JAPAN
Factory output declines
The nation’s factory output stagnated in July from the previous month, data released yesterday showed in a further blow to the world’s third-largest economy. Industrial production showed no growth in July, according to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, after an expansion of 2.3 percent in June. Shipments increased 0.9 percent, the ministry said, a slower pace than the 1.7 percent expansion recorded the previous month.
UNITED STATES
Home prices lose steam
The pace of gains in home prices slowed in June, but solid demand and tight supplies should keep a floor on the market, analysts said on Tuesday. Prices for the top 20 cities edged 0.1 percent lower in June, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices. The year-on-year rise was 5.1 percent, down from 5.3 percent in May. Price gains remained strongest in the northwest cities of Portland and Seattle. Denver, Colorado, was strong as well. Gains have been weakest in the east coast hubs of Washington and New York.
TECHNOLOGY
Dell, EMC complete merger
Dell Inc and EMC Corp are to complete the biggest technology merger in history next week, a deal that would bring together two leading providers of data-center and corporate computing equipment as they chase faster growth. The companies have received regulatory approval from China’s Ministry of Commerce, the last major hurdle in finalizing the deal, Dell and EMC said on Tuesday in a statement. The transaction, announced in October last year, is to close on Wednesday next week and the combined company is to begin operating under the name Dell Technologies.
STEEL
Tata evaluation key to deal
Thyssenkrupp AG and Tata Steel Ltd’s attempts to combine their European steel operations are centered on how to value Tata’s troubled UK assets, people familiar with the matter said. While Thyssenkrupp is open to integrating Tata’s British unit in the joint venture, the Essen, Germany-based company wants Tata to find a way to fund its UK pension-scheme obligations as a precondition, the people said. Tata wants to include the UK division in the Thyssenkrupp project, which would give it a bigger stake in the overall venture, one of the people said.
AUTOMAKERS
Mitsubishi scandal widens
The mileage scandal at Mitsubishi Motors Corp is widening after the Japanese government ordered sales halted on eight more models after finding mileage was falsely inflated. Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism on Tuesday said it carried out tests and found other models, including the Pajero SUV, had inflated mileage by as much as 8.8 percent, and on average 4.2 percent. The ministry said the cruise range on the i-MiEV electric car had also been overstated. No overseas models are affected.
AGRICULTURE
Potash, Agrium in talks
Potash Corp of Saskatchewan Inc, the world’s second-largest producer of its namesake fertilizer, and Agrium Inc are in talks about a merger of equals. Discussions are preliminary and there is no assurance that any transaction will be agreed on, the Canadian companies said in separate statements on Tuesday. A deal could be announced as soon as next week, said people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private.
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