Elaine Kurtenbach

Read the latest stories and analysis from Elaine Kurtenbach.

Asian leaders see fitful progress on trade pact

Elaine Kurtenbach · May 22, 2014 6:27 am

FILE - In this April 21, 2014 file photo, container ship Josco View, of Hong Kong, right, and Panama's container ship Mol Earnest sail through a port in Yokohama, southwest of Tokyo. Japan's trade deficit narrowed in April as exports grew faster than imports following an increase in the sales tax that is expected to dampen demand for some time. The 808.9 billion yen ($8 billion) deficit in April, according to preliminary figures released Wednesday, May 21, 2014 by the Ministry of Finance, compared with a gap of 877.4 billion yen a year earlier and with a 1.7 trillion yen deficit in March. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara, File)

Japan’s trade deficit narrows on slower imports

Elaine Kurtenbach · May 21, 2014 11:13 am

In this Wednesday, May 14, 2014 photo, people walk along a pedestrian crossing in Tokyo. Preliminary data show Japan's economy grew at a 5.9 percent annualized rate in the January-March quarter as companies and consumers stepped up buying ahead of an increase in the sales tax. The growth figures for the world's third-largest economy released Thursday, May 15 were in line with expectations a pre-tax hike rush. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)

Japan growth boosted by pre-tax hike spending rush

Elaine Kurtenbach · May 15, 2014 5:41 am

Myanmar returnees bet on frontier economy’s future

Elaine Kurtenbach · May 1, 2014 4:01 am

Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda heads to a meeting at the headquarters of Bank of Japan in Tokyo, Wednesday, April 30, 2014. Japan's central bank was meeting Wednesday to assess the status of the country's economic recovery, as monthly data showed industrial output and wage growth falling short of expectations. (AP Photo/Kyodo News) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT

BOJ stays course amid calls for bolder reforms

Elaine Kurtenbach · April 30, 2014 8:41 am

Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda heads to a meeting at the headquarters of Bank of Japan in Tokyo, Wednesday, April 30, 2014. Japan's central bank was meeting Wednesday to assess the status of the country's economic recovery, as monthly data showed industrial output and wage growth falling short of expectations. (AP Photo/Kyodo News) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT

BOJ keeps loose monetary policy unchanged

Elaine Kurtenbach · April 30, 2014 4:19 am

Asia shares fall on worries over Ukraine crisis

Elaine Kurtenbach · April 28, 2014 5:32 am

Asia shares mixed on lackluster China data

Elaine Kurtenbach · April 23, 2014 4:06 am

South Korean President Park Geun-hye, right, shakes hands with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, left, as U.S. President Barack Obama looks on before their trilateral meeting at the U.S. Ambassador's Residence in the Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, March 25, 2014. (AP Photo/Yonhap, Do Kwang-hwan) KOREA OUT

Obama visit to Asia seen as counterweight to China

Elaine Kurtenbach · April 23, 2014 4:00 am

A protester holds a placard during a rally against the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in Tokyo, Tuesday, April 22, 2014. In Japan and elsewhere, there are concerns over making politically difficult market-opening concessions without reassurance that Obama will have the "fast track" authority to get congressional approval for TPP. Critics of the plan have balked at granting such power for a trade deal whose contents have been kept largely secret as a precondition for joining. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)

Japan, US struggle to bridge gap on freer trade

Elaine Kurtenbach · April 22, 2014 11:07 am

Japan logs record $134B trade deficit in FY 2013

Elaine Kurtenbach · April 21, 2014 2:05 am

In this April 7, 2014 photo, a taxi driver navigates a 1989 Nissan Trad Sunny, one of few remaining clunkers, through traffic in Yangon, Myanmar. One of the quaintest of many anachronisms in Yangon, a city of moldering colonial villas and gleaming golden pagodas, used to be the decades old Toyotas, Chevys and other clunkers wheezing down its mostly empty roads, a visible sign of sanctions and economic isolation. Now, the streets have filled with a flood of newer used cars, mostly from Japan. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)

Myanmar clunkers scrapped in rush for ‘new’ cars

Elaine Kurtenbach · April 10, 2014 7:40 am