SINGAPORE
Economy shrinking
The nation’s economy shrank in the second quarter of the year, official data showed yesterday, as slowing demand from key export markets China and Europe hit manufacturing. The 4.6 percent quarter-on-quarter contraction in the second quarter reversed a growth rate of 4.2 percent in the previous three months, according to advance estimates from the trade ministry based largely on two months’ data. The figures showed the economy expanded 1.7 percent year-on-year in the second quarter.
CHINA
Bank lending increases
Bank lending rose last month and broader money supply also increased, the central bank said yesterday, as monetary easing measures to boost the world’s second-largest economy kicked in. Domestic banks extended new loans of 1.27 trillion yuan (US$204.5 billion), up from 900.8 billion yuan in May, the People’s Bank of China said in a statement. Total social financing — a broader measure of credit in the economy — reached 1.86 trillion yuan last month, it said, up from 1.22 trillion yuan in May.
INDIA
Inflation outlook clouded
Wholesale prices fell more than estimated, in contrast with consumer-price gains, clouding the inflation outlook for central bank Governor Raghuram Rajan before an Aug. 4 policy review. Wholesale prices fell 2.4 percent last month from a year earlier, after a 2.36 percent decline in May, the Commerce Ministry said in a statement yesterday. Food prices rose 2.88 percent last month from a year earlier, the data showed. Manufactured product prices eased 0.77 percent, while fuel and power prices dropped 10 percent.
BEVERAGES
Starbucks eyes South Africa
Starbucks Corp is jumping into the surging coffee market in South Africa, where the number of cafes has expanded rapidly in recent years. The company said its first store would open in Johannesburg by the middle of next year through a deal with Taste Holdings Ltd, which licenses global brands in the region. Starbucks and Taste have not disclosed the financial terms of their deal, but the companies said their partnership would eventually lead to additional Starbucks stores in South Africa.
AUTOMAKERS
BMW hit by slowing demand
BMW AG’s China joint venture partner said it expects first-half net income to fall about 40 percent as demand for premium cars slows in the world’s largest automobile market. Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd (華晨中國汽車控股) yesterday warned about higher expenses in a stock exchange statement. The profit warning is the latest sign that demand in China for luxury cars is declining amid a moderation in economic growth and volatility on the stock market.
INTERNET
Jet.com ready to launch
Jet.com, a well-funded US start-up which aims to shake up online retailing with new ways to cut prices, is set for launch next week, chief executive Marc Lore told the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference in Aspen, Colorado, on Monday. The new online site is to have at least 10 million products in a variety of categories, Lore said. He dismissed the notion that it is taking on colossus Amazon.com Inc, saying that there is room for “multiple players,” but that he sees Jet as an innovator in pricing.
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