Month: January 2025

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s central bank governor said on Thursday the pace of monetary policy easing would need to be flexible this year due to heightened political and economic uncertainty. “This year, conditions surrounding our economy will be more difficult than ever before,” Bank of Korea Governor Rhee Chang-yong said in a New Year’s…

By Jihoon Lee SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s factory activity contracted in December, with manufacturers’ sentiment turning pessimistic for the first time since mid-2020 due to uncertainty over U.S. trade policy and domestic politics, a private sector survey showed on Thursday. The purchasing managers index (PMI) for manufacturers in Asia’s fourth-largest economy, compiled by S&P…

Investing.com– U.S. stock index futures rose on Wednesday evening, marking a cautious start to 2025 after a mix of artificial intelligence hype and lower interest rates saw equity markets log stellar gains in the past year.  But these gains petered out towards the end of 2024, as a so-called “Santa Rally” largely failed to materialize…

PODGORICA, Montenegro (Reuters) – A gunman who killed at least 10 people in a rampage in a small town in Montenegro died from self-inflicted injuries on Thursday after attempting suicide, the country’s interior minister, Danilo Saranovic, said. The gunman, identified by police as Aleksandar Martinovic, 45, attempted suicide near his home in the town of…

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Treasury Department’s sanctions office was hacked by the Chinese government, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed officials. The department earlier this week disclosed in a letter to lawmakers that Chinese state-sponsored hackers stole documents in what Treasury called a “major incident.” Source

Investing.com– A Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Cybertruck exploded in flames at the entrance of Trump Hotel Las Vegas on Wednesday, resulting in one fatality and at least seven injuries, media reports stated. During a news conference, Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill reported that a vehicle fire was called in at the hotel shortly after 8:40 a.m. Responders…

Investing.com– Singapore’s economy barely grew in the fourth quarter, as the island state continued to grapple with weak export demand and slowing growth in major market China, although the economy still grew more than 4% in 2024.  Gross domestic product rose 0.1% in the three months to December 31, advance government data showed on Thursday….

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Singapore’s economy grew 4.0% in 2024, accelerating from 1.1% growth in 2023, preliminary government data showed on Thursday. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rose 4.3% in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, according to advance estimates from the trade ministry, above a median forecast of 3.3% in a Reuters poll of economists. …

(Reuters) – Shamsud-Din Jabbar, the 42-year-old Texas man accused of crashing a truck into New Year’s Day revelers in New Orleans, killing and injuring dozens of people, was a U.S. Army veteran who later worked in real estate, according to officials and public records. Federal officials and local law enforcement in New Orleans say that…