BRAZIL
Extreme poverty rises
The number of people living in extreme poverty rose slightly last year after a decade of strong progress on the issue, a government-run research body said on Wednesday. After 10 years of constant reductions in extreme poverty, the number was up 3.7 percent between 2012 and last year to 10.5 million people, the Institute for Economic Research said. In 2003, 26 million Brazilians lived in conditions of extreme deprivation.
EMPLOYMENT
Australia jobless rate steady
Australia’s jobless rate remained stable at an almost 12-year high of 6.2 percent last month, reflecting a soft labor market as the economy adjusts away from mining-driven growth, official data showed yesterday. About 24,100 jobs were added to the economy in the month, with full-time positions jumping by 33,400, while part-time roles slipped by 9,400, figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed.
ECONOMY
UK service growth slows
Growth at UK service companies slowed to the least in 17 months last month as demand cooled, preventing companies from raising prices. Markit Economics said its Purchasing Managers’ Index dropped to 56.2, the lowest since May last year, from 58.7 in September. A reading above 50 indicates expansion. The survey signals the domestic demand that has driven the recovery is losing momentum at a time when Britain’s main export markets are weakening.
ELECTRONICS
Siemens hits profit targets
German engineering giant Siemens said yesterday that it reached its full-year profit targets in the 12 months to September, thanks to a solid final quarter. Siemens, which runs its business year from October to September, said its net profit rose by 25 percent to 5.50 billion euros (US$6.9 billion) in the year ended Sept. 30. Underlying or operating profit rose by 26 percent to 7.33 billion euros. Full-year revenues fell by 2 percent to 78.35 billion euros and orders were also down 2 percent at 71.92 billion euros.
COMPUTERS
Lenovo profit rises 19%
Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想), the world’s biggest PC maker, yesterday said its latest quarterly profit rose 19 percent, driven by sales growth outside its home China market. Profit rose to US$262 million, or US$0.02 per share, in the three months ended Sept. 30, the company said. Revenue rose 7 percent to US$10.5 billion. Quarterly sales in China declined 2 percent from the same quarter last year, offset by a 33 percent rise in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and a 3 percent rise in the Asia-Pacific region. Sales in North America were flat.
RETAIL
Adidas profit tops estimates
Adidas AG reported third-quarter profit that beat analysts’ reduced estimates, as the company made strides in soccer and running sales, helping offset declining revenue of its golf business. Net income fell to 282 million euros (US$353 million), the Germany sporting-goods maker said in a statement yesterday. Sales next year are forecast to increase at a mid-single-digit rate, while net income is set to grow at a higher rate than group sales, the company said. Chief executive officer Herbert Hainer is scheduled to present a new strategic plan in March.
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],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
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