MACROECONOMICS
US trade deficit shrinks
The US trade deficit shrank in June primarily on lower imports, according to official data released on Wednesday that some analysts said raises questions about consumer demand in the US. The trade deficit in goods and services fell in June to US$41.5 billion from a revised US$44.7 billion in May, the US Commerce Department said. It was the trade deficit’s second monthly decline in a row. June imports fell US$2.9 billion, or about 1.2 percent, from May, while June exports edged US$300 million higher to a new record of US$195.9 billion, a gain of 0.2 percent.
MACROECONOMICS
Canada trade surplus rises
Canada posted a larger trade surplus of C$1.9 billion (US$1.74 billion) in June as exports rose to a record high and imports fell slightly, the government’s statistics agency announced on Wednesday. The figure was up from C$576 million seen in the previous month, beating analysts’ expectations. Exports increased to C$45.2 billion, led by higher exports of unwrought precious metals and precious metal alloys, unwrought nickel and nickel alloys. Imports meanwhile decreased to C$43.3 billion.
RETAIL
Nestle profits fall in first half
Nestle SA saw its sales and profits fall in the first half of this year mainly due to a stronger Swiss franc. The maker of the Haagen-Dazs, Stouffer’s and Nescafe brands said yesterday its performance had been “resilient” in a global economy where emerging-market growth had slowed and developed markets face deflationary pressures and weak consumer confidence. The company said sales fell 4.8 percent to 42.981 billion Swiss francs (US$47.279 billion) from the same period a year ago. Net profit fell 9.4 percent to SF4.634 billion.
RETAIL
Adidas cuts profit forecast
Adidas AG, the world’s No. 2 sports gear maker, cut its profitability forecast for this year after revenue for the first half in North America dropped amid slumping demand for golf equipment and production and marketing costs rose. Operating profit should total 6.5 percent to 7 percent of sales, rather than the 8.5 percent to 9 percent predicted earlier, the German company said yesterday.
AUTOMAKERS
Tesla resolves China dispute
Tesla Motors Inc, the electric-car maker led by Elon Musk, said it had resolved a trademark dispute in China that threatened to complicate the company’s plans to increase sales in the world’s largest auto market. Zhan Baosheng (占寶生), who had registered rights to the Palo Alto, California-based company’s name in China before the automaker entered that market, agreed to settle the dispute “completely and amicably,” Tesla said in a statement on Tuesday. Zhan is set to transfer Web site names he registered in China, including tesla.cn and teslamotors.cn, to the carmaker, Tesla said without disclosing a value.
INTERNET
Yahoo hires Mike Kail
Yahoo said on Wednesday it had hired Mike Kail as its chief information officer, drawing a key technical executive from the internet video service Netflix. Kail is also to hold the title of senior vice president for infrastructure and is set to lead Yahoo’s information technology and data center operations, reporting to chief executive Marissa Mayer. The hiring is the latest by Mayer, who was hired from Google two years ago to revive the fortunes of the Internet pioneer.
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
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