GERMANY
Output stalls, but rise intact
Industrial production stagnated in May, but the overall upward trend remains intact, the economy ministry said yesterday. Manufacturing output increased by 0.4 percent month-on-month, but energy output contracted by 3.1 percent and construction output fell by 0.5 percent. Taking April and May combined to iron out short-term fluctuations, industrial output was 0.5 percent higher than the average for the first three months, the ministry said.
AUSTRALIA
Central bank maintains rates
The central bank yesterday kept interest rates on hold at 2 percent for the second-straight month, saying accommodative monetary policy was needed with economic growth subdued. The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) last cut the cash rate by 25 basis points each in February and May. RBA Governor Glenn Stevens continued his call for a weaker exchange rate, despite the Australian dollar’s recent falls against its US counterpart, as investors pile into safe-haven currencies such as the greenback owing market ructions in Greece.
UNITED STATES
Service firms expand: ISM
The country’s service firms grew at a slightly faster pace last month, as business activity and new orders increased. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) on Monday said that its services index edged up to 56 last month from 55.7 in May. Any reading over 50 indicates that services firms are expanding. The ISM is a trade group of purchasing managers. The increase in the broader index points to increasing demand for services from consumers and companies.
CANADA
Business sentiment ‘weak’
Business sentiment remained “weak” in the second quarter as the energy industry struggles with an oil shock, a central bank survey found. The balance of opinion for sales over the next year rose to 8 percentage points, the Ottawa-based Bank of Canada reported on Monday, with 40 percent of those asked predicting faster sales growth and 32 percent calling for slower growth. The balance rose from 4 percentage points in the first quarter, which was the lowest since 2012.
TRADING COMPANIES
Noble to review valuations
Noble Group Ltd appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP to review how it values some of its assets after criticism of the Asian trading company’s accounting practices. PricewaterhouseCoopers will “conduct an assurance review of Noble’s mark-to-market models, valuations, and governance framework,” Noble said in a statement. Noble founder and chairman Richard Elman said in a public letter to shareholders on June 11 that the company is battling against rumors and inaccurate statements and pledged to “right the damage” to its share price.
RETAIL
Marks & Spencer sales down
British retailer Marks & Spencer yesterday said that underlying sales in its non-food business slipped in its first quarter, a setback for the group after a return to growth in the previous three months. The 131-year-old firm said sales of general merchandise, spanning clothing, footwear and homewares, at stores open over a year fell 0.4 percent in the 13 weeks to June 27. That compares to analysts forecasts in a range of flat to down 2.5 percent, with a consensus of down 1 percent, and growth of 0.7 percent in the fourth quarter of M&S’ 2014-2015 year, the division’s first growth in nearly four years.
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