Economy

Joe Biden attends the IPEF launch event in Tokyo on May 23: The Biden administration is trying to balance engagement in the Indo-Pacific and fending off a skeptical Congress.
Opinion

IPEF plan is bad news for U.S. economic influence in Asia

Trade discussions of limited value unless Washington can offer enticements

9 August 2022
Fitch Ratings said in a report last month that Singapore banks are poised to benefit from the rise in global interest rates as economic recovery continues across the lenders' key markets.
Finance

DBS, other ASEAN banks ride U.S. rate hikes to stronger earnings

Southeast Asia's largest banks expect higher returns from lending

5 August 2022
The yen reached the 132 range against the dollar on July 29 as concerns over a weakening U.S. economy grew. (Photo by Yusuke Matsuzaki)
Currencies

Yen hits six-week high as short-sellers rethink Fed's next moves

Twin rallies by Japanese currency and bonds point to unwinding of negative bets

30 July 2022
Pakistan's army chief, Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, is widely regarded as the country's most powerful man.
International relations

Pakistan army chief appeals to U.S. in rush to avoid debt default

Sources say unusual move aimed at speeding up $1.2bn dispersal by IMF

29 July 2022
Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell speaks during a news conference following a two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee in Washington.
Inflation

Fed raises rates by 75 basis points again in quest to tame inflation

Yen rises against dollar on Powell's less hawkish comments

28 July 2022
Jerome Powell during a hearing on June 13: The Fed chair should be dusting off the Paul Volcker playbook.
Opinion

Why Jerome Powell is about to wreck Asia's year

China, Japan, the Philippines and others set to pay price for Fed delay

27 July 2022
The Philippines new president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., will give his first State of the Nation address on July 25 and is expected to lay out his plans to speed the country's recovery from the pandemic. 
24 July 2022
From left, Japan's Yoshimasa Hayashi and Koichi Hagiuda will meet the U.S.'s Antony Blinken and Gina Raimondo for their first economic 2-plus-2 talks. (Photos by Nikkei, Kyodo and UPI)
Indo-Pacific

Japan, U.S. to align on human rights, infrastructure at 2-plus-2

Allies seek unified standards for adoption in Indo-Pacific region as China rises

24 July 2022
Rep. Ami Bera chairs the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, Central Asia, and Nonproliferation.
Interview

Biden could temporarily lower China tariffs, U.S. lawmaker says

Ami Bera says anything to get goods on shelves for consumers is good

22 July 2022
Novelis, the U.S. unit of Birla-owned metals giant Hindalco Industries, has started work on an aluminum plant in Alabama. (Source photo by Reuters and the Aditya Birla Group)
Companies

Indian conglomerate Aditya Birla in spotlight over Alabama plans

Giant company expects to build $2.5 billion aluminum plant in U.S. state

20 July 2022
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's news conference on the screen at the New York Stock Exchange on June 15: Emerging markets are vulnerable to changes in the Fed's stance.
Opinion

China still not ready to supplant U.S. dollar hegemony

Opaque economy and distrust of Beijing's ambitions will prove difficult to overcome

20 July 2022
Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati delivers a speech during the G-20 Finance Ministers' Meeting in Bali on July 15.
International relations

G-20 finance chiefs fail to reach consensus on global inflation

Indonesia gives up on wringing out joint communique from premier economic bloc

16 July 2022
Russia's Anton Siluanov, left, the U.S.'s Janet Yellen, Indonesia's Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Japan's Shunichi Suzuki and others have a wide divide to bridge if the G-20 is to help solve the world's food shortages and price increases. (Source photos by Reuters)
International relations

G-20 finance chiefs meet in Bali as Ukraine war tests unity

U.S.'s Yellen scolds Russian peers for 'their continued support of Putin regime'

15 July 2022
"Abenomics has been a truly revolutionary policy," said Adam Posen, president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics. 
Shinzo Abe

Japan economy changed course with Abe's policy: U.S. economists

'Abenomics' remebered for stemming deflation spiral and promoting women's role

15 July 2022
St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard. 
Interview

St. Louis Fed president favors 75 basis point rate hike

Jim Bullard sees inflation slowing in 2023, not in favor of raising by full 1%

14 July 2022
Intel flagged future "targeted" price rises when it presented its last quarterly earnings in April.
Semiconductors

Intel plans price hikes on broad range of products

Customers told move is a response to cost pressures

14 July 2022
A Cosco Shipping container ship in Shanghai, where a pandemic lockdown reduced shipment activity.
Economy

U.S.-bound container ship traffic from Asia up 4%

Shipments reached a record for June, but inflation threatens to snarl demand

13 July 2022
Indonesia's Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi delivers her opening speech during the G-20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Bali.
International relations

G-20 ministers debate food, energy prices as global divide worsens

Russia's invasion of Ukraine casts pall over international cooperation

8 July 2022
Foreign ministers of the Group of 20 major economies will discuss global issues face-to-face in Bali, meeting for the first time since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. (Nikkei montage/Reuters)
International relations

G-20 foreign ministers gather in Bali amid Ukraine war, inflation

U.S.-China, other meetings on sidelines; Russia's Lavrov expected to attend

7 July 2022
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai at a news conference in Ottawa on May 5.
Trade war

U.S. weighs fate of China tariffs as trade war hits 4-year mark

Officials weigh inflation concerns against leverage in negotiations with Beijing

7 July 2022
An advertisement of Bitcoin near Shibuya train station in Tokyo in January 2018: There was never a real market test for bitcoin's fantastical claims. 
Opinion

Bitcoin will be remembered as a historically insignificant fallacy

Unlike other important ideas, problems associated with cryptocurrencies remain unsolved

4 July 2022
Rescuers work at the site of a Ukrainian mall in the Poltava region on June 28 after the shopping center was hit by a Russian missile strike.
Ukraine war

U.S. accuses 5 firms in China of supporting Russia's military

Washington also adds companies from Singapore, Vietnam to trade blacklist

29 June 2022
The Loire River near the Anjou-Bretagne bridge in Ancenis-Saint-Gereon, France, was no more than a dry riverbed on June 13: No one is immune.
Opinion

U.N. Secretary-General: We need a renewables revolution

Rescuing our burning planet depends on accelerating our transition

28 June 2022
"We need to be keeping our eye on the ball on this bigger picture," U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said in testimony before a U.S. Senate Appropriations subcommittee.
US-China tensions

USTR Tai calls U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods 'significant' leverage

Representative says removing them would likely have a limited effect on inflation

23 June 2022
Russian soldiers guard fields of wheat in the southeast Ukrainian region of Zaporizhzhia on June 14: The current economic crisis is not mainly linked to an excess of demand but to insufficiency of supply.
Opinion

Inflation functions as a tax on the weakest

Serious shortages are taking hold of the essential elements of life

22 June 2022