SPAIN
Unemployment hits 21.29%
The unemployment rate rose to 21.29 percent in the first quarter, reaching the highest level since the beginning of 1997, official data showed yesterday. Inflation also rose this month to 3.5 percent from 3.3 percent in March, the highest figure since October 2008. The figures were published by the national statistical institute Ine against a background of severe strains on the nation’s economy arising from weak economic activity and high public deficits and debt.
CHINA
Orders slow after quake
Chinese manufacturers added workers, but saw scant growth in orders this month amid delays in supplies resulting from Japan’s earthquake and tsunami. London-based HSBC said yesterday its China Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index remained at 51.8 this month, matching its March level and just above a seven-month low of 51.7 in February. Figures above 50 signal expansion. However, despite the slowing in demand, the continued expansion is a sign that authorities need to persist in efforts to cool inflation, HSBC said.
UNITED STATES
GDP growth slows to 1.8%
US economic growth braked sharply in the first quarter as higher food and gasoline prices dampened consumer spending and sent inflation rising at its fastest pace in two-and-a-half years. Growth in GDP slowed to a 1.8 percent annual rate after a 3.1 percent fourth-quarter pace, the Commerce Department said. Economists had expected a 2 percent pace. Another report on Thursday showed a surprise jump in unemployment benefit claims last week, which could cast a shadow on expectations for a significant pick-up in output in the second quarter.
AUTOMOBILES
Daimler profit doubles
German luxury carmaker Daimler, which owns Mercedes-Benz, said yesterday that its first-quarter net profit nearly doubled, underpinning a positive outlook for this year as a whole. Daimler said its net profit jumped to 1.18 billion euros (US$1.75 billion) in the three months from January through March from 612 million euros in the same period of last year. Sales gained 16.5 percent to 24.7 billion euros, it added.
ENERGY
Total profit grows 50%
French oil giant Total SA said yesterday its net profit grew by half in the first quarter as recovering economies and unrest in the Middle East pushed the price of a barrel of crude to three-year highs. Total said in a statement that it made 3.9 billion euros (US$5.8 billion) in the first quarter, up from 2.6 billion euros a year earlier, when the Brent oil price averaged only US$76.40 a barrel. From January to March it averaged US$105.40 a barrel and has continued to rise since then, and now tops US$120. Total is France’s largest company by market capitalization. Large rivals Exxon and Royal Dutch Shell also reported booming profits.
TELECOMS
ZTE rejects Huawei charges
Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE (中興) has rejected charges by its bigger rival Huawei Technologies (華為), which is suing ZTE in three European countries for alleged patent and trademark infringements. Huawei said on Thursday it had filed lawsuits in Germany, France and Hungary accusing ZTE of breaching several of its patents and illegally using a Huawei-registered trademark on some products, infringing patents related to data cards and new-generation wireless networks.
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
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
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