Goldman Sachs sees a “pretty big opportunity” for the Indonesian rupiah in 2020, according to one strategist at the investment bank. On the domestic front, Indonesia is “a story of stability,” Pandl told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Friday. You have a pretty good governance picture in Indonesia and you have a central bank that is trying to keep the currency relatively stable.” The rupiah, which was at 14,010 per dollar on Wednesday morning Asia time, has risen more than 2.5% so far this year. Pandl sa

Scammers, fraudsters, insider traders, Ponzi schemers, stock spoofers — the Securities and Exchange Commission has seen it all. This year, for example, the SEC brought actions against 18 Chinese traders for manipulating the prices of over 3,000 stocks. Nissan was hit with a $15 million fine for false financial disclosures. Altogether, the SEC brought 862 enforcement actions and obtained judgments and orders totaling more than $4.3 billion in disgorgement and penalties in fiscal 2019. The message

Should political ads be banned online? Twitter has taken a stand on the issue, banning all political advertising from its platform last month. But Facebook, one of the biggest platforms for online advertising, has stood by its decision to accept political ads, even if they contain false information. He claimed the company can’t afford to take “half measures,” adding: “It needs to ban political ads.” But the feature has proven vulnerable, as thousands of political ads temporarily disappeared from

Why Forever 21 failed abroadForever 21 has practically been synonymous with “fast fashion,” and its massive stores have become a common fixture in America’s shopping malls. But the retailer is in trouble. Forever 21 filed for bankruptcy in September 2019, and the company is closing hundreds of stores, as its clothes become more interchangeable with “cheap” rather than “trendy.”

Apple CEO Tim Cook met with Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Wednesday, according to a post from the politician. Lee said they had a “lively exchange on how the tech scene has changed since” they first met nearly four years ago. On what appears to be Soh’s private page, he said, “Tim tried Chwee Kueh, Carrot Cake, Soya Bean Milk but his favourite was pandan flavoured Gao Teng Kueh.” The carrot cake that Cook tried is likely a savory dish of stir-fried radish cake, and does not conta

Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest initial public offering (IPO), surged past expectations as it debuted on the country’s stock exchange on Wednesday morning. Shares of the state-owned oil company rose to 35.2 Saudi riyals ($9.38) from 32 riyals in early deals in Riyadh, up 10% and hitting their daily limit. Aramco CEO Amin Nasser told CNBC at the event that the company was pleased with the day’s results. The launch follows a weeks-long local roadshow around the Middle East that saw Aramco’s loca

Stephen Dickson, administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), speaks during a House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing on the Boeing Co. 737 Max aircraft in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2019. The Federal Aviation Administration could seek penalties against Boeing for failing to make disclosures about the 737 Max, the agency’s chief said at a House hearing Wednesday about the beleaguered plane. The FAA criticized the manufacturer earlier this year for n

Hassan Rouhani, Iran’s president, pauses whilst speaking during a news conference in Tehran, Iran, on Monday, Oct. 14, 2019. Bloomberg | Getty ImagesWASHINGTON — The U.S. will impose a fresh round of sanctions on Iran’s largest shipping company and biggest airline, the nation’s top diplomat announced Wednesday. The sanctions on Mahan Air, however, will take immediate effect. Earlier this year, Germany and France announced a ban on Mahan Air, in part, alleging the firm transports Iranian weapons

French government efforts to appease public sector workers with details of its pension reform look unlikely to end an ongoing nationwide strike. France has seen a pre-emptive nationwide strike over the last six days as public sector workers fear changes to their pension benefits. Other trade unions, such as the General Confederation of Labour (CGT) and the trade union for railway workers UNSA ferroviaire, have also appealed for a continuation of the strike. “It is time for a universal pension sc

U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Richard Donoghue, speaks during a news conference in his office, in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Tuesday, July 16, 2019. Richard Drew | APProsecutors in Brooklyn, New York, said in November that a Lithuanian man and an unknown co-conspirator emptied the brokerage accounts of hapless victims, stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars. From that trusted email, the scammer can send an urgent message that a payment needs to go to a new account.

Israel headed on Wednesday toward a third national election in less than a year with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu facing the fight of his life for political survival after a criminal indictment. Neither Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party nor the centrist Blue and White party led by his main rival, former military chief Benny Gantz, won enough seats in the Knesset (parliament) for a governing majority in the previous two contests. Both men were delegated the task of forming a coalition, but

The U.S. and China will probably announce some form of trade deal ahead of Sunday — when additional tariffs on Chinese goods are due to kick in — and that’s going to boost financial markets, say analysts. There will be an “eleventh hour” announcement about a deal on Saturday night, says Kenny Polcari, senior market strategist at Slatestone Wealth. “They’re going to come out and say ‘we’ve got a deal … we’re working on tweaking, fine-tuning it. U.S. President Donald Trump announced in October t

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Wednesday that he’d prefer to let inflation rise and hold above the central bank’s target before considering future interest rate hikes. “In order to move rates up, I would want to see inflation that’s persistent and that’s significant,” Powell said at a news conference in Washington. “A significant move up in inflation that’s also persistent before raising rates to address inflation concerns: That’s my view.” “It happens to be my view that that’s what

U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un smile during a meeting at the second U.S.-North Korea summit in Hanoi on Feb. 28, 2019. As U.S.-North Korea relations turn increasingly tense amid rising rhetoric, analysts warn that it could signal an end to diplomacy between the two countries. In response, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Twitter that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un risks losing “everything” if he acts in a hostile manner. To that, North Korean state media on M

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady following its two-day meeting this week and indicated that no action is likely next year amid persistently low inflation. In its statement explaining the decision, the committee indicated that monetary policy is likely to stay where it is for an unspecified time, though officials will continue to monitor conditions as they develop. The decision to keep rates unchanged was unanimous, following several dissents in recent meetings. ‘Dot pl

Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson and opposition Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn pay tribute to the victims of the London Bridge terror attack on December 2, 2019. Sterling slid on Wednesday morning as some caution returned to a currency market which had largely priced in a clear Conservative victory. Many of these areas also voted Leave in the 2016 Brexit referendum, however, and are therefore seen as being in play for the Conservatives and the Brexit Party. Scenario 1: A Conservative ma

Former Trump attorney Michael Cohen departs after testifying behind closed doors before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, February 26, 2019. The court filing contains a Nov. 26 email from one of Cohen’s lawyers, Roger Adler, to federal prosecutors in Manhattan noting their refusal to meet with Cohen. Adler, in another email to federal prosecutors last week, cited a New York Times article a day earlier. A spokesman for Manhattan federal prosecutors declined to comme

Darksiders Genesis looked like another bizarre evolution of an already near-perfect game — like Darksiders 2 and 3 before it. To my delight, Darksiders Genesis takes the franchise back to its roots, despite the top-down view making it look like the largest departure yet for the franchise. Darksiders Genesis isn’t trying to make a similar play to be a stealth sequel to a Diablo game, even though that’s how it appears. I play as either War or Strife in Darksiders Genesis — two of the four Horsemen

But as I write this in November 2019, as scientists declare a climate emergency and the world’s biggest philanthropist fretted that his money might be taxed away, the game that most holistically describes our current moment is Obsidian Entertainment’s The Outer Worlds. The Outer Worlds is an action role-playing game situated squarely in the Elder Scrolls/Fallout mode. The Outer Worlds denies us that simple consolation. It’s clear from the very beginning of The Outer Worlds that the Halcyon syste

I spent weeks playing Red Dead Redemption 2 before I discovered the second half of the world. This essay on Red Dead Redemption 2 was written as a companion piece to the video above, also created by Jacob Geller. Blackwater itself was present in the first Red Dead Redemption, so maybe I should have expected what would come next. But when I think about Red Dead Redemption 2 now, I don’t think about the ending. And in Red Dead Redemption 2, my cowboy daydreams were best fulfilled by nights spent a