MACROECONOMICS
China output disappoints
China’s industrial output rose 8.6 percent in the first two months of the year compared with a year ago, official data showed yesterday, the worst result in nearly five years. Retail sales, a key indicator of consumer spending, gained 11.8 percent in the two months from the year before, the National Bureau of Statistics said. That figure was the lowest since an increase of 11.6 percent in February 2011. And fixed asset investment, a measure of government spending on infrastructure, expanded 17.9 percent during the first two months, the bureau added.
MACROECONOMICS
Aussie jobless rate steady
Australia’s unemployment rate was steady at its decade-high level of 6 percent for the second straight month last month, despite a surprising rise in full-time positions, data showed yesterday. The Bureau of Statistics said while there was strong growth in full-time jobs — an unexpected development given the unwinding of the mining boom -- this was offset by a fall in the number of part-time positions.
ENERGY
Brazil says no power fears
Brazil on Wednesday dismissed fears that the lights might go off on the World Cup, with the soccer extravaganza just three months away. Much of Brazil’s electric grid is powered by hydroelectric plants, but rains have been lighter than usual this year and reservoirs at power plants are lower than normal. “Unless water levels were to fluctuate worse than we have seen, of which there is a low likelihood, there should not be difficulties with the power supply in 2014,” the mining and energy ministry committee said.
FINANCE
Trader fined US$825,000
A once high-flying Goldman Sachs trader dubbed “Fabulous Fab” was ordered on Wednesday to pay more than US$825,000 in one of the prominent cases stemming from the mortgage meltdown that helped spark the Great Recession. US District Judge Katherine Forrest ruled in that Fabrice Tourre should pay a US$650,000 penalty and give up more than US$175,000 of his US$1.5 million-plus bonus for 2007. Tourre, now a doctoral student in macroeconomics at the University of Chicago, said he was weighing his next move in what his lawyers have depicted as a case of scapegoating.
TAXATION
Swiss banker admits fraud
A former Swiss banker has pleaded guilty to his role in a fraud scheme that prosecutors say helped US taxpayers hide as much as US$3 billion in assets from the US Internal Revenue Service. Swiss citizen Andreas Bachmann is one of eight former employees of Zurich-based Credit Suisse to be charged back in 2011. The 56-year-old is the first to be arrested and plead guilty. Court records show he was arrested on Tuesday and pleaded guilty on Wednesday in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia.
TECHNOLOGY
Google eyes Soho outlet
Google Inc has been prowling Manhattan’s Soho neighborhood in search of a location for its first standalone retail outlet, a local real estate broker said. The search-engine company is considering leasing at 131 Greene St, said Faith Hope Consolo, chairman of the retail group at Douglas Elliman Real Estate. The property is around the corner from Apple Inc’s first New York store, on Prince Street. Google may be looking at other locations as well, Consolo 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