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TOKYO :Top Japanese construction machinery maker Komatsu on Monday forecast a 27 per cent decline in operating profit this financial year citing a stronger yen and higher costs stemming from new U.S. tariffs.The company expects operating profit of 478 billion yen ($3.33 billion) for the business year to March 2026, after recording a profit of 657.1 billion yen in the just-ended business year, which marked an 8.2 per cent growth.The 2024/25 result also beat analysts’ mean estimate of 605.7 billion yen, according to data compiled by LSEG.Revenues came to 4.1 trillion yen and net income 439.6 billion yen. Komatsu, the…

ST. LOUIS — As pressure grows to get artificial colors out of the U.S. food supply, the shift may well start at Abby Tampow’s laboratory desk.On an April afternoon, the scientist hovered over tiny dishes of red dye, each a slightly different ruby hue. Her task? To match the synthetic shade used for years in a commercial bottled raspberry vinaigrette — but by using only natural ingredients.“With this red, it needs a little more orange,” Tampow said, mixing a slurry of purplish black carrot juice with a bit of beta-carotene, an orange-red color made from algae.Tampow is part of the…

BEIJING: A top Chinese economic official on Monday (Apr 28) said Beijing was on the “right side of history” in its gruelling trade war with the United States. Since returning to the presidency in January, US President Donald Trump has imposed 10 per cent tariffs on most US trading partners and a separate 145 per cent levy on many products from China. Beijing has responded with 125 per cent tariffs of its own on US goods. Speaking in Beijing at a news conference at which officials vowed greater steps to shield China’s flagging economy from the impact of the standoff, senior…

HONG KONG: Asian stocks were mixed on Monday (Apr 28) as investors assess how the land lies on the trade war front with countries seeking to temper Donald Trump’s eye-watering tariffs. Investors were also keeping tabs on China after President Xi Jinping and other top leaders last week discussed plans to boost consumption in the world’s number two economy. After a much-needed positive run-up last week markets started Monday on a tepid note, with eyes on the upcoming earnings season, key data and central bank decisions. “We head into month-end and a risk event-heavy trading week, with a ‘cautiously optimistic’ stance…

The Bank of Japan is expected to keep interest rates steady on Thursday and warn of heightening risks to the fragile economy that could keep policy in a holding pattern, as U.S. tariffs continue to hit confidence.The debate may be swayed by what BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda heard in Washington last week, where the International Monetary Fund slashed its global growth forecasts and policymakers fret of further damage to their economies from U.S. trade policy.Speaking after a meeting with counterparts from G20 major economies, Ueda said the BOJ will continue to raise interest rates – on condition the economy sustains…

SHANGHAI: China’s gold consumption fell 5.96 per cent year-on-year to 290.492 tons in the first quarter of 2025 as high gold prices continued to curb demand for gold jewellery, the China Gold Association said on Monday (Apr 28). The rise in gold prices has led to a shift in consumer behaviour, with traditional gold products such as gold ornaments and jewellery giving way to gold bars and coins as a means of investment. Gold jewellery consumption slumped 26.85 per cent year-on-year to 134.531 tons during the first quarter, while consumption for gold bars and coins surged 29.81 per cent to…

President Trump’s shake-up of the global trade system has sent tremors through the long-held view that the United States is the source of the world’s safest financial assets. That’s created an opportunity for Europe.The market tumult in which investors simultaneously sold off the U.S. dollar, American stocks and U.S. Treasury bonds eased last week as Mr. Trump backed off his threats to fire the Federal Reserve chair, Jerome H. Powell, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent tried to reassure foreign officials that trade deals would be struck.But many European officials attending the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World…

Trump administration border czar Tom Homan argued Sunday that “due process” was applied when a two-year-old child who is a U.S. citizen was removed to Honduras along with her mother, who was deported.Louisiana Federal District Court Judge Terry Doughty wrote in an order Friday that there was a “strong suspicion that the Government just deported a U.S. citizen with no meaningful process,” after the 2-year-old was sent to Honduras with her mother and 11-year-old sister.But Homan said “the judge was due process,” adding on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” that the two-year-old’s mother “had due process at great taxpayer…

Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois strode into a ballroom filled with top New Hampshire Democrats on Sunday and by the end of his nearly 30-minute speech had them ready to storm the political barricades against President Trump.“It’s time to fight everywhere and all at once,” he told the group of Democratic activists, officials and donors, who jumped to their feet with hoots and applause. “Never before in my life have I called for mass protests, for mobilization, for disruption. But I am now. These Republicans cannot know a moment of peace.”“The reckoning is finally here,” he declared.For the Trump administration,…

TOKYO :Daiwa Securities, Japan’s second-largest brokerage and investment bank, said on Monday that net income slumped 24 per cent in the fourth quarter, hurt by lower valuations for its alternative assets business and a tumble in trading income.However, net profit for the full year rose 27 per cent, indicating Daiwa has had some success in developing a business model with more stable sources of recurring revenue. Its wealth management division saw annual asset inflows almost double to 1.57 trillion yen ($11 billion).Daiwa also announced a share buyback of up to 50 billion yen to conclude by next March, helping lift…