Author: News Room

By Tetsushi Kajimoto and Yoshifumi Takemoto TOKYO (Reuters) – The Bank of Japan (BOJ) should be cautious about changing its unconventional monetary policy for now, given financial market uncertainty due to problems in Western banks, former top financial diplomat Takehiko Nakao told Reuters in an interview. Nakao made the comments amid speculation the BOJ may abandon its yield curve control policy when new Governor Kazuo Ueda takes over incumbent Haruhiko Kuroda, whose term ends on April 8. U.S. bank failures and the buyout of Credit Suisse by UBS last month have driven financial market risk aversion. Nakao said the BOJ…

By Chijioke Ohuocha ABUJA (Reuters) – Nigeria’s naira dropped to a record low of 465 per dollar on the official market on Monday, Refinitiv data showed, as traders await the outcome of Friday’s central bank foreign exchange auction. The naira, which trades within a range on the official market, has fallen to successive lows due to dollar scarcity, coupled with central bank’s adjustments to manage a backlog demand for foreign exchange. It later recovered to trade at 461 to the dollar. The central bank on Friday held a bi-weekly retail auction for people or businesses who need dollars to settle…

By Arathy Somasekhar HOUSTON (Reuters) -Oil prices were little changed in choppy trading on Tuesday as investors weighed OPEC+ planned production cuts against weak U.S. and Chinese economic data that could suggest cooling oil demand. futures settled 1 cent higher at $84.94 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures closed up 29 cents, or 0.4%, at $80.71 a barrel. “We will need to see demand hold and grow to push crude into the upper $80’s,” said Dennis Kissler, senior vice president of trading at BOK Financial. Brent crude and WTI had jumped by more than 6% on…

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: People walk past a Capital One banking center in New York’s financial district January 17, 2013. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid By Nupur Anand and Koh Gui Qing NEW YORK (Reuters) -For months, consumers have clamored for banks to pay out more for deposits as the Federal Reserve raised interest rates. Now analysts say after the banking crisis shook markets last month, lenders appear to be rejigging offers in an effort to keep customers’ cash parked in their accounts for longer. U.S. banks are trying to woo depositors by offering signing bonuses to open new accounts or deposit money…

The stress in the U.S banking system will likely result in lower consumer spending, said New York Fed President John Williams on Friday. In a speech at Housatonic Community College, Williams said the problems in the banking sector will cause banks to tighten credit. This, in turn will cause households and businesses to reduce spending. “The magnitude and duration of these effects, however, is still uncertain,” Williams said. Williams said he will be “particularly focused” on assessing the evolution of credit conditions on the outlook for economic growth, employment and inflation. Boston Fed President Susan Collins said Thursday that tighter…

This week is one of the most important on the Christian calendar — Holy Week, with Good Friday falling on April 7 this year, followed two days later by Easter Sunday. Good Friday commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, while Easter Sunday celebrates the resurrection. Friday is not a federal holiday, but it is recognized by a dozen states: Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Tennessee and Texas. The U.S. stock market is closed on Good Friday and the bond market has abbreviated hours, but other businesses may be open. Here’s what you…

McDonald’s Corp.’s job cuts are spreading through the entire company and will likely result in hundreds of layoffs and compensation reductions, according to a Friday report. The Wall Street Journal, citing sources close to the matter, reported Friday that layoffs were moving company-wide, and more employees were being offered reduced compensation to remain. Earlier in the week, the Journal reported the fast-food giant was closing corporate offices to prep for the cuts, and that McDonald’s MCD, +0.31% would also reduce an untold number of compensation packages. McDonald’s currently employs about 150,000 worldwide, so a shedding of 1,000 jobs would account…

Six months have passed since the S&P 500 index touched its lowest level in more than two years after shedding about 25% of its value at the nadir of 2022’s bear market. A recovery since the start of 2023 has seen the large capitalization index rise more than 17% from its Oct. 12 closing low of 3,577.03, according to FactSet data. However, investors still have plenty of reason to fear that the worst has yet to arrive, if history is any guide, according to Warren Pies, the founder of research shop 3Fourteen Research. Pies and his team highlighted four reasons…

Watch Alex Marquardt’s report on the sting operation on Erin Burnett OutFront on Monday, April 10, at 7 p.m. ET. A team of South Korean spies and American private investigators quietly gathered at the South Korean intelligence service in January, just days after North Korea fired three ballistic missiles into the sea. For months, they’d been tracking $100 million stolen from a California cryptocurrency firm named Harmony, waiting for North Korean hackers to move the stolen crypto into accounts that could eventually be converted to dollars or Chinese yuan, hard currency that could fund the country’s illegal missile program. When…

Ndow Darboe was jubilant when Gambia’s opposition leader Adama Barrow ousted the country’s autocratic president Yahya Jammeh, sharing the widespread view that it would usher in an era of renewal after decades of dictatorship. But in the six years since Barrow took office, Darboe and many other Gambians have become disillusioned by their president’s failures to confront the west African nation’s deep economic and social challenges. “People are suffering,” said Darboe, a farmer from the coastal town of Serekunda.Barrow’s victory and the removal of Jammeh — who initially refused to step aside — was Gambia’s first constitutional transfer of power…