SINGAPORE
Industrial production up
Industrial output rose for the first time in four months last month as manufacturers produced more pharmaceuticals, countering a slump in electronics. Manufacturing gained 3.1 percent from a year earlier after a revised 5.1 percent drop in October, the Economic Development Board said in a report yesterday. The median of 13 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a 4.8 percent increase. Output increased a seasonally adjusted 1.9 percent from the previous month, when it rose a revised 1.2 percent. Electronics production declined 2.3 percent from a year earlier last month, while pharmaceutical output gained 13.2 percent, the report said.
THAILAND
Manufacturing, exports up
Export growth quickened to a 15-month high last month as factories returned to full capacity after last year’s floods and global demand improved. Overseas sales rose 26.9 percent last month from a year earlier after climbing a previously reported 15.6 percent in October, the Ministry of Commerce said in Bangkok yesterday. The median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of 12 economists was 26.4 percent. Imports rose 24.5 percent from a year earlier for a trade deficit of US$1.45 billion, compared with a shortfall of US$2.47 billion reported earlier for October, the report said. The commerce ministry earlier said it expects export growth of up to 9 percent next year from 4.17 percent this year.
SOUTH KOREA
Consumer confidence low
Consumer confidence failed to improve this month as a budget stand-off in the US and austerity measures in Europe highlighted risks for the nation’s exports. The sentiment index was at 99 this month, unchanged from last month, indicating pessimists continue to outnumber optimists, the Bank of Korea said in a statement yesterday. In October, the bank estimated an GDP expansion of 3.2 percent next year, reducing a July prediction of 3.8 percent. The consumer confidence index is based on responses from 2,032 households in 56 cities, with the survey conducted by mail and telephone between Dec. 10 and Dec. 18.
CHINA
Debt trading considered
The government may allow more types of bonds to be traded on stock exchanges in a bid to boost trading volumes, the Shanghai Securities News said yesterday. Officials are considering the introduction of depositary receipts to allow debt currently tradable only on the interbank market to also be traded on exchanges, the report said. Such a proposal may need approval from the State Council the newspaper said. The interbank market had 22.2 trillion yuan (US$3.6 trillion) of outstanding bonds at the end of last month, according to Chinabond, the nation’s bond clearing house. That compared with 449 billion yuan on stock exchanges, where retail investors are allowed to trade, it said.
TECHNOLOGY
Netflix back online
Netflix Inc, the world’s biggest video-streaming service, said access to its movie and television content was restored after a disruption caused by Amazon.com Inc’s Web storage and computing systems. Many customers in the Americas were unable to access online content on Monday from around 3:30pm New York time until later that day, Netflix spokesman Joris Evers said. The company said it was investigating the cause and would do what it can to prevent a reoccurrence. Streaming services in Europe were not affected, the firm said.
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