VENTURE CAPITAL POST

The Federal Reserve’s plan to raise interest rates this year, forged over months of strong jobs growth and a seemingly durable expansion, now faces an economy that no longer follows the script and may push the “liftoff” far into the future.

Japan's three biggest carmakers said on Wednesday they would expand a huge global recall triggered by potentially fatal air bags made by Takata Corp, saying they were taking back millions of vehicles worldwide for investigation.

European and Asian shares advanced on Wednesday as expectations of further monetary stimulus in China offset another mixed bag of data from some of the world’s major economies.

China's interest rate cut kept shares worldwide near record highs on Monday, though euro zone bourses, bonds and the euro were pegged back by a lack of progress in resolving Greece’s financing woes.

A worldwide sell-off in government bonds deepened on Wednesday, with the rise in long-term borrowing costs to their highest level this year spreading unease across all assets and putting stock markets under pressure too.

Central bankers and finance ministers from China, Japan and South Korea said on Sunday they remained committed to policies to support demand in the face of moderate and uneven global growth.

Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso said on Sunday his country's government will increase investment in Asian infrastructure at a meeting of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), according to Kyodo News.

Japan should aim to make nuclear energy account for between 20 and 22 percent of the country's electricity mix by 2030, with renewable energy making up slightly more, the industry ministry said on Tuesday.

One by one, Japan is turning off the lights at the giant oil-fired power plants that propelled it to the ranks of the world's top industrialized nations. With nuclear power in the doldrums after the Fukushima disaster, it's solar energy that is becoming the alternative.

Fitch Ratings downgraded Japan's credit rating by one notch after the government failed to take steps in this fiscal year's budget to offset a delay in a sales tax increase, the agency said on Monday.

Global equity markets rode to new all-time highs on Friday, with positive corporate updates in Europe and a post-dotcom-boom peak for the U.S. Nasdaq stoking investor optimism.

Negotiators for the Trans-Pacific Partnership have agreed trade rules for six broad categories as officials race to conclude a trade pact, a Japanese government source said on Thursday.

McDonald's Corp (MCD.N), the world's biggest restaurant chain, reported an 11 percent fall in quarterly revenue as it fights to recover from food scandals in China and Japan and faces tough competition at home in the United States.

Leaders of Asian and African nations called on Wednesday for a new global order that is open to emerging economic powers and leaves the "obsolete ideas" of Bretton Woods institutions in the past.

Japan's top trade negotiator sounded an optimistic note on Tuesday that he could reach a deal with the United States that is essential to creating a free trade pact covering 12 countries.