BANKING
Italy raises growth forecast
The Bank of Italy raised its economic-growth forecasts after the European Central Bank (ECB) committed to asset purchases to spur a recovery and inflation across the 19-nation region. Italy’s GDP will expand by more than 0.5 percent this year, Bank of Italy Governor Ignazio Visco, who sits on the ECB’s Governing Council, said on Saturday in a speech at the Assiom Forex conference in Milan. That compares with growth of 0.4 percent projected in a Jan. 16 report by the Italian central bank. The nation’s economy might grow by more than 1.5 percent next year, compared with a previous forecast of 1.2 percent, Visco said.
AUTOMAKERS
Jaguar to recall cars
Jaguar Land Rover North America is set to recall as many as 104,000 cars after the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration published three notices that highlighted issues that could lead to faulty braking and lighting. The largest portion of vehicles called back is the 74,648 Range Rover models built from April 15, 2005 to Sept. 4, 2012. The company plans to replace front brake hoses, which could rupture and slow braking speed, increasing the risk of a crash, according to the notice filed on Saturday. The recall is expected to begin on March 13. Another 24,679 cars will be recalled due to similar braking concerns, the company said.
SUPERMARKETS
Dia a Dia denies hoarding
A private supermarket chain taken over by the Venezuelan government denied on Saturday accusations of food hoarding amid huge lines and shortages in the crisis-hit nation. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Friday ordered the government takeover of the Dia a Dia chain, accusing it of “waging war against the population.” The company, which has 35 stores across Venezuela, rejected the allegations. “Dia a Dia has not engaged in hoarding,” it insisted in a statement, adding that it has not engaged in any actions to undermine the economy, contrary to the government’s allegations.
ADVERTISING
Yahoo, Tumblr to align sales
Tumblr’s global head of brand partnerships Lee Brown is stepping down amid a move to fold the blogging service’s advertising team into its parent’s. Yahoo Inc acquired Tumblr for about US$1 billion in 2013. “We are aligning the Yahoo and Tumblr sales teams,” the company said. “We’re proud of the strong momentum at Tumblr and we believe bringing the sales teams together will enable us to further deliver the ad solutions that maximize value for our advertisers and best meet their needs.” Brown joined Tumblr in 2012 after almost two years at Groupon Inc. Prior to that he held leadership positions in advertising at Yahoo.
FINANCE
Ex-Fed chairman dies
Former senior partner and co-chairman of Goldman Sachs John Whitehead, who helped make it a top-tier Wall Street firm and led its international expansion, has died, the investment bank said on Saturday. He was 92. Whitehead joined Goldman Sachs in 1947 and worked his way to the highest rung of its corporate ladder before leaving after 38 years to become a deputy secretary of state under then-US president Ronald Reagan. He was a chairman of the US Federal Reserve Bank of New York and a member of the board of the New York Stock Exchange.
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