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U.S.-listed shares of Chinese firms such as JD.Com Inc , Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Pinduoduo Inc (PDD.O) climbed around 2% each in premarket trading. With a handful of trading sessions left this year, investors are hoping for a so-called "Santa rally" at the end of what has been a largely disappointing month for U.S. equities. Economic data so far has offered little hope that the Fed could hit the brakes on its interest rate hikes. ET, Dow e-minis were up 147 points, or 0.44%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 12.5 points, or 0.32%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 5 points, or 0.05%. Reporting by Amruta Khandekar and Ankika Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi and Sriraj KalluvilaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[1/3] Travellers stand by their luggage at Beijing Capital International Airport, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Beijing, China December 27, 2022. International health experts estimate millions of daily infections and predict at least one million COVID deaths in China next year. Data from travel platform Ctrip showed that within half an hour of the news, searches for popular cross-border destinations on had increased 10-fold. "International travel ... will likely to surge, yet it may take many more months before volumes return to the pre-pandemic level," said Dan Wang, Chief Economist, Hang Seng Bank China. "COVID is still spreading in most parts of China, greatly disrupting the normal work schedule.

TOKYO, Dec 27 (Reuters) - The Bank of Japan (BOJ) has modified its stimulus measures to ease the transition away from an unconventional monetary policy when Governor Haruhiko Kuroda retires in April, former top currency diplomat Takehiko Nakao told Reuters in an interview. "The BOJ has not succeeded so much in raising inflation expectations and bringing down real interest rates while side-effects became larger. "The yen was too strong back then, but now the yen is clearly too weak," Nakao said, declining to specify preferred levels under current circumstances. Nakao said Japan's waning economic power and its excessively expansionist policy are weighing on the yen and making Japanese assets vulnerable to takeovers by overseas investors. "It is helpful that raising interest rates lead to some strengthening of the yen."

☆ China will end Covid quarantine rule for incoming travelers
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

Strict requirements on inbound travelers had remained in place, including five days of mandatory quarantine at a government-supervised facility and three more of isolation at home. Travelers entering China will still have to undergo PCR testing 48 hours before departure, however, the health authority said. If an outbreak becomes severe, the institution will adopt so-called “closed management” to prevent the spread of infections, the authority said. China will also further increase the vaccination rate among the elderly, and promote second doses among people at high risk of severe illness. China is the last major country to move toward treating Covid as endemic.

☆ China to scrap COVID quarantine rule for inbound travellers
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BEIJING, Dec 26 (Reuters) - China will stop requiring inbound travellers to go into quarantine starting from Jan. 8, the National Health Commission said on Monday in a major step towards easing curbs on its borders, which have been largely shut since 2020. Strict requirements on inbound travellers had remained in place, including five days of mandatory quarantine at a government-supervised facility and three more of isolation at home. That restriction and one on the number of passengers on international flights will be removed from Jan. 8. Travellers entering China will still have to undergo PCR testing 48 hours before departure, however, the health authority said. Reporting by Ryan Woo, Ethan Wang, Eduardo Baptista and Brenda Goh; editing by John StonestreetOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ China to scrap Covid quarantine rule for inbound travelers
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

People line up outside a fever clinic in Beijing on Dec. 14, 2022, just days after the country relaxed its Covid controls amid below-freezing weather in the capital city. China will stop requiring inbound travelers to go into quarantine starting from Jan. 8, the National Health Commission said on Monday in a major step towards easing curbs on its borders, which have been largely shut since 2020. Strict requirements on inbound travelers had remained in place, including five days of mandatory quarantine at a government-supervised facility and three more of isolation at home. That restriction and one on the number of passengers on international flights will be removed from Jan. 8. Travelers entering China will still have to undergo PCR testing 48 hours before departure, however, the health authority said.

We talked to several workplace experts to gain their insight on phrases you shouldn't say to your boss, even if you're close. 'I can't'A can-do attitude is always a valued trait, and just because you're friends, it doesn't mean you'll get called on the next time an important project comes up. It's fine if you have to leave early, but don't say it's because "things are slow" or you have "nothing to do." 'I'm going to be out these days,' or 'I'm leaving early tomorrow'Just because you're friends, it doesn't mean you should tell your boss you're going on vacation or leaving the office early. "Your boss hopes you're honest 100% of the time, and what you're about to say is not an aberration," said Taylor.

☆ How Ukraine's Zelenskyy went from comedian to wartime hero
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( Holly Ellyatt | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kherson, Ukraine, on Nov. 14, 2022. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the cover of Time Magazine's 2022 "Person of the Year" edition. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Zelenskyy enjoys high approval ratings among Ukrainians for rallying both the country's forces and public on a daily basis. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visits Kherson, Ukraine, on Nov. 14, 2022. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kherson, Ukraine, on Nov. 14, 2022.

☆ Israeli businesses decry calls to revise anti-discrimination law
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( Steven Scheer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

JERUSALEM, Dec 26 (Reuters) - Several leading Israeli businesses pledged on Monday to strengthen their internal anti-discrimination rules following remarks by hard-right members of Israel's incoming government seen as undermining gender equality and minority rights. "Recent calls for revoking basic rights heard in the political arena in Israel are of grave concern to our society," Wiz said in a statement. His political rivals have accused the veteran conservative leader of being vulnerable to his far-right allies’ policy demands. Maoz says he is not anti-gay but is opposed to the LGBTQ movement and has called for the cancellation of the annual Jerusalem gay pride march. Reporting by Steven Scheer; Editing by Ari Rabinovitch, Gareth Jones and Howard GollerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ A 24-year-old stock trader who made over $1.4 million in 2 years shares the key shift that he says allowed him to have a 60% win ratio
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( Laila Maidan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Matthew Monaco learned that day trading is largely a mental process. It took him another few years of saving money and taking online trading courses before he was able to try again. A key shiftHe believes there was one key shift that helped him achieve a majority win, which was learning how to properly lose. The irony is that day trading tends to attract people that just want to get rich quickly, which is the type of mentality that will lead you to lose, he said. And with that, if they have a losing month, a losing week, a losing year, they're not deterred.

☆ Israel's president urges protection of people's rights as far right eyes legal revisions
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

JERUSALEM, Dec 25 (Reuters) - Israel's president voiced concern for the well-being of all members of the public regardless of their identity or values on Sunday after far-right members of the incoming government called for revisions to anti-discrimination laws. Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu, who is preparing to present his religious-nationalist coalition this week, has vowed to preserve principles of tolerance. But his political rivals have accused the veteran conservative leader of being vulnerable to his far-right allies’ policy demands. Netanyahu's conservative Likud and like-minded religious-nationalist parties close to Israel's ultra-Orthodox and West Bank settler communities won a comfortable majority in a Nov. 1 election. The inclusion of hardliners Itamar Ben-Gvir of the ultranationalist Jewish Power party and Bezalel Smotrich from the far-right Religious Zionism party in the coalition has dismayed Palestinians and liberal Israelis.

I started picking stocks and pouring money into crypto when I was bored during the pandemic, and haven't touched my portfolio since. Financial advisors told me I should diversify my investments and bring in professional help. Diversify your investmentsWhen I first started investing in 2020, I made the mistake of buying individual stocks that were mostly in the same sectors (technology and travel). "A financial advisor can help the person understand their options and advise them on the best way to move forward," says Marquardt. If you're looking into the tax implications of your investments, consult a tax professional for the details on your specific situation.

☆ Indian shares slip on COVID-19, inflation worries
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BENGALURU, Dec 22 (Reuters) - Indian shares slipped on Thursday, with declines seen across most sectors after monetary policy minutes revealed strong concerns about elevated inflation, while fears about rising COVID-19 cases in China weighed on sentiment. India's health minister on Wednesday said the pandemic was "not over yet" given "the rising cases of COVID-19 in some countries". Asian markets also advanced after the bounce in U.S. shares, with the MSCI Asia ex Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) rising 1.49%. India's retail inflation eased below the RBI's upper tolerance limit of 6% for the first time in 2022 in November, but core inflation stayed above 6%. Khemka also said the remarks from the RBI minutes were "consistent with the central bank's adherence to tackling inflation".

☆ Kentucky senator says transgender son has died by suicide
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A Kentucky state senator said Tuesday that her transgender son, a trans rights advocate on whom “a lack of acceptance took a toll,” has died by suicide. Democratic Sen. Karen Berg said her son Henry Berg-Brousseau “long struggled with mental illness, not because he was trans but born from his difficulty finding acceptance.” She said he died on Friday. The Louisville lawmaker said her son had just received a big promotion working for the Human Rights Campaign, which advocates for LGBTQ rights. If you or someone you know is in crisis, call 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call the network, previously known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, at 800-273-8255, text HOME to 741741 or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional resources.

☆ Artists in Cuba find themselves blocked from NFT trading sites
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

“The first thing that drew me to it was the freedom,” said García Alarcón, known best by his artist name, Paolo De. García Alarcón is among at least 30 Cuban artists whose profiles have been delisted from at least two American-owned NFT trading sites sites, including the largest one, OpenSea, and KnownOrigin, according to Cuban NFT artist collectives. He’s the organizer of NFTcuba.ART, a collective of around 100 Cuban artists around the world. D’Alerta and other collective leaders told the AP that the bans have even extended to personal accounts of Cuban artists who don’t live on the island. Meanwhile, leaders in the Cuban NFT space worry that the deplatforming could have a long-term chilling effect on Cuban digital artists.

[1/3] A view of the land repair work underway at site of an oil spill from Keystone Pipeline, located north of Washington, Kansas, U.S December 15, 2022. Erwin Seba/REUTERSCompanies TC Energy Corp FollowDec 21 (Reuters) - The U.S. pipeline regulator launched a review this year of its special permits that waive certain operating requirements for pipelines, following a government report into spills on TC Energy's Keystone oil pipeline, a source familiar with the matter said. The most recent major spill occurred this month in rural Kansas along Keystone, the only U.S. oil pipeline with a special permit to operate at higher pressure. PHMSA commissioned Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a Department of Energy research institution, to review special permits following a 2021 report on Keystone accidents, the source said. The latest Keystone spill raises doubts about whether PHMSA adequately assesses risk in granting special permits, said Don Deaver, a pipeline consultant.

☆ Why an Abu Dhabi startup wants to send quinoa seeds into space
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Nell Lewis | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Abu Dhabi-based startup StarLab Oasis, a spin-off from Texan company Nanoracks, wants to grow seeds in outer space in order to develop plant varieties that can survive on a less hospitable Earth. In 2023, StarLab Oasis expects to send its first seeds into orbit. From soybeans to quinoa, seeds grow differently in space than on land. Sending seeds to space will help “sustainability, climate change, and food security on Earth,” StarLab Oasis’ co-founder Allen Herbert tells CNN Business. It plans to work with companies, space agencies, universities and non-profits, to send seeds to space either for research or commercial purposes.

☆ The Biggest Debates and Opinions in 2022 - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +30 min

Opinion The 22 Debates That Made Us Rage, Roll Our Eyes, and Change Our Minds in 2022Debating is what we do here at Times Opinion. To many, she was an icon: She ruled for 70 years, presided over the transition from empire to commonwealth and served as a living link to the generation that won World War II. (Though Ben Bernanke, a former Fed chairman himself, wrote in The Times that that wasn’t going to happen.) The United States and its European allies poured weapons and aid into Ukraine, but how was this going to end? As 2022 draws to a close, the fighting continues and peace talks look as distant as ever — which probably means that the debates will continue.

☆ Netherlands PM Rutte apologises for role of Dutch state in slavery
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Tosterling Ank Kuipers | Ank Kuipers | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/8] Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte responds to recommendations from a panel of experts to accept the role of the Netherlands in the history of slavery and its current consequences in The Hague, Netherlands December 19, 2022. "Today I apologise," Rutte said in a nationally televised speech at the Dutch National Archives. "For centuries the Dutch state and its representatives have enabled and stimulated slavery and have profited from it," he added. "It is true that nobody alive today bears any personal guilt for slavery...(however) the Dutch state bears responsibility for the immense suffering that has been done to those that were enslaved and their descendants." The panel said that Dutch participation in slavery had amounted to crimes against humanity and in 2021 recommended an apology and reparations.

☆ China's cities battle first wave of COVID surge as wider spread looms
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

China is currently in the first of an expected three waves of COVID cases this winter, according to the country's chief epidemiologist, Wu Zunyou. China reported some 2,097 new symptomatic COVID infections on Dec. 17. In Beijing, the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant has already hit services from catering to parcel deliveries. A third wave of cases would run from late February to mid-March as people returned to work after the holiday, Wu said. He said those in the community that are vulnerable should be protected, while recommending booster vaccines for the general public.

☆ U.S. dollar gains as risk tolerance drops with hawkish central banks
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The dollar rose on Friday in choppy trading, extending sharp gains in the previous session as risk appetite soured, as investors grappled with the prospect that borrowing costs still have a long way to climb. New York Fed President John Williams upped the hawkish rhetoric on Friday, saying it remains possible the U.S. central bank raises interest rates more than it currently expects next year. That said, financial markets do not seem to be buying the hawkish Fed stance. The dollar index, which gauges the currency against six major peers, rose 0.2% to 104.69, after rallying more than 0.9% on Thursday. The index has surged around 9% this year as the Fed has hiked interest rates hard, sucking money back towards dollar-denominated bonds.

☆ What Is a Robo Advisor, and Do I Need One?
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( ) www.wsj.com time to read: +9 min

That’s where a robo advisor can help. A robo advisor is a digital, automated service that makes investing easy because it picks securities for you. How to start investing with a robo advisorGetting started investing with a robo advisor is designed to be easy. Robo advisor accounts are well-suited for anyone who is comfortable being online but needs a nudge to invest and would rather not do it themselves or doesn’t have the means to hire an individual financial advisor. Betterment and Wealthfront, for example, offer savings accounts, which pay substantially more than traditional bank savings accounts, as well as checking accounts and debit cards.

☆ As Kuroda bows out, Bank of Japan's rising hawks eye end to unloved yield cap
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Leika Kihara | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +12 min

PUBLIC DISCONTENTAfter a tumultuous year for the world's third-largest economy, Japan's central bank and its leadership face a critical moment. While ruling out the need to ditch the yield cap now, Takata recently said he saw positive developments in wage growth. "The BOJ must start worrying about the possibility of inflation accelerating more than expected," he told Reuters, adding the BOJ may abandon its yield cap as early as next year. Such a reaction was seen in March when the BOJ was forced to pledge unlimited bond buying to defend its yield cap from speculative market attacks. "That's why the BOJ won't provide advance signals and remove the yield cap in a single step."

☆ China’s Economy Struggled in Zero Covid’s Final Month
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Jason Douglas | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

China’s economy took a big hit from Covid-19 restrictions in November, in what economists hope will be the last big squeeze on growth from a zero-tolerance strategy toward Covid-19 that Beijing has since abandoned. Retail sales tumbled as locked-down consumers cut back on spending, while industrial production lost momentum as factories grappled with tight Covid restrictions and slowing overseas demand for their products. Unemployment rose and investment into buildings, machinery and other fixed assets slowed.

☆ A financial coach shares 9 ways to earn $8,000 a month in passive income to prepare for a recession, inflation, or layoffs
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Alexandra York | Junior Entrepreneurship Reporter | Read More | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Andrea outlines 9 of the easiest ways to earn passive income, including resale and blogging. She took her experience building passive income streams and teaching herself the fundamentals of financial literacy to launch the financial-advice blog The Financial Cookbook in February 2021. Julia CheskyAndrea said companies typically contact her about brand partnerships, but she encourages other entrepreneurs to be more proactive when looking for passive income avenues. She recommends selling old clothes, coupons received in the mail, or finds from garage sales or local stores. Nicholas Waskosky, a Poshmark seller, earns five figures a year selling old or upcycled clothes on the platform.

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