SOFTWARE
Car-pool app launched
Google-owned online mapping company Waze is launching a carpooling pilot program in Israel where commuters pay fellow drivers a small fee for a ride to and from work. The new application, called RideWith, is set to use Waze’s navigation system to learn the routes drivers most frequently take to work and match them up with people looking for a ride in the same direction. Google bought Israel-based Waze for about US$1 billion two years ago. “We’re conducting a small, private beta test in the greater Tel Aviv area for a carpool concept, but we have nothing further to announce at this time,” Waze told reporters of its foray into the increasingly competitive field of ride-sharing. Drivers are to be limited to just two journeys per day and would not be able to earn a salary from RideWith, a source close to the company said, differentiating it from businesses such as Uber, where drivers can turn a profit.
MACROECONOMICS
German factory orders fall
German factory orders fell in May in a sign that companies might have held back as Greece’s debt crisis cast a cloud over the eurozone’s economic recovery. Orders, adjusted for seasonal swings and inflation, slid 0.2 percent after rising 2.2 percent in April, data from the German Ministry of Finance showed yesterday. The typically volatile number compares with a median estimate of a 0.4 percent drop in a Bloomberg survey. Orders increased 4.7 percent from a year earlier. German economic confidence has been waning as Greece’s failure to agree on bailout terms with its creditors takes it close to a formal debt default that could splinter the eurozone. Even so, an index of economic activity in the currency bloc is at a four-year high and the Bundesbank last month raised its forecast for Germany, citing a strong labor market and consumer spending.
AUTOMAKERS
GM’s China sales slow
General Motors Co (GM) posted a slower pace of growth in China sales in the first half of the year than in the US, as the economy slowed in its biggest market and local competitors flooded the market with cheaper sports utility vehicles. GM and its China joint ventures sold 1.72 million vehicles in the first six months of the year, up 4.4 percent from a year earlier, the company said. That compares with 4.5 percent growth in the automaker’s US retail sales in the same period. Automakers are struggling to boost demand in China as the economy slows and a stock market rout raises concerns that discretionary spending will be hit. In contrast, automakers are enjoying the best six months in US sales in a decade as consumers replace vehicles, driven by relatively low gasoline prices and interest rates.
AUTOMAKERS
UK auto sales rise
British new car registrations last month rose 12.9 percent year-on-year to 257,817 vehicles, which marked the best half-year performance on record, an industry body said yesterday. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said the increase meant sales were up by 7 percent in the first six months of the year, although it expected slower growth later this year. The group said low interest rates, attractive finance deals and a wealth of new models had encouraged consumers to buy new cars. “[It] is encouraging to see more consumers choosing British models. This is important for the wider economy with 799,000 people now employed across the UK automotive sector, including retail,” society chief executive officer Mike Hawes said.
MONGOLIA
Government to sell stakes
The government is planning to sell stakes in 10 state-owned enterprises over this year and next as well as its biggest coal mine as the nation seeks to revive growth and boost foreign investment in one of the world’s tiniest stock exchanges. It intends to offload holdings in power plants and other businesses, according to Angar Davaasuren, CEO of the bourse. A stake in the US$4 billion Tavan Tolgoi coal mine is also to be on offer, he said in an interview in London on Friday last week. The nation is seeking to lure overseas money managers to unlock natural resources that the government says are worth about US$1.3 trillion. Economic growth in the country of 3 million eased to 7.8 percent last year — the first year of single digit expansion since 2010 — amid weaker commodity prices and high-profile disputes with foreign investors.
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