Public confidence in the economy weakened for the fourth straight month this month after the US Federal Reserve last month signaled it may wind down its quantitative easing (QE) program soon and as major domestic indicators showed tepid growth, Cathay Financial Holdings Co (國泰金控) said yesterday.
A monthly survey conducted by the company found that 35.1 percent of the respondents expect the nation’s economy to worsen in the next six months, while 26.1 percent have a brighter outlook, compared with 33 percent and 27.7 percent last month respectively.
Cathay Financial attributed the gloomier sentiment to unease over the US’ possible QE retreat in and the local economy’s extended “yellow-blue” rating in Council for Economic Planning and Development reports, signalling a transition between recession and growth.
The survey showed a significant increase in the amount of respondents who think now is the right time to sell property, which at 37.2 percent is the highest level recorded in the poll since the government introduced a special sales levy on luxury homes in 2011.
However, the number of people who were willing to buy property last month dropped to the lowest level this year at 15.4 percent, the survey showed, putting pressure on sellers to lower prices if they are eager to close deals.
The results followed news reports that the Ministry of Finance plans to tighten the luxury levy by shifting the tax to buyers rather than sellers of houses resold within two years of purchase.
There are also suggestions that the ministry should raise the levy on foreign buyers since they are one cause of the fast growth of property prices seen in Taipei, Hong Kong, Singapore and Sydney.
The ministry plans to revise the tax by the end of the year.
Meanwhile, more people expect the job market to deteriorate, with 42.8 percent of respondents saying they expect it to become more difficult to find jobs in the next six months, up from 40.8 percent a month earlier, the survey found.
Cathay said the figure suggests a sentiment of decreasing spending power, further reflected by 78 percent of those surveyed voicing concern that consumer prices would rise in the next six months.
About 40 percent of respondents indicated plans to cut durable goods purchases in the next six months, while 30.5 percent planned to reduce spending on big-ticket items, the survey showed.
The survey showed 77.8 percent of those polled felt now was not the right time to buy gold as prices were above US$1,000 an ounce. In addition, 52.3 percent said they would keep their stock holdings unchanged, while 30.3 percent voiced their intent to trim their positions and 17.4 percent had plans to buy.
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