SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea condemned on Friday the decision by the United States to supply Ukraine with advanced battle tanks to help fight off Russia’s invasion, saying Washington is escalating a sinister “proxy war” aimed at destroying Moscow.
The comments by the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un underscored the country’s deepening alignment with Russia over the war in Ukraine as it confronts the United States and its Asian allies over its own growing nuclear weapons and missiles program.
North Korea has blamed the United States for the crisis in Ukraine, insisting that the West’s “hegemonic policy” forced Russia to take military action to protect its security interests.
It has also used the distraction created by the war to accelerate its own weapons development, test-firing more than 70 missiles in 2022 alone, including potentially nuclear-capable weapons believed able to target South Korea and the U.S. mainland.
The United States has accused North Korea of sending large supplies of artillery shells and other ammunition to Russia to support its offensive in Ukraine, although the North has repeatedly denied the claim.
Kim Yo Jong’s comments, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, came after U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday said the United States will send 31 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, reversing months of arguments by Washington that they were too difficult for Ukrainian troops to operate and maintain. The U.S. decision followed Germany’s agreement to send 14 Leopard 2 A6 tanks from its own stocks.
Kim said the Biden administration was “further crossing the red line” by sending its main tanks to Ukraine and that the decision reflects a “sinister intention to realize its hegemonic aim by further expanding the proxy war for destroying Russia.”
“The U.S. is the arch criminal which poses serious threat and challenge to the strategic security of Russia and pushes the regional situation to the present grave phase,” she said.
“I do not doubt that any military hardware the U.S. and the West boast of will be burnt into pieces in the face of the indomitable fighting spirit and might of the heroic Russian army and people,” she said, adding that North Korea will always “stand in the same trench” with Russia.
North Korea is the only nation other than Russia and Syria to recognize the independence of Donetsk and Luhansk, two Russian-backed separatist regions in eastern Ukraine, and has also hinted at plans to send workers there to help with rebuilding efforts.
Around 500 people were evacuated from their homes on Friday after a fire broke out in Guryong Village, one of the last remaining slums in South Korea’s capital Seoul, according to fire officials.
The fire broke out around 6:28 a.m. in the fourth district of the village, said Shin Yong-ho, an official with the Gangnam Fire Station, in a televised briefing. First responders arrived around five minutes later, he said.
No deaths or injuries have been reported so far.
Around 60 homes are believed to have burned down, Shin said, adding most structures are made from vinyl plywood panels.
Videos on social media show the fire engulfing what looks like rows of homes, with huge plumes of thick black smoke hanging above the slum as sirens wail nearby.
More than 800 response personnel have been mobilized, including firefighters, police and governmental workers, while 10 helicopters have been deployed to assist with the response, Shin said.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, who is in Switzerland attending the World Economic Forum, has been notified of the fire and has ordered authorities to mobilize “all available personnel and equipment,” according to the presidential office.
Yoon also requested local governments to evacuate residents and ensure the safety of rescue workers, his office said.
Authorities have long warned that Guryong residents are at particular risk of disasters, with the Gangnam government saying on its website that the slum was “vulnerable to fires” in 2019.
It was also hit hard by flooding last August, when record rainfall killed at least 13 people in Seoul – including some residents trapped in the dingy “banjiha” basement homes depicted in the movie “Parasite.”
The Guryong slum has long been seen as a symbol of the gap between rich and poor in South Korea, Asia’s fourth-largest economy. It’s part of the wealthy, glittering Gangnam district, made famous by Psy’s 2012 song “Gangnam Style” and sometimes called the Beverly Hills of Seoul.
Gangnam’s high-rise apartment buildings lie less than a kilometer from the shacks of Guryong, where many residents live in cramped makeshift housing built from materials like wood and corrugated iron.
Though plans to redevelop the area stretch back at least a decade, numerous proposals have faltered due to disagreements between local governing bodies and negotiations over land compensation.
These efforts are ongoing, with 406 households – more than a third of the slum’s population – relocated as of 2019, according to the Gangnam government website. More than 1,000 residents are still living there, Gangnam officials confirmed on Friday.
The district shared more redevelopment plans last May, with a local official saying the land would be turned into “an eco-friendly luxury residential complex.”
Authorities are working to help relocate about 1,500 households living in shacks across three major slums, including Guryong, into public housing instead, the Seoul government said in a news release last November.
It added that the city aims to eventually “eliminate abnormal residences such as shacks and vinyl houses.”
Travel restrictions launched in the wake of China’s border reopening may beaffecting where people there are booking trips.
But it’s not out of spite, said several Chinese travelers who spoke to CNBC.
It’s because some countries aren’t letting them in easily, they said.
‘I think it’s unfair’
Reactions from Chinese travelers who spoke to CNBC were varied, ranging from indifference to confusion to anger.
“Of course, I think it’s unfair,” said one citizen, who asked to be called Bonnie. “But at the same time, we understand what’s going on.”
So far, more than a dozen countries have announced new rules for travelers departing from China. Last week, the European Union recommended that its members require Chinese travelers to take Covid tests before entering.
But Covid tests aren’t the problem, Shaun Rein, managing director of China Market Research Group, told “Squawk Box Asia” on Monday. It’s that “these policies are directed only towards mainland Chinese,” he said.
South African Mansoor Mohamed, who lives in China, agreed. “It is relatively easy and cheap to do a Covid test in China, so it will not affect my travel planning,” he said.
“However, I know that many patriotic Chinese colleagues and friends will avoid those countries for now because the practice of only testing passengers arriving from China is discriminatory,” he said.
Of course, China requires travelers to test negative before entering China, and has for three years.
The difference, Mohamed said, is that “every arrival [to China], including Chinese nationals … [is] subjected to the same rules.”
Where the Chinese are going
Gao Dan told CNBC she is planning to travel out of the province of Qinghai for the first time in more than two years. But she said she’s staying in China, adding that she “hasn’t looked into what other countries’ travel policies are,” according to a CNBC translation.
Others are booking trips abroad, but some not to their first-choice destinations — namely Japan and South Korea.
One traveler, named Bonnie, told CNBC her friends in China are going to Thailand rather than South Korea, even though “they wouldn’t have considered Thailand” before.
Tuul & Bruno Morandi | The Image Bank | Getty Images
“When China said they were opening the borders in January, all my friends said they’re going to Japan and Korea,” said Bonnie.
But they couldn’t get visas, she said. “So they are now going to Thailand.”
Rein said Chinese travelers are now headed to Singapore and Thailand because “both countries are welcoming us.”
Of the top destinations Chinese nationals searched after the border reopening announcement, those are the only two that haven’t imposed new restrictions on incoming Chinese travelers.
Data shows search interest for outbound flights from mainland China rose by 83% in the 11 days after the announcement, compared with the 14 days before it, according to data from Trip.com Group.
During this period, search interest for Thailand and Singapore grew by 176% and 93%, respectively, according to the company.
Angrier at some more than others
Chinese officials called the rules from South Korea and others “excessive” and “discriminatory.”
But South Korea refutes claims of discrimination. Seung-ho Choi, a deputy director at the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, pointed out to CNBC that the country’s rules apply to “Korean nationals and non-Korean nationals coming from China. … There is no discrimination for nationality in this measure.”
“China’s Covid situation is still worsening,” he said. The number of people traveling from China to Korea who tested positive for Covid-19 went up 14 times from November to December, he said.
The Prime Minister’s Office of Japan did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment. A representative at Japan’s Embassy in Singapore told CNBC that Japan is processing Chinese travel visa requests as usual.
Citing a discrepancy in infection information from China, Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters on Dec. 27: “In order to avoid a sharp increase in the influx of new cases into the country, we are focusing efforts on entry inspections and airports,” according to an article published by Nikkei Asia.
Both Japan and South Korea have taken conservative stances toward the Covid pandemic.
Japan, in particular, has been sluggish to bounce back to pre-pandemic life, with residents showing little enthusiasm when its own border fully reopened in October 2022.
‘A political issue’
Rein told “Squawk Box Asia” that the rules are not just about tourism.
“This is a political issue,” he said, adding that he expects Japanese stocks to be affected, singling out two cosmetics names.
Read more about China’s reopening
“I would be cautious on Shiseido. I’d be cautious on Kose, because there are going to be some boycotts,” he said. Shares of Kose were lower on the Tokyo stock exchange on Tuesday, but Shiseido was higher.
Rein said animosity toward South Korea and Japan will be short-lived.
“It’ll take about three months for the anger to dissipate,” he said. “There’s going to be massive revenge travel outside to Korea to Japan — if those two countries treat Chinese properly.”
New Zealander Darren Straker, who lives and works in Shanghai, said he, too, believes the policies are politically motivated, calling them a “last sad gasp [as] the Covid geopolitical door closes.”
The drone was among five North Korean unmanned aerial vehicles that crossed into South Korea’s airspace on December 26.
A North Korean drone entered the northern end of a 3.7km (2.2 miles) radius no-fly zone around South Korea’s presidential office in Seoul when it intruded into the country’s airspace last month, South Korean military officials say.
“It [the drone] briefly flew into the northern edge of the zone, but it did not come close to key security facilities,” a military official told South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency on Thursday.
The drone was among five North Korean unmanned aerial vehicles that crossed the border and entered South Korean airspace on December 26, prompting South Korea’s military to scramble fighter jets and attack helicopters. The military could not bring down the drones, which flew over South Korean territory for hours.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff had denied that one of the drones intruded into the presidential office no-fly zone, however, on Thursday confirmed that a drone had violated the northern end of the secure area but did not fly directly over the Yongsan area, where the office of President Yoon Suk-yeol is located.
The drone incursion has sparked criticism of South Korea’s air defences at a time when North Korea poses a growing threat as it develops its ballistic missile technologies, including test-launching an unprecedented number of missiles last year.
“Drone incursions have laid bare the South’s insufficient readiness to detect, track and shoot down such small drones,” Yonhap said.
South Korea’s president warned on Wednesday that he would consider suspending a 2018 inter-Korean military pact with Pyongyang if drones violate his country’s airspace again.
“He instructed the national security office to consider suspending the validity of the military agreement if North Korea stages another provocation invading our territory,” presidential press secretary Kim Eun-hye told a briefing.
The 2018 deal, sealed on the sidelines of a summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and former South Korean President Moon Jae-in, called for ceasing “all hostile acts”, creating a no-fly zone around the border, and removing landmines and guard posts within the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).
Yoon’s threat to abandon the 2018 pact could mean the return of live-fire drills in the former no-fly zone and propaganda broadcasts across the border – all of which drew angry responses from Pyongyang before the pact. Yoon has criticised the military’s handling of the drone incident, and has urged the country’s forces to stand ready to retaliate, even if that means “risking escalation”.
He has also ordered the defence minister to launch a comprehensive drone unit that performs multipurpose missions, including surveillance, reconnaissance and electronic warfare, and also called for a system to mass-produce stealth drones.
South Korea’s army has operated two drone squadrons within its Ground Operations Command since 2018, but they were primarily designed to prepare for future warfare.
SEOUL, Jan 3 (Reuters) – South Korea’s antitrust regulator said it would impose a 2.85 billion won ($2.2 million) fine on Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) for failing to tell its customers about the shorter driving range of its electric vehicles (EVs) in low temperatures.
The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) said that Tesla had exaggerated the “driving ranges of its cars on a single charge, their fuel cost-effectiveness compared to gasoline vehicles as well as the performance of its Superchargers” on its official local website since August 2019 until recently.
The driving range of the U.S. EV manufacturer’s cars plunge in cold weather by up to 50.5% versus how they are advertised online, the KFTC said in a statement on Tuesday.
Tesla could not be immediately reached for comment.
On its website, Tesla provides winter driving tips, such as pre-conditioning vehicles with external power sources, and using its updated Energy app to monitor energy consumption, but does not mention the loss of driving range in sub-zero temperatures.
[1/2] A view shows the Tesla logo on the hood of a car in Oslo, Norway November 10, 2022. REUTERS/Victoria Klesty
In 2021, Citizens United for Consumer Sovereignty, a South Korean consumer group, said the driving range of most EVs drop by up to 40% in cold temperatures when batteries need to be heated, with Tesla suffering the most, citing data from the country’s environment ministry.
Last year, the KFTC fined German carmaker Mercedes-Benz and its Korean unit 20.2 billion won for false advertising tied to gas emissions of its diesel passenger vehicles.
The challenge for electric vehicle performance in extreme temperatures is widely known, though EVs are popular in markets like Norway, where four out of five vehicles sold last year were battery-powered, led by Tesla.
A 2020 study of 4,200 connected EVs of all makes by Canada-based telematics provider Geotab found that most models had a similar drop in range in cold weather, primarily because the battery is also used to heat the car for the driver and passengers.
At just above 20 degrees Celsius, the average EV outperformed its stated range, but at minus 15 degrees the average EV had only 54% of its rated range, the study found.
Reporting by Ju-min Park and Hyunsu Yim; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Emelia Sithole-Matarise
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
A Tesla electric vehicle is parked at a Tesla Supercharger station in Suwon, South Korea on Aug. 7, 2022.
SeongJoon Cho | Bloomberg | Getty Images
South Korea’s antitrust regulator said it would impose a 2.85 billion won ($2.2 million) fine on Tesla for failing to tell its customers about the shorter driving range of its electric vehicles in low temperatures.
The Korea Fair Trade Commission said that Tesla had exaggerated the “driving ranges of its cars on a single charge, their fuel cost-effectiveness compared to gasoline vehicles as well as the performance of its Superchargers” on its official local website since August 2019 until recently.
The driving range of the U.S. EV manufacturer’s cars plunge in cold weather by up to 50.5% versus how they are advertised online, the KFTC said in a statement on Tuesday.
Tesla could not be immediately reached for comment.
On its website, Tesla provides winter driving tips, such as pre-conditioning vehicles with external power sources, and using its updated Energy app to monitor energy consumption, but does not mention the loss of driving range in sub-zero temperatures.
Read more about tech and crypto from CNBC Pro
In 2021, Citizens United for Consumer Sovereignty, a South Korean consumer group, said the driving range of most EVs drop by up to 40% in cold temperatures when batteries need to be heated, with Tesla suffering the most, citing data from the country’s environment ministry.
Last year, the KFTC fined German carmaker Mercedes-Benz and its Korean unit 20.2 billion won for false advertising tied to gas emissions of its diesel passenger vehicles.
SEOUL, Jan 2 (Reuters) – South Korea and the United States are discussing possible joint planning and exercises using U.S. nuclear assets in the face of North Korea’s growing nuclear and missile threats, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said in a newspaper interview.
The Chosun Ilbo newspaper quoted Yoon as saying the joint planning and exercises would be aimed at a more effective implementation of the U.S. “extended deterrence.”
The term means the ability of the U.S. military, particularly its nuclear forces, to deter attacks on U.S. allies.
“The nuclear weapons belong to the United States, but planning, information sharing, exercises and training should be jointly conducted by South Korea and the United States,” Yoon said, adding Washington is also “quite positive” about the idea.
Yoon’s remarks come a day after North Korean state media reported that its leader Kim Jong Un called for developing new intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and an “exponential increase” of the country’s nuclear arsenal to counter U.S.-led threats amid flaring tension between the rival Koreas.
The North’s race to advance its nuclear and missile programmes has renewed debate over South Korea’s own nuclear armaments, but Yoon said maintaining the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons remained important.
At a meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party last week, Kim said South Korea has now become the North’s “undoubted enemy” and rolled out new military goals, hinting at another year of intensive weapons tests and tension.
Inter-Korean ties have long been testy but have been even more frayed since Yoon took office in May.
On Sunday, North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile off its east coast, in a rare late-night, New Year’s Day weapons test, following three ballistic missiles launched on Saturday, capping a year marked by a record number of missile tests.
Yoon’s comments on the nuclear exercises are the latest demonstration of his tough stance on North Korea. He urged the military to prepare for a war with “overwhelming” capability following North Korean drones crossing into the South last week.
Analysts say the tensions could worsen.
“This year could be a year of crisis with military tension on the Korean peninsula going beyond what it was like in 2017,” said Hong Min, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification, referring to the days of the “fire and fury” under the Trump administration.
“North Korea’s hardline stance…and aggressive weapons development when met with South Korea-U.S. joint exercises and proportional response could raise the tension in a flash, and we cannot rule out what’s similar to a regional conflict when the two sides have a misunderstanding of the situation,” Hong said.
Reporting by Soo-hyang Choi, Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
North Korea fired at least three short-range ballistic missiles from a site south of Pyongyang on Saturday, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, the latest in an unprecedented year of weapons testing.
In a text to reporters, the Joint Chiefs said the projectiles were fired from the Chunghwa area of North Hwanghae province at around 8 a.m. local time Saturday.
Japan’s Defense Ministry said three ballistic missiles – each with a maximum altitude of approximately 100 kilometers (62 miles) and a flight distance of roughly 350 kilometers (217 miles) – had fallen into waters off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula, outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
This is the 37th day this year that North Korea has conducted a missile launch, according to CNN’s count.
Last week, it fired two short-range ballistic missiles, according to South Korean officials.
In 2020, North Korea conducted four missile tests. In 2021, it doubled that number. In 2022, the isolated nation has fired more missiles than any other year on record, at one point launching 23 missiles in a single day.
North Korea has fired more than 90 cruise and ballistic missiles so far this year, showing off a range of weapons as experts warn of a potential nuclear test on the horizon.
Though the tests themselves aren’t new, their sheer frequency marks a significant escalation that has put the Pacific region on edge.
Week ahead: PMIs in Asia-Pacific, trade data, inflation readings
Key economic events in the Asia-Pacific next week will be dominated by Purchasing Managers’ Index readings in the region.
China’s National Bureau of Statistics is scheduled to release the official manufacturing and non-manufacturing PMI prints on Saturday. Reuters expects China’s factory activity to show a contraction with a reading of 48.
South Korea is also slated to report its December trade data over the weekend, in which economists polled by Reuters predict will show a drop of 10.1% compared with a year ago.
Singapore is scheduled to release manufacturing PMI readings next week, while S&P Global is scheduled to release its PMI readings for South Korea, Indonesia and India on Monday.
Inflation prints for the Philippines and Indonesia will also be closely watched, with the releases scheduled for Tuesday and Monday, respectively.
Japan’s PMI reading and China’s private survey for services PMI will be released on Wednesday. Singapore will release November’s retail sales on Thursday as well as South Korea’s unemployment rate for December.
– Jihye Lee
Yamaguchi emerging as candidate for next Bank of Japan governor: Sankei
Former Bank of Japan deputy governor Hirohide Yamaguchi is emerging as a candidate to lead the central bank, Japanese local media Sankei reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Yamaguchi, who held the deputy position at the central bank until 2013, has been a vocal critic of the current governor Haruhiko Kuroda’s ultra-dovish monetary policy.
The newspaper added that Yamaguchi would indicate a shift away from former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s economic stimulus strategy also known as “Abenomics.”
Sankei reported Yamaguchi is garnering attention as current Prime Minister Fumio Kishida moves away from the stimulus-oriented monetary stance, and that the appointment for the next central bank head would become clear next month.
– Jihye Lee
Foreign talent to be less inclined to come to Singapore after Hong Kong’s reopening, says UOB
With Hong Kong’s reopening, foreign nationals may be less inclined to move to Singapore, said Alvin Liew, senior economist at United Overseas Bank.
“Singapore has benefited in terms of the talent pool that came here due to the more stringent rules in Hong Kong itself,” Liew said, adding that the influx of workforce moving to Singapore “may see some easing” now that the city has reopened.
“Talent pool itself may be less inclined to move here,” the Singapore-based economist said.
Liew also added Hong Kong’s reopening is a step in the right direction for the region to “return back to business as usual,” Liew said.
China’s markets to see a “tactical” recovery next year, says analyst
Chinese markets will likely see a “tactical bounce” of a recovery in the coming year, Port Shelter Investment Management said.
“It’s only obvious to say that we’re likely to see a tactical bounce,” Richard Harris, chief executive of the firm told CNBC.
“It will be tactical, because China, at the end of the day, has to fit in with the rest of the world,” he said.
Harris expects China’s recovery to take place in the first quarter of the year, and carry on the sentiments into the second quarter as well.
This recovery also hinges on many currently unknown elements, such as whether heavy stimulation will be injected into the Chinese economy, and what will be done about inflation when the economy picks up, he added.
—Lee Ying Shan
New China tech ETF can ‘bring retail liquidity’ to Singapore market: Investment firm
The Singapore-listed CSI Star and ChiNext 50 Index Exchange Traded Fund can bring liquidity from mainland China to Singapore, Ding Chen, CEO of CSOP Asset Management, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia.”
The firm’s ETF was listed on the Singapore Exchange on Friday and is a sub-fund of the CSOP SG ETF Series I, a Singapore unit trust, according to the fund’s page.
“Through SGX, Singapore investors and global investors can also get access to China-listed ETFs,” said Ding, adding that China investors can also directly invest in Singapore ETFs.
When asked about the evolution of the firm’s ETF portfolio, Ding said that it will “bring more emerging, younger generation of tech companies” on the market.
– Sheila Chiang
South Korea’s inflation unchanged in December
South Korea’s December consumer price index rose 5% on an annualized basis, statistics from the Bank of Korea showed.
The reading maintained cooler levels for the month and remained unchanged from November.
The print is in line with economists’ expectations polled by Reuters.
– Jihye Lee
Stocks close higher Thursday
All of the major averages ended higher on Thursday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 345.09 points, or 1.05%. The S&P 500 gained 1.75% and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 2.59% to 10,478.09.
— Tanaya Macheel
CNBC Pro: Chip stocks did badly this year — but this fund manager is still bullish, naming 2 to buy
Jobless filings rose last week; continuing claims hit highest since February
Jobless claims increased last week amid Federal Reserve efforts to cool the economy and in particular the labor market.
First-time filings for unemployment benefits totaled 225,000 for the week ended Dec. 24, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That was an increase of 9,000 from the previous week and slightly above the 223,000 estimate from Dow Jones.
Longer-term, continuing claims, which run a week behind the headline number, jumped to 1.71 million, an increase of 41,000 to the highest level since early February.
The numbers this time of year are always noisy due to the holidays. Claims not adjusted for seasonal factors surged by 23,146, a 9.3% increase.
—Jeff Cox
CNBC Pro: Citi names its top biotech stock picks for 2023 — and gives one 73% upside
Biotech is set to remain a “stock-pickers market” in 2023, according to Citi.
The bank explains how biotech could perform based on various economic scenarios, and names three top picks for 2023.
Week ahead: PMIs in Asia-Pacific, trade data, inflation readings
Key economic events in the Asia-Pacific next week will be dominated by Purchasing Managers’ Index readings in the region.
China’s National Bureau of Statistics is scheduled to release the official manufacturing and non-manufacturing PMI prints on Saturday. Reuters expects China’s factory activity to show a contraction with a reading of 48.
South Korea is also slated to report its December trade data over the weekend, in which economists polled by Reuters predict will show a drop of 10.1% compared with a year ago.
Singapore is scheduled to release manufacturing PMI readings next week, while S&P Global is scheduled to release its PMI readings for South Korea, Indonesia and India on Monday.
Inflation prints for the Philippines and Indonesia will also be closely watched, with the releases scheduled for Tuesday and Monday, respectively.
Japan’s PMI reading and China’s private survey for services PMI will be released on Wednesday. Singapore will release November’s retail sales on Thursday as well as South Korea’s unemployment rate for December.
– Jihye Lee
Yamaguchi emerging as candidate for next Bank of Japan governor: Sankei
Former Bank of Japan deputy governor Hirohide Yamaguchi is emerging as a candidate to lead the central bank, Japanese local media Sankei reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Yamaguchi, who held the deputy position at the central bank until 2013, has been a vocal critic of the current governor Haruhiko Kuroda’s ultra-dovish monetary policy.
The newspaper added that Yamaguchi would indicate a shift away from former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s economic stimulus strategy also known as “Abenomics.”
Sankei reported Yamaguchi is garnering attention as current Prime Minister Fumio Kishida moves away from the stimulus-oriented monetary stance, and that the appointment for the next central bank head would become clear next month.
– Jihye Lee
Foreign talent to be less inclined to come to Singapore after Hong Kong’s reopening, says UOB
With Hong Kong’s reopening, foreign nationals may be less inclined to move to Singapore, said Alvin Liew, senior economist at United Overseas Bank.
“Singapore has benefited in terms of the talent pool that came here due to the more stringent rules in Hong Kong itself,” Liew said, adding that the influx of workforce moving to Singapore “may see some easing” now that the city has reopened.
“Talent pool itself may be less inclined to move here,” the Singapore-based economist said.
Liew also added Hong Kong’s reopening is a step in the right direction for the region to “return back to business as usual,” Liew said.
China’s markets to see a “tactical” recovery next year, says analyst
Chinese markets will likely see a “tactical bounce” of a recovery in the coming year, Port Shelter Investment Management said.
“It’s only obvious to say that we’re likely to see a tactical bounce,” Richard Harris, chief executive of the firm told CNBC.
“It will be tactical, because China, at the end of the day, has to fit in with the rest of the world,” he said.
Harris expects China’s recovery to take place in the first quarter of the year, and carry on the sentiments into the second quarter as well.
This recovery also hinges on many currently unknown elements, such as whether heavy stimulation will be injected into the Chinese economy, and what will be done about inflation when the economy picks up, he added.
—Lee Ying Shan
New China tech ETF can ‘bring retail liquidity’ to Singapore market: Investment firm
The Singapore-listed CSI Star and ChiNext 50 Index Exchange Traded Fund can bring liquidity from mainland China to Singapore, Ding Chen, CEO of CSOP Asset Management, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia.”
The firm’s ETF was listed on the Singapore Exchange on Friday and is a sub-fund of the CSOP SG ETF Series I, a Singapore unit trust, according to the fund’s page.
“Through SGX, Singapore investors and global investors can also get access to China-listed ETFs,” said Ding, adding that China investors can also directly invest in Singapore ETFs.
When asked about the evolution of the firm’s ETF portfolio, Ding said that it will “bring more emerging, younger generation of tech companies” on the market.
– Sheila Chiang
South Korea’s inflation unchanged in December
South Korea’s December consumer price index rose 5% on an annualized basis, statistics from the Bank of Korea showed.
The reading maintained cooler levels for the month and remained unchanged from November.
The print is in line with economists’ expectations polled by Reuters.
– Jihye Lee
Stocks close higher Thursday
All of the major averages ended higher on Thursday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 345.09 points, or 1.05%. The S&P 500 gained 1.75% and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 2.59% to 10,478.09.
— Tanaya Macheel
CNBC Pro: Chip stocks did badly this year — but this fund manager is still bullish, naming 2 to buy
Jobless filings rose last week; continuing claims hit highest since February
Jobless claims increased last week amid Federal Reserve efforts to cool the economy and in particular the labor market.
First-time filings for unemployment benefits totaled 225,000 for the week ended Dec. 24, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That was an increase of 9,000 from the previous week and slightly above the 223,000 estimate from Dow Jones.
Longer-term, continuing claims, which run a week behind the headline number, jumped to 1.71 million, an increase of 41,000 to the highest level since early February.
The numbers this time of year are always noisy due to the holidays. Claims not adjusted for seasonal factors surged by 23,146, a 9.3% increase.
—Jeff Cox
CNBC Pro: Citi names its top biotech stock picks for 2023 — and gives one 73% upside
Biotech is set to remain a “stock-pickers market” in 2023, according to Citi.
The bank explains how biotech could perform based on various economic scenarios, and names three top picks for 2023.
