Hao Li

New York-traded shares of China Eastern Airlines plunged 4.42 percent and those of China Southern Airlines plunged 2.47 percent in morning trading on tensions between North and South Korea.

The World Economic Forum's annual meeting at Davos is a waste of time, said Nassim Taleb, author of The Black Swan and a trader who was a speaker at the event in 2009.

The European Union (EU) needs a 'grand bargain' with Germany to fundamentally redesign its economic structure.

President Obama's tax cut plan, by lowering unemployment and boosting economic growth, may ease the Federal Reserve's pressure to buy Treasuries via its controversial program of quantitative easing.

Obama's tax cut plan is a done deal now. By cutting taxes and increasing spending, it is essentially a fiscal stimulus package for the next two years that will boost GDP growth, create jobs, and add to the budget deficit.

Apple stock is still cheap relative to its growth potential and quality, said hedge fund manager David Einhorn.

Dan Mudd, CEO of Fortress Investment Group (NYSE:FIG), said the year 2011 can see record asset sales.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is concerned about the fiscal health of several Pacific Island countries.

While peripheral European countries are forced by the bond market to raise taxes and cut spending in 2010, they were some of the steepest tax cutter among OECD members from 2007 to 2009.

Smartphones are threatening the sales of brick-and-mortar retailers by enabling customers to easily compare their prices with online retailers, who often sell the same products for less.

Developing countries lose between $20 billion to $40 billion per year to bribery, embezzlement, and other corrupt practices by public officials.

Residential real estate in 35 large and medium-sized cities in China is, on average, about 29.5 percent overpriced, according to estimates of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Edward Yardeni thinks copper prices can double in 2011 because there will be a shortage of it.

Economists at Morgan Stanley think Latin American currencies will continue to appreciate in 2011 because of economic growth, interest rate differentials versus the U.S. dollar, and the expected positive performance of commodities.

The Brookings Institutions' MetroMonitor, which tracks America's 100 largest metropolitan areas, found a sharp reversal of the job growth that was occurring earlier in the year.

Many experts in the private sector favor expanding the size of the 750-billion euro European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), which was created to bail out European countries under sovereign debt pressures.

Gain Capital Holdings, which operates retail foreign exchange broker FOREX.COM and other related services like contracts-for-difference trading, will debut on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday under the symbol GCAP.

The rise in income uncertainty and the 1997 pension reform measures have been largely responsible for the recent rise in China's savings rate. Other factors include health care costs and astronomical real estate prices.

Increasing domestic oil production could reduce unemployment, create jobs, and help jump-start the U.S. economic recovery, said Marc Weidenmier of the American Enterprise Institute.

New York Community Bancorp CFO Thomas Cangemi speaks to IBTimes about the thrift bank industry and private-label mortgages.

After some seemingly hawkish moves in the past few weeks, Chinese policy makers adopted a dovish tone on Tuesday by easing the consumer inflation target to 4 percent for 2011.

An escalation of trade tensions between China and the U.S. may involve protectionist measures on the U.S. side and the creation of exclusionary Asian trade walls on China's side.

Germany should raise wages in order to provide demand for struggling peripheral European economies. It should do so not only to show responsible European statesmanship, but also out of its own self-interest.

Galileo Global Advisors CEO Georges Ugeux speaks to IBTimes about investing in Asia outside the scope of public markets.

In response to swelling inflationary pressures, China extended a special reserve requirement ratio hike for six of the country's largest banks.

China's inflation for November surged to a 28-month high, rising 5.1 percent year-on-year. Moreover, the inflation was driven by China's problem areas.

Jim Chanos, arguably the most well-known short-seller in the world, is setting his sights on China's troubled real estate construction-driven economy.

Corruption has been on the rise over the last three years, according to the 2010 Global Corruption Barometer.

Dictatorships are faster and more efficient than democracies, which can be bogged down by long-drawn out debates among deeply polarized political parties who can't seem to agree on anything.