inclination for individual stock research there are mutual and exchange traded funds. Business…
World Bank upgrades global growth forecasts as recovery strengthens
For the first time in many years, the World Bank’s outlook for the global economy is better than expected rather than worse, with all regions seeing improved growth, according to its latest forecast released Tuesday. However, the bank warns that countries must make investments to improve their growth prospects, and the time to do that…
Pound drops after Brexit-fueled highs
The pound retreated Thursday amid yet another Brexit vote, after the UK currency struck multi-month highs versus the dollar and euro thanks to British MPs ruling out a no-deal departure from the European Union.London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index climbed, boosted by softness in the pound, which typically helps lift share prices of multinationals.‘The pound has…
American businesses in China see gloomy year ahead
US companies in China forecast a gloomy year ahead, with many worrying about a deterioration in bilateral trade ties and nearly a quarter delaying investments, a business survey showed Tuesday.The survey of 314 US businesses by the American Chamber of Commerce in China provided a full accounting of challenges American business face after Beijing and…
