UNITED STATES
Roubini warns on policy
While President Barack Obama deserves credit for a stimulus package that has avoided another depression and for supporting a “growth now” rather than “austerity now” approach, his administration has failed to “anticipate what the economy will need tomorrow,” Nouriel Roubini wrote in the Financial Times. Given the likely path of fiscal policy after next week’s midterm Congressional elections, the US economy will soon experience “serious fiscal drag just when it needs a further boost,” and the administration will be left relying on the Federal Reserve’s expansionary policies, said Roubini, the New York University professor who predicted the global financial crisis. Further quantitative easing will have little effect on US growth next year, and “fiscal policy should be doing some of the lifting to prevent a double dip recession,” he wrote.
AUTOMOBILES
Honda profit doubles
Japan’s Honda Motor said yesterday its net profit more than doubled to ¥135.9 billion (US$1.7 billion) for the three months ending September, from ¥54 billion a year earlier. Sales rose 9.5 percent to ¥2.25 trillion and operating profit soared to ¥163.4 billion from ¥65.5 billion for the quarter. Honda revised upward its net profit forecast for the financial year to March to ¥500 billion from the ¥455 billion projected earlier. The firm is now forecasting a full-year operating profit of ¥500 billion, up from the ¥450 billion predicted earlier, but downgraded its annual sales forecast to ¥9 trillion from its earlier estimate of ¥9.1 trillion.
APPLIANCES
Panasonic profit up fivefold
Panasonic, Japan’s biggest home appliance maker, said yesterday its quarterly profit surged more than fivefold on strong consumer demand despite a strong yen and intensifying competition. Panasonic Corp said yesterday it made a profit of ¥31 billion in the three months through September, up from ¥6.1 billion the year before. Quarterly revenue rose 27 percent year-on-year to ¥2.21 trillion. Panasonic left its forecasts for this fiscal year through March unchanged at a profit of ¥85 billion on sales of ¥8.9 trillion.
AVIATION
BA returns to profit
British Airways (BA) yesterday reported a net profit of £107 million (US$170.5 million) for the first six months of its fiscal year, its first interim profit for two years, as revenues rose and non-fuel costs fell. The impressive result, equivalent to 122 million euros, or US$170 million, compared with a net loss of £217 million in the six months to September last year, the airline said in a results statement. BA, which is merging with Iberia of Spain, said interim pre-tax earnings hit £158 million, compared with a year-earlier loss of £292 million.
SPAIN
Jobless rate below 20%
The unemployment rate fell below 20 percent in the third quarter, its first decline since the second quarter of 2007 as the service sector created jobs, the national statistics institute said yesterday. The jobless rate dipped to 19.79 percent in the July-September period, down from 20.09 percent in the previous three months, a 13-year high and the highest level in the 16-nation eurozone, it said in a statement. Last month, the government raised its forecast for the unemployment rate for next year to 19.3 percent from a previous estimate of 18.9 percent.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last