JAPAN
Economy grows 1.9 percent
The economy expanded at a 1.9 percent annual pace in January to March, helped by sustained consumer demand, according to revised data issued yesterday. The government earlier estimated the world’s third-largest economy grew at annualized rate of 1.7 percent. It said the improvement was mainly due to a better-than-expected level of corporate investment. The quarterly rate of growth was raised to 0.5 percent from 0.4 percent. The latest data showed private consumption, the biggest contributor to growth, rose 0.6 percent in the three-month period, compared with an earlier estimate of 0.5 percent. Economists expect the economy to slow in the current quarter.
EUROZONE
ECB to begin buying bonds
The European Central Bank (ECB) yesterday was to begin buying corporate bonds, hoping to convince companies to borrow and spend, in its latest effort to revive rock-bottom inflation in the bloc. Adding investment-grade euro credit to its 1.74 trillion euros (US$1.98 trillion) of asset purchases, the bank hopes to cut borrowing costs even more. That would give companies incentive to invest, fueling faster growth in the bloc, which is still struggling to overcome the last stages of its debt crisis. The bank will not set purchase targets and is likely to start slow, prepared for big fluctuations and ramping up over time.
AUTOMAKERS
Charges filed against Takata
A criminal complaint about a Takata Corp air bag causing injuries in a crash has been filed in Japan, the first such case in the nation related to an unfolding massive recall. Takata yesterday said it was fully cooperating with the investigation of the accident, in which a woman in the front passenger seat of a Nissan Motor Co Ltd X-Trail sport utility vehicle was injured. The vehicle crashed into a truck on a freeway in October last year and the air bag deployed improperly, although the one for the driver’s seat worked properly, according to Nissan, which also said it is cooperating with the investigation.
AUTOMAKERS
China sales rise 11 percent
China’s passenger vehicle sales rose for the ninth time in 10 months after a cut in the purchase tax, with General Motors Co and Toyota Motor Corp reporting increased deliveries among global automakers in the world’s biggest auto market. Retail sales of cars, sport utility and multipurpose vehicles climbed 11 percent to 1.76 million units last month, according to the China Passenger Car Association. That compares with the 6.4 percent increase in sales in April. Deliveries rose to 9.12 million units in the first five months of this year.
BANKING
Court orders Kerviel redress
A French tribunal on Tuesday ordered Societe Generale SA to pay 450,000 euros in damages for firing rogue trader Jerome Kerviel — whose actions almost bankrupted one of Europe’s biggest banks. In its judgement, Kerviel’s first legal success in the case, the labor tribunal said the trader had been fired “without genuine or serious cause” and that the bank had full knowledge of his shady dealings long before he was fired in 2008. A lawyer for Societe Generale, Arnaud Chaulet, said he would appeal against the “scandalous” decision, recalling that Kerviel had been found guilty of gambling away 4.9 billion euros of the bank’s money.
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