BANKING
BOJ rejects need for stimulus
Bank of Japan (BOJ) Governor Haruhiko Kuroda yesterday pushed back against calls for additional monetary stimulus for now, saying that inflation trends are different from a year earlier, when he led a divided board to expand easing. Kuroda, speaking at a Tokyo press conference after the bank left its asset-purchase program unchanged, said Japanese companies see prices rising into the future and household inflation expectations have not changed. However, he did not rule out consideration of further stimulus saying that the bank would not hesitate to adjust policy if needed.
INDUSTRY
Germany’s production slows
Official data show that German industrial production fell in August following an increase the previous month, a report that comes on top of disappointing figures for factory orders. The German Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy yesterday said that production was 1.2 percent lower in August than the previous month. That followed a rise by the same amount in July, which was revised upward from an initial reading of 0.7 percent. The decline was led by a 2.1 percent drop in production of investment goods.
ECONOMY
Greek recession eases
Greece’s economy is likely to suffer a less severe recession this year than its international lenders assumed in drafting the country’s new bailout program, Minister of Finance Euclid Tsakalotos said on Tuesday. Tsakalotos gave no figures and said the draft of next year’s budget announced on Monday had stuck to the bailout assumptions of a 2.3 percent economic contraction this year followed by a 1.3 percent shrinkage next year before growth resumes in 2017, but it had more encouraging indications.
RETAIL
Tesco posts yearly loss
Britain’s biggest retailer, supermarket group Tesco PLC, yesterday said that it had fallen into a net loss during its first half, partly on costs linked to an accounting scandal. Losses after tax stood at £365 million (US$558 million) in the six months to the end of August, compared with a net profit of £6 million during the corresponding period a year earlier, Tesco said in an earnings statement.
FOOD AND BEVERAGE
Snack sales boosting shares
PepsiCo Inc posted third-quarter profit that topped analysts’ estimates and raised its forecast for the year after North American snack and beverage sales climbed, helped by higher prices. Earnings were US$1.35 a share in the three months ended Sept. 5, excluding some items, the Purchase, New York-based company said in a statement on Tuesday. PepsiCo said earnings per share, excluding acquisitions, divestitures and currency effects, are to grow 9 percent this year. That is up from a forecast of 8 percent in July.
SOFTWARE
Adobe shares take a slide
Adobe Systems Inc gave a forecast for next year’s fiscal sales and profit that fell short of analysts’ estimates, sending shares down as much as 13 percent in extended trading on Tuesday. Revenue in the year ending in November next year might be about US$5.7 billion, and profit excluding certain costs, might be about US$2.70 a share, the San Jose, California-based company said in a statement ahead of its financial analyst meeting. Analysts had estimated annual sales of US$5.94 billion and per-share profit of US$3.20, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
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