The Korea Herald

U.S. stocks rally after Fed vows to keep rate near zero for 2 years

Aug 10, 2011

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Federal Reserve sketched a dim outlook for the U.S. economy Tuesday, suggesting it will remain weak for two more years. As a result, the Fed said it expects to keep its key interest rate near zero through mid-2013. It's the first time the Fed has pegged its ``exceptionally low'' rates to a specific date. The Fed had previously said only that it would keep its key rate at r...
Bargain hunting push up US stocks

Aug 9, 2011

NEW YORK (AP) -- Bargain hunters helped push the Dow back above 11,000 Tuesday. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 218 points, or 2 percent, to 11,028 in early afternoon trading. On Monday, the Dow had its worst day since 2008, plunging 634.76 points as fear coursed through global markets. ``Stocks were cheap heading into the decline, and they just became cheaper,'' said Brian Jacobsen, chie...
US stock futures rise after big fall

Aug 9, 2011

NEW YORK (AP) -- U.S. stock futures rose Tuesday, but only after swinging wildly in overnight trading following the worst day for stocks since 2008. The Federal Reserve plans to meet Tuesday on interest-rate policy. The central bank already has kept its key interest rate at a record low of nearly zero since 2008. It has also pledged to keep rates low ``for an extended period.'' European strateg...
Asia to keep buying US debt despite downgrade

Aug 9, 2011

BEIJING (AP) -- China and other governments have little choice but to keep buying U.S. Treasury debt to store swelling foreign reserves even after Washington's credit rating was cut by Standard & Poor's. Some governments such as Germany and Australia have stronger credit ratings than the United States following Friday's downgrade to AA+ from AAA. But they don't sell enough debt to absorb the mou...
Seoul decides to ban short selling

Aug 9, 2011

The Financial Services Commission said Tuesday that it has decided to bar investors from short selling on the local stock market over the next three months. Amid the instability of the Korea Exchange in the wake of the European debt crisis, the regulator reinstated the ban for the first time in more than two years since it was lifted in the first half of 2009. Short selling refers to the practi...
Officials strive to placate investors

Aug 9, 2011

Authorities say ready to supply liquidity if necessary Financial authorities have been striving to restore investor sentiment, downplaying concerns over fiscal woes in Europe and the United States. The Financial Services Commission and its executive body, the Financial Supervisory Service, held an emergency meeting and decided to draw up necessary market-stabilizing steps after monitoring the f...
Korea rattles from biggest 2-day drop since 2008

Aug 9, 2011

Market crashes while officials try to soothe investors Seoul stocks continued to drop, hitting a 13-month low Tuesday as institutional investors shunned local shares on fears that Asia’s fourth-largest economy could be hit hard by the historic debt crises in the U.S. and Europe. The KOSPI dipped as low as 9 percent, dropping below the 1,700-level within the first two hours of trading driven by ...
Market sees similarities, differences from 2008

Aug 9, 2011

As Seoul shares plummeted to a 13-month low and concerns about an economic crisis rose, some analysts said the market turmoil looked similar to the financial crisis of 2008. They said the start of the tumbling of shares was comparable to the global equity sell-off that occurred in 2008, which was sparked by the collapse of the leading U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers. “Although it wasn’t a ...
U.S. crisis may have little impact here: BOK

Aug 9, 2011

The historic downgrade of the U.S. credit rating late Friday and subsequent mass sell-off in equity markets around the world have threatened to hamper Korea’s economic growth, leaving few options for the central bank in its scheduled policy-setting meeting this week. Standard & Poor’s downgraded the U.S. credit rating from “AAA” by a notch to “AA+” in a move that alarmed investors across the glo...
Bonds lure investors seeking safer assets

Aug 9, 2011

As the twin crises in the U.S. and Europe send global equity markets plunging, investors are seeking safer destinations, particularly bonds, in South Korea. The Bank of Korea said in a report on Tuesday that the yield on three-year Treasury bonds saw a drop of 30 basis points between Aug. 2-8 as investors bid prices up. The rush came as the Korean stock market took a battering along with other A...
Korea’s producer price growth hits 3-month record in July

Aug 9, 2011

South Korea’s producer prices grew at the fastest clip in three months in July due mainly to a hike in raw material prices and heavy rains, the central bank said Tuesday. The producer price index, a barometer of future consumer inflation, rose 6.5 percent in July from a year earlier, compared with a 6.2 percent gain a month earlier, according to the Bank of Korea. The July data marked the highe...
Stocks recoup losses on Bernanke hopes

Aug 9, 2011

US stocks open higher after Monday's rout LONDON (AP) -- Speculation that the U.S. Federal Reserve may announce another round of monetary easing helped stock markets rebound Tuesday after many entered official bear market territory. A statement from the Fed is expected around 1415 EDT (1815 GMT) and hopes that it will be forced into more action helped most stocks in Europe and Wall Street post ...
US markets fall sharply after S&P downgrade

Aug 8, 2011

S&P downgrades Fannie, Freddie, other agencies linked to long-term U.S. debt NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. stock market joined a sell-off around the world Monday in the first trading since Standard & Poor's downgraded American debt and gave investors another reason to be anxious. The Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 250 points minutes after the opening bell on Wall Street. It recovered so...
S&P downgrades Fannie and Freddie, US-backed debt

Aug 8, 2011

WASHINGTON (AP) — Standard & Poor's Ratings Services on Monday downgraded the credit ratings of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and other agencies linked to long-term U.S. debt. The agency also lowered the ratings for: farm lenders; long-term U.S. government-backed debt issued by 32 banks and credit unions; and three major clearinghouses, which are used to execute trades of stocks, bonds and options....
U.S. rating downgrade clouds Korean economy

Aug 8, 2011

Stocks plunge; stronger won against U.S. dollar feared to hurt exporters Fears of potential fallout from the U.S. credit downgrade quickly materialized in a Korean stock freefall on Monday. The drop reflected the panicky sentiment among local investors amid growing concerns about the overall Korean economy, widely seen as vulnerable to outside risks. Investors in Korea and elsewhere in Asia ha...