FRANCE
Going back into recession
The nation is headed back into recession for the second time in just over three years, the country’s central bank said yesterday. The Bank of France predicted a 0.1 percent contraction in GDP for the third quarter of this year, an outcome which, if confirmed, would follow a similar fall in output for the three months to June. The Socialist government has cut its growth forecast for the full year from 0.4 to 0.3 percent, and for next year from 1.7 to 1.2 percent.
JAPAN
Current account down 45%
The current account surplus fell 45 percent in the first six months of the year from a year earlier because of higher energy imports, official data showed yesterday. The surplus, the broadest measure of external trade, stood at ¥3.04 trillion (US$38.6 billion) in January-June, down from ¥5.52 trillion previously, as Japan was also hit by the strong yen and fallout from the European debt crisis. The figure for June alone was ¥433.3 billion.
GERMANY
Exports dipped in June
Exports totaled 92.3 billion euros (US$114.5 billion) in seasonally adjusted terms in June, 1.5 percent less than in May, the national statistics office Destatis said yesterday. Imports were down 2.9 percent at 76.1 billion euros, so that the seasonally adjusted trade surplus increased to 16.2 billion euros from 15.3 billion euros in May. In the first six months, exports rose 4.8 percent over the year-earlier period to 550.4 billion euros in unadjusted terms, while imports were up 2.4 percent at 457.1 billion euros. That meant the January-June trade surplus increased by 18.4 percent to 93.3 billion euros.
AUTOMAKERS
Shipments of i-MiEVs halted
Japanese automaker Mitsubishi Motors yesterday said it has “temporarily” halted shipments of its i-MiEV electric car to PSA Peugeot Citroen. The firm said it would stop deliveries of the vehicles, branded iOn Peugeot and Citroen C-Zero in Europe, that began after the two firms signed a supply deal two years ago. “This is a temporary stoppage for adjusting stocks [of inventory],” a Mitsubishi spokesman in Tokyo said, declining to elaborate. “We are the supplier, and we fill the orders of the client.”
MINING
Rio Tinto profit drops
Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto yesterday said net profit for the first half of the year dropped 22 percent to US$5.9 billion year-on-year, blaming falling commodity prices. Underlying earnings slipped 34 percent to US$5.2 billion from a year earlier. The underlying results beat analyst expectations and the company was upbeat on the strength of long-term demand and Chinese growth, while it has not cut back on US$16 billion in planned capital expenditure.
BANKING
ING Groep Q2 earnings fall
Buffeted by Europe’s debt crisis, ING Groep NV reported a 23 percent fall in second quarter earnings yesterday as its banking operations were hurt by higher bad loan provisions and its insurance arm took write-down on the value of some operations. Net profit for the Dutch-based company, one of Europe’s largest financial institutions, was 1.17 billion euros, down from 1.51 billion euros in the same period a year ago. Its banking profits fell 13 percent to 860 million euros from a year earlier, while insurance earnings were cut in half to 288 million euros.
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
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
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