Chinese media group Caixin Media (財新傳媒) is to take over the sponsorship of a key economic indicator previously funded by British banking giant HSBC Holdings PLC that has frequently contradicted official figures, it said yesterday.
The China purchasing managers’ index (PMI), compiled by financial information services provider Markit, tracks activity in factories and workshops and is a closely watched barometer of the health of manufacturing in the world’s second-biggest economy.
The release is to be renamed the Caixin China PMI and be published beginning next month, Caixin Media said in a statement.
The Chinese government also releases PMI figures on a monthly basis, which has often given more positive results than Markit’s. The government sample is larger and analysts say it is more focused on big companies.
Caixin said the deal was part of an expansion into financial information.
“This is a very important step Caixin has taken in its quest for a strategic transformation,” Caixin founder and editor-in-chief Hu Shuli (胡舒立) said in the statement.
Hu is widely regarded as an ally of Wang Qishan (王岐山), a member of the Chinese Communist Party’s Politburo Standing Committee and head of the ongoing anticorruption campaign.
Caixin is known for its investigative and scathing reporting, with some of its most recent influential coverage including how the family of Zhou Yongkang (周永康) amassed immense wealth — reports that made headlines before official investigations into the nation’s former head of security were formally announced.
Zhou was sentenced to life in prison last month.
HSBC had held the rights for the past five years, with Hong Kong-based brokerage and investment group CLSA sponsoring it before that.
The British banking group is cutting costs worldwide and has also dropped its funding for PMIs outside China.
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
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last