DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

On Monday, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol announced that the United Arab Emirates had pledged a staggering $30 billion in investment in the Asian country. The news came after the leaders of the two nations held talks in Abu Dhabi on Sunday, in a landmark trip that marked the first-ever state visit to the UAE by a South Korean president, according to a statement from Yoon’s office. In total, representatives from approximately 100 South Korean companies traveled with the president, according to his office. Some South Korean firms also agreed to build farms for tomatoes and strawberries in the UAE, a country that relies heavily on imports of agricultural products. Going forward, South Korea “will be a key partner in the global supply chain,” using its expertise in sectors such as semiconductors and steel-making to help stabilize supply chains, he pledged.

☆ As South Korean government proposes flexible overtime rules, some fear workers may suffer
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Hyunsu Yim | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

It would supersede a 2018 law that limited the work week to 52 hours - 40 hours of regular work plus 12 hours of overtime. For counting periods of a month or longer, up to 29 hours a week of overtime would be allowed, for a total of 69 work hours in one week. In a statement, the Korean Women's Associations United said "only regulations like the 52-hour workweek and pressure from labour unions can protect workers from long working hours". Extending working hours, even temporarily, affects women more than men, said Lee Min-Ah, Professor of Sociology at Chung-Ang University. Other workers say the new plan ignores a lot of the cultural and social nuances of work in South Korea.

Issuance of bonds tied to environmental, social and governance (ESG) themes grossed $142 billion in Asia Pacific last year, barely below the record $144 billion of 2021, according to data from Refinitiv. Major EM ESG issuance Asia, Europe and USParticipants say the 2022 issuance in Asia was fuelled on the supply side by the gargantuan task of greening Asia's energy grid and by low yuan interest rates in top issuer China, where investment from domestic institutions supported prices. Chinese entities issued 59.3% of the ESG bonds in the Asia-Pacific region in 2022, with total proceeds totaling $84 billion, up about 6% from $80 billion in 2021. "Domestic capital markets in Asia have been developing over many years, and are quite deep today," he said. Major EM ESG issuance Major EM ESG issuanceGlobally, ESG issuance fell last year as debt markets became turbulent, while investors pulled cash from funds devoted to sustainable investment for the first time in more than a decade as soaring prices for fossil fuel stocks, which they exclude, hurt their relative performance.

Economists in a Reuters poll had predicted Friday's rate increase would mark the end of a rate-hike cycle that the Bank of Korea's began in late 2021. The Bank of Korea said its seven-member monetary policy board had decided to raise its policy interest rate (KROCRT=ECI) to 3.50%, the highest since late 2008. The interest-rate rise matched a prediction by 36 out of 40 economists in a Reuters poll, in which the remaining four had expected the central bank to hold the rate steady at 3.25%. The decision follows Governor Rhee Chang-yong's remarks this month that the central bank's policy stance would continue to focus on stabilising prices. Like its peers globally, the Bank of Korea is faced with growing pressure to adjust its policy stance as domestic consumer and corporate spending fades and global trade slows.

☆ COVID wave past its peak in many parts of China - state media
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Bernard Orr | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

BEIJING, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Many parts of China are already past their peak of COVID-19 infections, state media reported on Tuesday, with officials further downplaying the severity of the outbreak despite international concerns about its scale and impact. One official was quoted as saying nearly 90 million people had already been infected in Henan province. On Tuesday, a Health Times compilation of reports from local government officials and health experts across the country, suggested the COVID wave may be past its peak in many regions. Yin Yong, acting mayor of Beijing, was cited as saying the capital was also past its peak. Separately in the state-run China Daily, a prominent health official said the percentage of severe cases remained unclear.

CNN —Chinese billionaire Jack Ma will no longer control Ant Group after the fintech giant’s shareholders agreed to reshape its shareholding structure, according to a statement released by the company on Saturday. After the adjustment, Ma’s voting rights will fall to 6.2%, according to the statement and CNN calculations. Before the restructure, Ma held 50.52% of voting rights at Ant via Hangzhou Yunbo and two other entities, according to its IPO prospectus filed with stock exchanges in 2020. As part of the company’s restructuring, Ant applied for an expansion of its registered capital from $1.2 billion to $2.7 billion. Ant Group is a fintech affiliate of Alibaba, both of which were founded by Ma.

☆ Bank of Korea working hard to ensure economy's soft landing -governor
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SEOUL, Jan 3 (Reuters) - South Korea's central bank governor said on Tuesday the bank will do its best to ensure a soft landing for the economy amid significant internal and external uncertainty. "The Bank of Korea, together with the government, will do its best in making sophisticated policy responses to achieve a soft landing of the South Korean economy, during this time of clouded visibility due to considerable external and internal uncertainties," Governor Rhee Chang-yong said in a speech at a New-Year event. Rhee said the central bank will pay attention to growth and changes in financial and foreign exchange markets, while continuing to focus its monetary policy stance on stabilising prices. The Bank of Korea (BOK) will hold its first rate decision meeting for this year on Jan. 13, having raised interest rates by 275 basis points to 3.25% since August 2021. Reporting by Jihoon Lee; Editing by Christopher CushingOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ North Korea's Kim sacks No. 2 military official
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-02 | by ( Hyonhee Shin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

SEOUL, Jan 2 (Reuters) - North Korea has sacked Pak Jong Chon, the second most powerful military official after leader Kim Jong Un, state media reported. The party's Central Military Commission, which is headed by Kim, is considered the country' most powerful military decision-making body, above the defence ministry. In late 2020, Pak was promoted to the politburo and earned the title of marshal, the highest military rank under Kim, and became a leading voice last November against joint South Korea-U.S. military exercises. Like most other top military aides who went through ups and downs repeatedly under Kim, Pak was briefly demoted in mid-2021 after Kim chided some officials for their handling of North Korea's anti-coronavirus policy, before being promoted again months later. Ri, Pak's successor, is also a senior military commander who held key positions including chief of the army's general staff and defence minister.

☆ Bank of Korea chief sees more conflict between goals
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

SEOUL, Jan 1 (Reuters) - The head of South Korea's central bank said on Sunday it would likely face an increasing conflict between policy goals in 2023 as the effect of the recent aggressive policy tightening materialises in earnest. "It will be a year when a sophisticated policy mix is more important than ever due to a growing possibility of conflict between inflation, economic growth and financial stability," Governor Rhee Chang-yong said in his New Year's address. He said a fast cooling of the real estate market could cause financial market instability, while listing the war in Ukraine and the COVID-19 situation in China as the main sources of uncertainty facing the country's economy and inflation. Reporting by Choonsik Yoo; Editing by Alison WilliamsOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Startups find better access to talent as top tech companies cut jobs, freeze hiring
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( Jennifer Elias | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

More than 50,000 tech workers were let go from their jobs in November, according to data collected by the website Layoffs.fyi. “Given the tech layoffs and lower hiring by the big-tech companies, folks are looking for smaller tech companies to join,” said Christopher Fong, founder of Xoogler.co, a network for ex-Google employees. In the absence of the stability that the largest tech companies once offered, workers are looking to startups and midsize companies that offer greater flexibility and, in some case, the opportunity to have a bigger impact. “I tried not to think a lot about tech layoffs when interviewing," Bell said. Lauren Illovsky, talent partner for Alphabet's CapitalG venture firm said “hiring has gotten a little easier" for the group's portfolio companies.

☆ Premarket stocks: Wall Street's dirty secret: It's terrible at forecasting stocks
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

What’s happening: Last year, Goldman Sachs analysts predicted that the S&P 500 would close out 2022 at 5,100 points. With those caveats, let’s get to Wall Street’s predictionsThe numbers: Forecasts for where the S&P 500 will finish 2023 vary greatly. Analysts overestimated the final value (that is, the final value finished below the estimate) in 13 of the 20 years and underestimated the final value (the final value finished above the estimate) in the other 7 years. They’re on track to have overestimated the performance of the S&P 500 in 2022 by nearly 40%. During this period, the S&P 500 has historically gained 1.3% on average, according to data from LPL Financial going back to 1950.

The country will also scrap all other restrictive Covid measures for travelers, including quarantines for positive patients and contact tracing. China downgraded Covid management to a less-strict “Class B disease,” in the same category as less-severe diseases, such as Dengue fever. The existing quarantine policy for international arrivals to China was first launched in 2020 and modified over the course of the past several years. Since the world’s second largest economy drastically eased its Covid restrictions, there has been no clear data on the extent of the virus’ spread on the national level. China’s current focus is to prepare sufficient medical resources, according to the NHC statement.

New Delhi CNN —Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Dhaka on Saturday calling for the dissolution of parliament to make way for new elections, and demand the resignation of Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Saturday’s protest comes amid a flurry of demonstrations in Bangladesh calling on Hasina to step down and demanding new elections. The Bangladesh Election Commission has not announced a date for the next general election, which is due by the end of 2023. Supporters of Bangladesh's opposition party protest against the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on December 10, 2022. “Concerned governments should publicly call on the prime minister to allow Bangladeshis to freely engage in peaceful political activities,” she said.

“I haven’t seen sunlight in what seems like a long time,” Li told CNN, a week after the protests broke out. In recent years, Beijing has extended its crackdown on dissent to the foreign platform, detaining and jailing Chinese Twitter users who criticized the government. TwitterLi received thousands of submissions a day – and up to dozens per second at the height of the protests. Journalists, observers and activists monitored his feed closely, and some of his posts were aired on televisions across the world. And then they went to our house at midnight to harass my parents,” Li said.

☆ Hearing aids may lower your risk for cognitive decline and dementia, study finds
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Madeline Holcombe | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Hearing aids might be an important tool in the effort to prevent cognitive decline and dementia, according to a new study. The new study published Monday in JAMA Neurology offers evidence that managing hearing loss may potentially help reduce or delay cognitive decline, Loh said. The use of hearing aids was associated with a 19% reduction in long-term cognitive decline, the study found. “Get screened for hearing loss, and if you do have hearing loss, speak with your audiologist or physician ENT to ensure appropriate and optimal correction to help stave off the potential dementia risk and cognitive decline,” Holland said. But in the meantime, people with hearing loss should talk with their doctor about whether it is appropriate to use hearing aids, Tan said.

☆ Proud Son endured 'longest six minutes' before Korea advanced
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-03 | by ( Michael Church | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"It was the longest six minutes of my life, but in the circle we were really positive," said Son, who will be playing in the World Cup knockout rounds for the first time in his career. Korea's win over the Portuguese carried echoes of their 2-0 victory over Germany in Russia four years ago, which eliminated the then-defending champions. The Koreans will next take on tournament favourites Brazil on Monday with Son praising the unity within Paulo Bento's squad. "We're really, really close. I'm really grateful to those who didn't play, they could be sad but they didn't show their disappointment.

☆ Bank of Korea's Rhee 'not so sure' about digital currencies
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SEOUL, Dec 2 (Reuters) - South Korea's central bank governor Rhee Chang-yong said he became sceptical of the benefits of new technologies related to Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC), after recent events in the cryptocurrency market. "I was more positive before, but after seeing the Luna, Terra, and now the FTX issues ... I don't know (if) we will see the real benefit of this new technology, at least for monetary policy," said Rhee, a panelist at a session on digital currency. The market saw another rout last month, after one of the world's biggest crypto exchanges FTX filed for bankruptcy, with crypto lending company BlockFi following suit. Reporting by Jihoon Lee; Editing by Clarence FernandezOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Emerging market policymakers dare to hope for brighter 2023
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Roberto Samora | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

He also said a reopening of China could propel the South Korean economy in 2023. "Actually if China loosens zero-COVID policy and reopens their borders and economy that will be a tremendous stimulus for us. Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman forecast a "very good" economy ahead of 2024 national elections, fuelled by capital spending. State finance minister Shehan Semasinghe also said the nation was intent on meeting a December deadline to present plans to help unlock an International Monetary Fund bail-out. Zambia, which defaulted on its sovereign debt in 2020, aims to complete its restructuring of nearly $15 billion of external debt in the first quarter of 2023, Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane said.

But satellite images and photos show the Chinese-owned ship had loaded the oil four months earlier in Venezuela, an OPEC nation in South America under U.S. oil sanctions. Two of those tankers, including the Young Yong, were designated this month by U.S. authorities for violating sanctions on Iran, one of Venezuela's closest allies. The U.S. Treasury declined to comment on the involvement of the Young Yong or the other vessels identified by Reuters in shipping Venezuela crude. Indonesian authorities said in early November that the Young Yong had run aground off the Riau Islands on Oct. 26. The United States imposed oil trading sanctions on Venezuela in 2019 after calling Maduro's re-election the previous year a sham.

☆ EXCLUSIVE Bank of Korea ready to adjust tightening pace, hopes for peak rate near 3.5%
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Cynthia Kim | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] South Korea's new central bank governor Rhee Chang-yong speaks during his inauguration ceremony in Seoul, South Korea April 21, 2022. But he added that South Korean interest rates should not get too far below those of the United States, because of the risk of capital outflow. With the policy rate now at 3.25%, Rhee hopes it will not have to go much higher. It is the first time that the central bank governor has specified a level around which he hopes rates will peak. The Fed's policy rate is currently 3.75% to 4.00%.

☆ Bank of Korea ready to readjust tightening pace, going by data
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

SEOUL, Nov 30 (Reuters) - South Korea's central bank is ready to readjust the pace of its policy tightening to respond to an economic slowdown and a slumping property market, the bank's governor told the Reuters NEXT conference on Wednesday. But Rhee Chang-yong declined to say whether the Bank of Korea would stop raising interest rates before the U.S. Federal Reserve, though he added that it was now better able to take into account domestic factors than before. The Bank of Korea, which was among the first central banks of major economies to start raising rates in August last year, has lifted the benchmark rate by a total of 275 basis points from a record low figure of 0.5%. Reporting by Cynthia Kim, Choonsik Yoo and Jihoon Lee; Editing by Clarence FernandezOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

The Bank of Korea (BOK) raised its benchmark policy rate (KROCRT=ECI) to 3.25% on Thursday, the highest level since 2012, after delivering a half-percentage point hike in October. The BOK is in the midst of its most aggressive policy tightening on record, having been a front-runner in withdrawing pandemic-era stimulus in the region when it started raising interest rates in August 2021. Since then, it has raised rates by a total of 275 basis points, delivering bigger 50-basis-point rate hikes for the first time since the current monetary framework was introduced in 1999. The central bank aims to keep inflation at 2%. The slowdown in the tightening pace has also been facilitated by a rebound in the local currency.

☆ South Korea's central bank raises rates by 25 bps, as expected
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( Cynthia Kim | Jihoon Lee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SEOUL, Nov 24 (Reuters) - South Korea's central bank raised interest rates by a more modest 25 basis points on Thursday, as expected, slowing the pace of policy tightening as it tries to tame inflation without choking off economic growth. The Bank of Korea (BOK) raised its benchmark policy rate (KROCRT=ECI) to 3.25%, the highest level since July 2012, after delivering a half-percentage point hike in October. All but one of 30 economists expected the central bank to opt for a quarter-point hike in a Reuters poll, while one forecast another half-point rise. The Bank of Korea has raised the policy rate by a total of 275 basis points since August 2021 from a record low of 0.50%. Reporting by Cynthia Kim, Jihoon Lee and Choonsik Yoo; Editing by Ana Nicolaci da CostaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ After another chaotic week on Twitter, some users are nostalgic for the pre-Elon Musk days
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Kahlan-Rosenblatt.Jpg | Kalhan Rosenblatt | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

Twitter is not dead — but some of its users are already mourning what the platform was, before Elon Musk's takeover. As the site descends further into chaos, users are getting nostalgic and sharing their favorite memories of "old school Twitter." On Thursday, she asked her followers to share a “happy Twitter memory,” and said the responses affirmed her appreciation for pre-chaos Twitter. “Somebody said, ‘I used to think that queer people were sinning ... and now I don’t because of Twitter,’” Crozier said. There were users who pointed out that Twitter, pre-Musk, had been referred to as a “hellsite“ where users “doomscrolled“ for hours.

Summary China may miss typical November-December export surgeExports unexpectedly dropped in October as global demand ebbedFall in exports broad-based, from toys to appliancesBEIJING, Nov 10 (Reuters) - China's usual year-end export surge is in doubt as weak global demand dims a rare bright spot for the world's second-biggest economy, already hurt by COVID-19 lockdowns, a frozen property sector and ebbing domestic consumption. Analysts expect global recession risks and China's disruptive COVID curbs will further drag on exports in coming months, dashing hopes for an economic rebound this quarter. Qi was not sure of the scale of orders that overseas customers would place in December. A closely watched private-sector survey focussing on small manufacturers shows export orders contracting since August. Buyers usually book orders for Christmas and Black Friday around August, but weak demand already sapped any lift this period.

Search resuls for: "yong"

25 mentions found