Japan could strike South Korea off its trade preferential list on Aug. 2

• Japan could decide as early as Aug. 2 to remove South Korea from the so-called white list status with minimum trade restrictions, Kyodo news agency reported.
• Once the removal is officially announced, the change would take effect after 21 days, Kyodo said.

Japan is preparing for cabinet approval as early as Aug. 2 to remove South Korea from the so-called white list status with minimum trade restrictions, Kyodo news agency reported on Friday.

The plan would come after Japan tightened curbs this month on exports to South Korea of high-tech materials used for making memory chips and display panels.

Once the removal is officially announced, the change would take effect after 21 days, Kyodo said.

Asked about the plan, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference that nothing had been decided on the time frame.

The period for canvassing public opinion in Japan ended on Wednesday. South Korea has protested the Japanese plan, saying it would undermine their decades-old economic and security cooperation and threaten free trade.

There are currently 27 countries on Japan's white list including Germany, Britain and the United States. 

Netflix To Launch Cheaper Plan In India Amid Weak Memberships In US

Streaming giant Netflix confirmed that it will launch a mobile-only streaming plan starting in India, which will be less expensive than its current plans. With the move, the company aims to attract a larger crowd in one of its major market.

The news comes at a time when the Unites States recorded declining subscribers for the video streaming service in its second quarter, attributed partly to price increases.

The new plan in India is expected to launch in the third quarter.

Netflix earlier had tested a mobile-first plan in few countries. Using the plan, one could watch as much Netflix content of interest, but either on smartphone or tablet at a time.

“The plan will be an effective way to introduce a larger number of people in India to Netflix and to further expand our business in a market where Pay TV ARPU is low (below $5).”

However, in India, Netflix already faces stiff competition from other popular video streaming services such as Hotstar, Amazon Prime Video, Zee5, and ALT Balaji.

In its recently concluded second quarter, Netflix’s paid memberships grew by 2.7 million, less than the 5.5 million recorded in the prior year. In the U.S., paid net membership losses were 126 thousand, compared to additions of 872 thousand a year ago.

In the third quarter, the company expects to grow paid memberships by 7 million, more than the 6.1 million in the same quarter a year ago.

North Korea’s economy shrank sharply in 2018

North Korea’s economy is estimated to have contracted the most in more than two decades last year, data from South Korea’s central bank showed, as sanctions against Pyongyang intensified.

North Korea’s gross domestic product fell 4.1% in 2018, the biggest drop since 1997, the Bank of Korea said in an annual report released Friday. In 2017, the North Korean economy was estimated to have contracted 3.5%.

Mining and manufacturing output fell sharply last year, according to the central bank report.

External trade volume was almost halved to $2.84 billion, with exports and imports shrinking 86% and 31%, respectively, the report said.

The report is based on information from Seoul’s spy agency and other authorities closely studying North Korea.

North Korea doesn’t announce its own official GDP data.

Write to Kwanwoo Jun at [email protected]

European Shares Rise On Dovish Fed Comments

European stocks advanced on Friday as investors cheered dovish comments by a top Fed official and Microsoft reported revenue of $125.8 billion for the fiscal year 2019 – setting a new record fiscal year for the company.

On the data front, the U.K. budget deficit widened to the highest June level since 2015 in June while the euro area current account surplus rose to a seasonally adjusted EUR 30 billion in May from EUR 22 billion in April, separate reports showed.

The pan European Stoxx 600 was up 0.3 percent at 388.03 after declining 0.2 percent in the previous session.

The German DAX and France’s CAC 40 index were moving down around 0.4 percent, while the U.K.’s FTSE 100 was gaining 0.2 percent.

Budweiser owner Anheuser-Busch InBev soared 4.4 percent after announcing the sale of its Australian subsidiary for A$16 billion ($11.3 billion).

German automaker BMW rose 1 percent after it named Oliver Zipse as its new chief executive.

Reinsurer Munich Re climbed 2 percent. The company said it expects second-quarter consolidated result to be about 1 billion euros as a result of low major-loss expenditure and high reserve releases for basic losses in reinsurance from prior years.

Close Brothers Group tumbled 3 percent in London. The merchant bank flagged low trading volumes at its market maker unit.

Acacia Mining shares soared 19 percent. The company announced that it has reached terms of a recommended offer, under which Barrick Gold Corp. will acquire all Acacia shares which it does not already own.

French President Macron to discuss Brexit with UK PM Johnson in coming weeks

PARIS, July 26 (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron will discuss Brexit in the coming weeks with new UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and has invited Johnson to France for a visit in the next few weeks, said an official from Macron’s Elysee office on Friday.

The official said the two leaders had spoken on Thursday, and that Macron’s talks with Johnson over Brexit would be “in regards to the demands of the European Union” regarding Brexit.