News

Seoul / DPA South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics has added a new chapter to the history of the global TV market as it topped the segment last year for the 10th consecutive year. According to global market research firm IHS, Samsung was the world’s largest TV seller in 2015 on the back of the strong performance of its high-end ...

Tokyo / Bloomberg Bank of Japan (BoJ) Deputy Governor Hiroshi Nakaso indicated the central bank is prepared to take its benchmark rate deeper into negative territory, though not immediately. “We have designed a policy that technically allows us to cut the level further,” Nakaso told reporters in Okinawa Thursday, referring to a minus 0.1 percent interest rate policy the central ...

Victoria City / Bloomberg Hong Kong’s exclusive club of residential property developers will have to make room for a new entrant after billionaire Pan Sutong’s Goldin Financial Holdings Ltd., beat out other bidders including Cheung Kong Property Holdings Ltd. to win a land site for HK$6.38 billion ($821 million). Goldin, a relatively unknown company that’s among the worst performers in ...

VANCOUVER / Bloomberg Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is urging global leaders to rely more on government spending and less on monetary policy to spur growth as he prepares a budget that will push his country into deficit. In a wide-ranging interview in Vancouver, Trudeau highlighted the importance of infrastructure spending and measures to bolster incomes of middle classes he ...

Bloomberg The slump in raw materials prices that has hurt Brazil, Chile, Peru and Colombia is leaving Central America unscathed. The region is bucking a trend of sluggish growth in the rest of Latin America as cheaper crude prices cut its fuel bills and faster growth in the U.S. boosts remittances and tourist spending. The region will grow by 4.2 ...

NEW YORK / Bloomberg Startup Oscar Health Insurance Corp. lost $105.2 million in its New York and New Jersey businesses last year, a sign that insurers of all sizes are struggling in the new markets created by President Barack Obama’s health-care overhaul. The losses, $92.4 million in New York and $12.8 million in New Jersey, were disclosed by Oscar in ...

RIODE JANERIO /Bloomberg Latin America’s largest economy contracted less than economists expected late last year as a boost in agriculture output helped offset an overall decline in production. Gross domestic product contracted 1.4 percent in the three months ended in December, after a 1.7 percent drop the previous quarter, the national statistics institute said on Thursday in Rio de Janeiro. ...

BLOOMBERG As Governor Henri Falcon takes his morning jog through Barquisimeto, the hub of Venezuela’s farming heartland, he crosses a bleak landscape. It’s not yet dawn and hundreds of perspiring shoppers are lining up for food, neighborhoods are dark from rolling blackouts and hospitals so crowded that the sick share beds. Falcon is a rarity in a deeply polarized country: ...

London / Bloomberg U.K. house prices rose for an eighth month in February as rental investors rushed to purchase homes before a tax increase, Nationwide Building Society said. The average price of a home climbed 0.3 percent from January to 196,930 pounds ($277,000), the lender said in a statement on Thursday. The annual rate of growth accelerated to 4.8 percent ...

Bloomberg Accor SA, the biggest hotel operator in Europe, and Chinese conglomerate HNA Group Co. are among companies considering bids for Carlson’s hotel group, which includes the Radisson and Park Plaza brands, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group could fetch about $2 billion in a sale, and a buyer could be chosen as soon ...