GERMANY
Consumer confidence rises
A survey shows that consumer confidence is edging higher, even though recent figures showed that Europe’s biggest economy shrank in the final quarter of last year. The GfK research institute said yesterday that its forward-looking confidence indicator was up to 6 points for next month from 5.9 this month — continuing its gradual upward creep of recent months. GfK said consumers’ expectations were slightly lower this month as the eurozone debt crisis continued to simmer. Their willingness to buy also slipped, though it remained high. The financially solid country’s economy has generally outperformed much of Europe over the past few years. However, it did contract, albeit by a modest 0.2 percent, in the final three months of last year.
SOUTH KOREA
Trade deficit posted
The country recorded a current account deficit last month for the first time in nearly two years as the eurozone debt crisis and the faltering US economy hit exports, the central bank said yesterday. The account — the broadest measure of trade with the world — saw a US$772 million shortfall compared with a revised US$2.81 billion surplus in December. Last month’s figure marked the first deficit since February 2010, when the country ran a shortfall of US$549 million.
BANKING
Austria bails out Volksbanken
Austria bailed out Oesterreichische Volksbanken AG for the third time, taking a minority stake in the lender as the Alpine republic defied warnings that its debt rating might be lowered. Austria will become the lender’s second-biggest shareholder after injecting 250 million euros (US$335 million), the Vienna-based bank said in a statement on Monday. That will probably give it a 40 percent stake, according to two people with knowledge of the plan, who declined to be identified because the talks are still in progress. A group of 62 regional cooperative lenders will inject at least 230 million euros and remain the majority shareholder in Volksbanken, according to the statement.
AUTOMAKERS
GM to buy Peugeot stake
US auto giant General Motors (GM) is in talks to buy out 5 percent of France’s biggest car builder, PSA Peugeot Citroen, business daily Les Echos reported yesterday, citing several sources. Sources close to the negotiation said the deal was a so-called standstill agreement in which GM could not increase its stake in Peugeot without prior permission from the car group. Last week, French Labor Minister Xavier Bertrand revealed that GM and Peugeot were in talks toward a strategic partnership. Peugeot is France’s top car manufacturer, ahead of Renault, and Europe’s second, behind Volkswagen. Last year, the firm sold 3.5 million cars.
INTERNET
Groupon in Thailand
Groupon announced on Monday it was launching in Thailand, the 47th country for the daily deals Web site outside the US. The Chicago-based Groupon said Groupon Thailand would initially provide discount offers in Bangkok and eventually expand to additional cities in the Southeast Asian nation. “We are very excited to expand the benefits of Groupon to customers and merchants in Thailand,” Groupon Thailand chief executive Damian Kemner said in a statement. “With our selected merchants, we create exclusive campaigns that allow them unparalleled access to our customer base while gaining market exposure to drive new business,” Kemner 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