Frozen concentrated orange juice futures, the contract made famous in the 1983 Eddie Murphy movie “Trading Places,” spiked higher on Tuesday as Hurricane Irma bore down on Florida. The Category 5 storm has already set records, with the National Hurricane Center on Tuesday setting its initial intensity at 155 knots, making Irma “the strongest hurricane […]

China’s yuan has been on a tear all year and has now recouped last year’s losses — and analysts say there’s still room to run. At its strongest level on Tuesday, the yuan was changing hands at 6.5151 against the U.S. dollar, pushing gains to more than 6 percent this year, according to Reuters data. […]

Australia’s economy rebounded last quarter as consumers and government spent freely after a weather-beaten start to the year, while a long downturn in mining investment finally loosened its deadening grip on growth. Wednesday’s GDP report showed the economy expanded 0.8 percent in the second quarter, up from 0.3 percent in the first quarter and outpacing […]

Hurricane Irma, one of the most forceful Atlantic storms in a century, churned across the ocean on Tuesday on a collision course with Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, bearing down on the northern Caribbean with a devastating mix of fierce winds, surf and rain. The eye of Irma, a Category 5 storm packing winds […]

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Wednesday that he wants North Korea to understand it has “no bright future” if it continues on its current path and that the reclusive country needs to change its policies. Abe told reporters he wants to discuss the North Korea situation with Russian President Vladimir Putin and South […]

Despite many claims to the contrary, North Korea tensions aren’t actually what’s driving the rally in gold, Goldman Sachs said in a Tuesday note. Instead, the bank said, uncertainty inspired by President Donald Trump has boosted the yellow metal — but that’s set to fade. Spot gold has certainly rallied of late, climbing from levels […]

As President Donald Trump threatens to renegotiate trade with Seoul and tensions with North Korea continue to rise, some analysts are pointing out just how crucial South Korea is to global technology. Soo-Kyoum Kim, program director of the semiconductor research program at research firm IDC, noted last week that South Korea took 17 percent of […]

Stocks on Wall Street fell as investors remained jittery about North Korea ahead of Wednesday’s Asia trading session. Tensions on the Korean Peninsula continued to simmer, with a North Korean diplomat threatening that the country was prepared to deliver “gift packages” to the U.S. if the latter continues to put pressure on Pyongyang. South Korea […]

President Donald Trump should stick with imposing sanctions on North Korea and avoid military conflicts, a former undersecretary of state for political affairs told CNBC on Tuesday. “Right now there are no good military options beyond defense,” said Nicholas Burns, who has served presidents of both parties. “The Trump administration has to focus on economic […]

The odds were stacked against them, at more than 300 to 1. But in a property market as hot as Hong Kong’s that wasn’t enough to stop some 1,300 home seekers queuing for a chance to get their hands on just four flats in Parc City, Tsuen Wan. And according to estate agents, about 1,000 […]