BANKING
Spanish rating still negative
The ratings agency Moody’s said yesterday it had maintained its negative outlook on the Spanish banking sector because of “weak” capitalization levels that are likely to persist for the next 12 months to 18 months. “The outlook for the Spanish banking system remains negative because banks’ capitalization, profitability and access to market funding are expected to remain weak,” the agency said in a statement. Moody’s attributed the sector’s problems to Spain’s overall economic difficulties along with “continued asset deterioration and the Spanish government’s fiscal austerity plans.”
ENERGY
India to hold global bidding
India plans to hold global bidding by the middle of next year for developers to set up power plants that use a mix of solar and fossil fuels. “We propose a demonstration of solar-thermal hybrid plants,” Indian Ministry of New and Renewable Energy Secretary Deepak Gupta said at a conference yesterday in Mumbai. “We’re deciding right now how much capacity it should be.” Gupta said the plants will be allowed to use a mix of solar and natural gas or other fossil fuels depending on what is most suitable to the location.
BANKING
35bn euros is fine: Ireland
Irish Chief Whip John Curran, a government minister and spokesman, said the 35 billion euros (US$46.5 billion) set aside for the country’s banks is “more than enough.” He made the comments in an RTE radio interview yesterday. The Irish government last month earmarked 35 billion euros for the banks as part of an international bailout. Anglo Irish Bank Corp chairman Alan Dukes was reported in the New York Times on Friday as saying that more may be needed, as mortgage defaults rise.
EMPLOYMENT
British firms plan to hire
More London companies are planning to return to normal hiring patterns over the next six months and fewer will have recruitment freezes, the Confederation of British Industry said. About 45 percent of companies plan to hire as normal over the period, compared with 11 percent a year ago, the -London-based lobby group said in a survey it conducted with KPMG LLP. Sixteen percent said that they would have a recruitment freeze, down from 26 percent a year ago, while the proportion of companies saying they would make redundancies over the next six months fell to 29 percent from 53 percent.
CONGLOMERATE
Dubai World head replaced
Dubai’s ruler has replaced the longtime head of Dubai World with his close aide and uncle as the debt-laden conglomerate works to retool its business. Sheik Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum was named chairman of the sprawling conglomerate, whose holdings include seaports, high-end retailer Barneys New York and a stake in Las Vegas casino operator MGM Mirage, in a decree carried on Sunday evening by state news agency WAM. The order reshuffled the rest of the company’s board too, giving seats to top lieutenants of Dubai’s ruler who are charged with cleaning up the emirate’s financial troubles.
AUTOMAKERS
Mercedes’ sales up in China
Mercedes-Benz sales in the first 11 months of the year rose 119 percent to almost 129,500 units, according to an e-mailed statement from Mercedes-Benz (China) Ltd. Last month’s sales were 14,145 vehicles, the statement said.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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