REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro greets supporters as he arrives at the National Assembly to deliver his annual State of the Nation address in Caracas.
American Express Is Slashing Thousands Of Jobs. American Express will slash 4,000 jobs, even as the company reported that fourth-quarter earnings were dented by foreign-currency movements.
The Head Of OPEC Says He Thinks The Price Of Oil Has "Bottomed Out". In an interview on Bloomberg TV at Davos, Abdalla El-Badri said that he thinks the oil price has bottomed out: "The price will not go to $20 or $25, I think the price will stay at where we are now. We have seen this before -- prices coming down very fast and go up very slow. But prices will rebound."
Brazil Just Hiked interest Rates To Their Highest Level In Three Years. The central bank lifted its main policy rate to 12.25% on Wednesday. Unlike most of the world right now, Brazil is struggling with elevated inflation: The central bank has warned that price growth is likely to stray above 6.5% for much of this year, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Asian Stocks Are Up. The Nikkei climbed 0.28% to the close on Wednesday, followed by Hong Kong's Hang Seng, which is currently up 0.85%. The Shanghai Composite is up 0.63%.
Hyundai Profits Tumbled In The Fourth Quarter. South Korea's Hyundai on Thursday reported a fourth straight quarterly profit decline, pulled down by a plunge in the Russian ruble and increased buying incentives in the United States.
Shale Tycoon Harold Hamm Just Sold $3 Billion Of His Firm. On Wednesday, pipeline operator Kinder Morgan announced a deal to acquire $3 billion worth of Bakken shale assets from Harold Hamm's Hiland Partners. Kinder Morgan said it expects to retain "nearly all" of Hiland's 430 employees.
Venezuela's President Says The Economy Shrank 2.8% In 2014. OPEC member Venezuela's recession-hit economy shrunk 2.8 percent in 2014 while inflation topped 64 percent, President Nicolas Maduro said on Wednesday, in almost certainly the worst performance in Latin America.
At Davos, China's Premier Promised No "Hard Landing" For The Economy. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang just promised that "regional or systemic crisis will not happen in China. Nor will there be any hard landing," at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
eBay Is Cutting 2,400 Jobs. Online retail giant eBay will slash 2,400 jobs -- seven percent of its workforce -- in the current quarter as it restructures and prepares to spin off its PayPal finance unit, it said Wednesday. California-based eBay unveiled the move as it announced its profit in the fourth quarter rose to $936 million on $4.9 billion in revenue. The job cuts will be across eBay's three divisions: Marketplaces, Enterprise and PayPal.