MACROECONOMICS
Canada’s jobless still 7%
Canada’s unemployment rate remained at 7 percent last month as the country unexpectedly shed 11,000 jobs in the month, the Canadian government said on Friday. Full-time jobs declined by 2,300 compared with the previous month while part-time positions dropped by 8,700, Statistics Canada said. Year-on-year, however, employment increased by 81,000 — or 0.5 percent — mostly in part-time positions. Employment declined among young people aged 15 to 24 last month, as well as among women aged 25 to 54. However, men aged 25 to 54 saw an uptick in jobs, edging that group’s unemployment rate down by 0.2 percent.
ITALY
Domestic tourists spend less
Tourists in Italy spent around 1 billion euros (US$1.3 billion) less this summer than the same period last year, as a long economic slump sapped Italians’ disposable incomes and bad weather kept people away from the seaside, the country’s main tourist body said on Friday. The report by the association representing Italian bar and restaurant owners (Fipe) is a blow to hopes of an economic recovery in the third quarter. A 2.1 percent annual drop in domestic tourism this summer outweighed a 0.3 percent increase in foreign visitors, Fipe said, adding that Italian tourists spent an average of 90 euros (US$117) per day, down from 92 euros last year.
BANKING
Albania bank head arrested
Albania’s central bank Governor Ardian Fullani was arrested on Friday on suspicion of abuse of power after millions of euros were stolen from the bank, prosecutor’s spokesman Albi Serani said. Fullani was arrested after the bank discovered last month that at least US$7 million had been taken from its reserves over the past four years, Serani said. An arrest warrant was also issued for the bank’s inspector-general Elivera Golemi, who is also suspected of abuse of power. Since last month, 14 employees of Albania’s Central Bank have been arrested in the case. Fullani, who has been the head of Albania’s central bank since 2004, has denied any involvement.
INTERNET
Amazon secures credit line
Amazon.com Inc has secured a US$2 billion credit facility, which could give chief executive officer Jeff Bezos more leeway to boost investments in new businesses. The credit agreement with Bank of America Corp is for two years and could be extended for another three with approval, Amazon said in a regulatory filing on Friday. The credit line was announced a month after the world’s largest online retailer reported a second-quarter loss of US$126 million, more than double what was predicted.
RETAIL
Family Dollar rejects bid
Discount retailer Family Dollar on Friday rejected an enhanced US$9.8 billion takeover offer from Dollar General as it sought to discourage a hostile campaign that could threaten its deal with Dollar Tree. For the second time in a month, Family Dollar’s board raised the issue that the unsolicited merger proposal would give Dollar General too much market power with 20,000 stores, mostly serving low-income areas, and bring a delay if not a veto from the US Federal Trade Commission.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained