JAPAN
Food drives inflation rate
The nation’s inflation rate was 0.3 percent last month, as higher food prices helped offset savings from lower gas and electricity costs. Figures released yesterday showed that core inflation excluding food prices was 0.1 percent, while household spending fell 2.9 percent from a year earlier last month. Excluding food and energy, the consumer price index rose 0.9 percent. Meanwhile, the jobless rate edged higher last month to 3.3 percent from 3.1 percent in October. However, companies have tended to add overtime or hire temporary help instead of raising wages to attract new staff.
UNITED STATES
Jobless claims fall
The number of people filing for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week, nearing a 42-year low as labor market conditions continued to tighten in a boost to the economy. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 267,000 for the week ended Saturday last week, not far from levels last seen in late 1973, the Department of Labor said on Thursday. The four-week moving average of claims rose 1,750 to 272,500 last week.
FRANCE
Jobseeker numbers drop
The number of jobseekers dropped last month, the Ministry of Labor said on Thursday in a statement. The number of people actively looking for work decreased by 15,000, or 0.4 percent, last month to 3.575 million, with people under 25 seeing the biggest reduction, the ministry said. “The number of jobseekers is stabilizing,” Minister of Labor Myriam El Khomri said in the statement. In the past 12 months, jobless claims rose by 2.5 percent, the ministry said.
SOLAR POWER
Abengoa inks bank deal
Spanish thermal solar power and electrical engineering firm Abengoa on Thursday signed an agreement with its creditor banks for a 106 million euro (US$116.1 million) credit line to help avert what would be Spain’s biggest-ever bankruptcy. The company will be used for general corporate necessities, Abengoa said in a statement to the stock market regulator. It is using some shares held in the affiliate Abengoa Yield as collateral for the loan, it said.
MINING
Anglo to sell stake
Global mining giant Anglo American PLC said on Thursday it would sell its majority interest in Dartbrook coal mine to Australian Pacific Coal Ltd in a deal worth up to A$50 million (US$36.35 million). The sale follows two weeks after Anglo American announced a major restructuring, saying it would offload three-fifths of its assets as it attempts to tackle sliding commodities prices. Anglo American, which owns an 83.3 percent stake in Dartbrook mine in New South Wales, Australia, said the deal would comprise of A$25 million in cash, with the rest being received in the form of royalty payments.
BANKING
Paribas writes down funds
BNP Paribas SA wrote down the goodwill related to its Italian corporate and consumer banking unit, which is expected to cut fourth-quarter earnings by about 900 million euros (US$983 million). France’s biggest bank is setting aside more capital for its BNL division, the lender said in a statement on Wednesday. The charge is expected to have a positive effect on regulatory capital.
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