MACROECONOMICS
Canada consumer prices rise
Consumer prices in Canada rose 1.4 percent last month compared with a year ago, but fell 0.6 percent compared to January due mainly to the fall in fuel prices, the government reported on Friday. The 1.4 percent increase was in line with analysts’ expectations. Excluding gasoline, the consumer price index last month increased 1.9 percent year-on-year.
MACROECONOMICS
Chile growth disappoints
Chile’s economy grew less than expected in the fourth quarter of last year, expanding at its second-slowest pace in six years. GDP grew 1.3 percent from a year earlier, compared with the 1.6 percent medium estimate of 19 economists surveyed by Bloomberg, the central bank said on Friday. From the previous quarter, GDP expanded 0.1 percent. Fourth-quarter growth brought expansion for the full year to 2.1 percent, the second consecutive year of lackluster expansion.
ACQUISITIONS
KKR & Co to buy Airbus arm
Buyout firm KKR & Co agreed to buy Airbus Group SE’s defense electronics business for 1.1 billion euros (US$1.24 billion) as the European planemaker reorganizes its military and space operations. Airbus said on Friday it might keep a minority stake in the unit during the transition. The deal, which requires regulatory approval, is expected to close in the first quarter of next year, Airbus said.
STEELMAKERS
US Steel Corp to cut jobs
US Steel Corp, the country’s second-biggest producer of the metal, said on Friday it would dismiss up to 770 workers and idle two plants that make tubes used in oil drilling as energy companies cut production. The Pittsburgh-based firm might cut as many as 450 union-represented jobs at its Lone Star Tubular Operations in eastern Texas and 200 at its Fairfield, Alabama, site. US Steel is idling Lone Star on Friday, and Fairfield in April. About 120 non-represented positions were cut at those and other locations.
AGRICULTURE
Monsanto eyes Bayer unit
Monsanto Co, the world’s largest seed producer, has approached Bayer AG to show interest in its crop science unit, including a potential acquisition valued at more than US$30 billion, Reuters reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Monsanto executives met in Chicago recently to discuss the company’s interest in Bayer’s agricultural assets, including the possibilities of a joint venture or another type of partnership, Reuters reported. Monsanto and Bayer declined to comment.
TELECOMS
Firms eye US airwaves
Verizon Communications Inc, AT&T Inc, Dish Network Inc and T-Mobile US Inc are among 104 companies that have applied to buy airwaves in a US Federal Communications Commission auction this year. In the sale set to begin on March 29, the commission is to first buy airwaves voluntarily surrendered by television stations and then resell the frequencies to mobile providers such as Verizon and AT&T, which face growing demand for data coverage on smartphones and other wireless devices. Estimates of the possible sale prices run into the billions of dollars.
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