AUSTRALIA
Central bank maintains rate
The country maintained the highest benchmark interest rate among major developed economies as domestic demand weathers a global slowdown that has been driving down the price of iron ore, the nation’s biggest commodity export. Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Glenn Stevens and his board left the overnight cash-rate target at 3.5 percent, according to a statement yesterday in Sydney. Earlier aggressive rate cuts — 50 basis points in May and 25 points in June — were still working their way through the economy and Stevens said the bank’s board had decided to adopt a wait-and-see approach.
SPAIN
Unemployment rises 0.83%
Spain’s jobless queue grew to 4.63 million people in August, the government said Tuesday, grim news for an economy suffering nearly 25-percent unemployment. Snapping a run of four monthly declines, the number of job seekers climbed by 38,179, or 0.83 percent, last month from July, the Labor Ministry said in a statement.
SWITZERLAND
Q2 output falls 0.1%
Output fell 0.1 percent in the second quarter compared with the previous three months as the strong franc hurt exports, the economy ministry said yesterday. Exports were down 0.7 percent during the period ending June, with a drop recorded in the chemical, machinery, equipment and electronics sectors. Only watch, precision instrument and vehicle exports held up. Imports were 0.5 percent weaker, due mainly to a fall in vehicle imports. Compared with a year ago, second quarter GDP was up 0.5 percent.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Valeant buys Medicis
Canadian pharmaceutical company Valeant announced on Monday it had paid US$2.6 billion for US drugmaker Medicis, significantly boosting its skin care product offerings. The transaction should be concluded by June next year. Under the “definitive agreement,” Valeant will pay cash for all of the outstanding common stock of Medicis, traded on the NASDAQ stock exchange, at US$44 per share. Medicis products fight acne, precancer skin growths and skin-related viruses. The US company will continue operations under its own name, as a branch of Valeant.
AUTOMAKERS
Hyundai reaches labor deal
Hyundai Motor’s labor union has agreed a deal on wages and working conditions, ending the costliest dispute in the South Korean auto giant’s history, company officials said yesterday. The union has staged 28 partial strikes since stoppages began on July 13, cutting production by more than 82,000 vehicles valued at 1.7 trillion won (US$1.5 billion). The agreement, effective from March next year, means the introduction of a two-shift daytime work system, ending at 1am. There is also a 98,000 won increase in basic monthly salary, a performance-based bonus equivalent to five months wages and a one-off payment of 9.6 million won per person.
SOFTWARE
Oracle appealing settlement
US software giant Oracle Corp is appealing a US$306 million settlement in its marathon copyright infringement lawsuit against German rival SAP AG, court documents show. The current settlement amount, set on Aug. 3, is less than a quarter of the US$1.3 billion SAP had been originally ordered to pay the Silicon Valley giant in November 2010. However, US District Court Judge Phyllis Hamilton slashed the amount last year to US$272 million.
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