The Taiwan dollar strengthened past 30 versus the greenback this week for the first time in 18 months. The Taiwan dollar has climbed about 3.6% in the second half of the year as the best performer among the world’s major currencies. Speculation abounds Taiwan’s central bank has been intervening in the market to slow the …

  The Chicago Business BarometerTM, produced with MNI, rose 2.6 points in December, hitting a four-month high of 48.9.  Business sentiment dropped by 1.2 points to 46.2 in Q4, marking the lowest quarterly reading since Q2 2009. The index was below the 50-mark for the second successive quarter. Among the main five categories, Supplier Deliveries …

Hong Nam-ki.South Korea’s finance minister,  said on Monday the rate of decline in December exports will be significantly lower than in recent months. Recent trend in economic indicators supports expectations of an economic rebound next year, and the rate of decline in exports, which have been sluggish so far, … are expected to be significantly …