Brazil
Bank cuts interest rate
Brazil’s central bank on Wednesday slashed its interest rate for the ninth time since August last year, to a record low of 7.5 percent, in a bid to revive sluggish economic growth. The bank’s monetary policy committee Copom announced the half-point reduction after the market closed. Goldman Sachs said earlier this week that it expected the cut could be the last in the cycle that began a year ago, given that inflation is rising. The world’s sixth largest economy showed clear signs of a slowdown in the first quarter of this year, expanding only 0.2 percent compared with the previous quarter.
Philippines
Domestic economy grows
The Philippine economy has expanded 5.9 percent in the second quarter, as the government increased public spending and inflation remained low. GDP growth was slightly lower than the adjusted 6.1 percent in the first quarter, but Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said yesterday the figures are above market expectations and average regional growth. The biggest contributor came from the services sector. Steady inflows of remittances from Filipinos overseas propped up domestic spending while tourist arrivals grew 11.7 percent from a year ago to reach 2.1 million.
retail
Carrefour reports losses
Carrefour says it lost 31 million euros (US$39 million) in the first half of the year as the struggling big box retailer pulled out of Greece and Singapore. The company said yesterday that the loss was largely due to the cost of selling its stake in Greek supermarket chain Marinopoulos, which will now exclusively operate Carrefour-branded stores in the country. The two stores in Singapore will also be closed by the end of the year. Not including discontinued operations, the company would have posted a net gain of 199 million euros. In the first half last year, the company lost 249 million euros. The retailer has recently brought in a new CEO to regain competitiveness in Europe and push further into Asia and Latin America.
AVIATION
JAL seeks ¥663bn in IPO
Japan Airlines Co (JAL) will seek as much as ¥663 billion (US$8.4 billion) in the largest initial public offering since Facebook Inc, capping a state-backed turnaround since it filed for bankruptcy protection in 2010. Shares will be on offer at a price range of ¥3,500 to ¥3,790, according to a statement yesterday. That is in line with the indicative price of ¥3,790 announced earlier this month. The carrier will not get any of the sale proceeds as the 175 million shares are being sold by its government-backed parent. JAL is returning to the Tokyo stock exchange after shedding a third of its workforce, scrapping routes and retiring older planes in a restructuring that returned it to profit.
Internet
Google congratulates
Google on Wednesday began sendng members of its online social network search page reminders about the birthdays of friends. “Everyone deserves a little love on their birthday,” Google’s Irene Chung said in an online message announcing the new feature. “Starting today, you’ll see a reminder on Google.com when someone in your circles has a birthday.” Search page birthday reminders are only shared with friends indicated in a person’s preferences list in Google+ controls at plus.google.com/up/birthday, according to Chung.
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