NEW YORK, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) — U.S stocks opened lower on Wednesday on economic concerns.

Fitch lowered Greece’s credit grade by two levels to C from CCC, saying that a default was “highly likely in the near term.”
Investors also were concerned for both the euro zone and the global economy.

Moreover, investors were to look at the U.S. National Association of Realtors’ January existing home sales later Wednesday. The market forecast was annualized 4.65 million units.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 19.91 …

TOKYO, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) — Japan’s supermarket sales in January dropped 1.2 percent from the previous year, contracting for a sixth consecutive month, the Japan Chain Stores Association said Wednesday.

The association blamed the decline partly on cold weather and snow that negatively impacted customer traffic.

Cold waves swept a large part of eastern and western Japan in the latter half of the recording month. And heavy snowfalls caused disruptions in train services and cancellation of flights in many parts of the …

Colliers annual retail report reveals nine trends to watch in 2012 –

SEATTLE and WASHINGTON, Feb. 20, 2012- Retail is evolving at a dizzying pace. It’s a new universe out there, with retailers exploring new ways to reach customers, seeking out new life in their brands, and boldly charting new worlds of real estate properties where no retailer has gone before.

This new retail adventure is outlined in Colliers International’s annual U.S. Retail Highlights: 2012 Outlook , an in-depth, …

BENTONVILLE, Ark., Feb. 19, 2012- Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) announced today that it has reached an agreement to increase its investment in the holding company of Yihaodian, a fast-growing eCommerce website in China, to bring Walmart’s total ownership stake to approximately 51 percent.  Closing of the transaction is subject to Chinese government regulatory approval.
Launched in July 2008, Yihaodian offers more than 180,000 SKUs and has achieved …

BEIJING, (Xinhua) — The ChiNext Index, tracking China’s Nasdaq-style board of growth enterprises, opened at 726.88 points on Monday, up 9.08 points from the previous close.

The index, together with the Shenzhen Component Index and the Shenzhen SME (small and medium-sized enterprises) Board Index, makes up the three core indices reflecting the performance of China’s stocks listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

The ChiNext Board, which started trading on Oct. 30, 2009, mainly lists hi-tech companies and those with high growth potential.

TOKYO, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) — Nikkei rose sharply high early Monday, hitting a 6.5-month high above 9,500. The market was lifted by the optimistic expectation for export on weaker yen.
In the first 15 minutes of trading, the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average rose 154.36 points, or 1.64 percent, from Friday to 9,538. 53, trading at its highest intraday level since 9,768.40 marked on Aug. 4.
The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the …

TOKYO, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) — The dollar trade stayed in the upper 79 yen level Monday in early Tokyo trading, after the six-month high of 79.62 yen Friday in New York.
At 9 a.m., the dollar changed hands at 79.78-79 yen against 79. 53-63 yen in New York and 79.07-08 yen in Tokyo at 5 p.m. Friday.
The euro was quoted at 1.3223-3224 U.S. dollars and 105.49-52 yen, compared with 1.3134-3144 U.S. dollars and 104.49-59 yen …

HONG KONG, (Xinhua) — The gold price in Hong Kong went up 2 HK dollars to open at 16,070 HK dollars per tael on Monday, according to the Chinese Gold and Silver Exchange Society.
The price is equivalent to 1,739.68 U.S. dollars a troy ounce, up 0.22 U.S. dollars at the latest exchange rate of one U.S. dollar against 7.754 HK dollars.

HONG KONG, (Xinhua) — Hong Kong stocks rose 268.72 points, or 1.25 percent, to open at 21,760.34 on Monday.

BEIJING,  (Xinhua) — Following are the central parity rates of the Chinese currency Renminbi (RMB) against nine major currencies announced on Monday by the China Foreign Exchange Trading System:

Currency           Unit          Middle Price (in RMB yuan)

   U.S. Dollar        100                629.38
   Euro               100                832.10
   Japanese Yen       100                7.9053
   Hong Kong Dollar   100                81.172
   British Pound      100                999.20
   Australian Dollar  100                679.38
   Canadian Dollar    100                634.68
   Malaysian Ringgit  47.958             100
   Ruble              475.21             100

The central parity of RMB …