MACROECONOMICS
No rush to cut support: Fed
Despite recent sizable job gains, US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen is signaling that the central bank is in no rush to withdraw the massive support it is providing the US economy. Extra caution is warranted, she told the US Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday, given a number of “false dawns” in this recovery when a hoped-for acceleration in growth has failed to materialize. Yellen acknowledged the improvement in the labor market, where the unemployment rate fell to 6.1 percent last month, but she said the rate was still above the Fed’s target of 5.2 percent to 5.5 percent. She said there were still far too many long-term unemployed Americans and wage growth remained weak.
GAMBLING
GTECH to acquire IGT
Italian lottery operator GTECH SpA yesterday said it had agreed to buy US slot machine maker International Game Technology (IGT) for US$4.7 billion. GTECH, which runs Italy’s national lottery, said in a statement that the deal was expected to go through in the first or second quarter of next year, and the two firms would be combined in a new Britain-based holding company. The deal values Las Vegas-based IGT at about US$6.4 billion including existing debt.
INTERNET
Yahoo profit falls on ad dip
Yahoo Inc said on Tuesday that its second-quarter earnings and revenue declined, hurt by a decline in display advertising sales that the company has been struggling with in recent years. The company earned US$270 million, or US$0.26 per share, last quarter, down from US$331 million, or US$0.30 per share, a year ago. Adjusted earnings were US$0.37 per share. Revenue fell 4 percent to US$1.08 billion from US$1.14 billion.
BANKING
JPMorgan profit slides 7.9%
JPMorgan Chase on Tuesday reported lower quarterly earnings due to a drop in mortgage banking profits and trading revenues. JPMorgan, the biggest US bank by assets, said second-quarter profit slid 7.9 percent from a year ago to US$5.99 billion, or US$1.46 per share, well above analyst estimates of US$1.29. Revenue fell 2.3 percent from last year to US$25.35 billion.
TECHNOLOGY
HP chairman resigns
US computer giant Hewlett-Packard Co (HP) said on Tuesday its non-executive chairman Ralph Whitworth was stepping down for health reasons, effective yesterday. A statement said the board of directors would discuss appointing a new chairman at its next board meeting.
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
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
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