CHINA
Uber-Didi tie-up probed
The Ministry of Commerce said anti-monopoly regulators are reviewing the proposed merger of ride-hailing service Uber Technology Ltd’s Chinese operations with its biggest local competitor. Ministry spokesman Shen Danyang (沈丹陽) yesterday said investigators would look at whether the proposed tie-up with Didi Chuxing (滴滴出行) protects “fair competition” and consumer rights. Uber, headquartered in San Francisco, and Didi on Aug. 1 announced they would combine their China operations, ending a bruising battle in which both sides had spent heavily to attract riders.
MACROECONOMICS
IMF revises global forecast
IMF managing director Christine Lagarde said the institution would likely downgrade its global growth forecast for this year again as economic prospects are dimmed by weak demand, flagging trade and investment and growing inequality. Lagarde said that G20 leaders need to do far more to spur demand, bolster the case for trade and globalization and fight inequality. In addition, while some major threats to the global economy have yet to materialize, such as a recession sparked by Britain’s vote to leave the EU or a collapse in Chinese growth, she described the overall outlook as “slightly declining growth, fragile, weak and certainly not fueled by trade.”
MANUFACTURING
UK output rises sharply
British manufacturing staged one of its sharpest rebounds on record last month as factories recovered from the initial shock of June’s vote to leave the EU, helped by a boost to exports from the pounds post-Brexit slump. The markit/CIPS purchasing managers’ index — a closely watched gauge of factory activity — jumped to a 10-month high of 53.3 after tumbling to a three-year low in July after the referendum, which was revised up to 48.3 from 48.2. The five-point monthly surge was the joint-largest in the manufacturing survey’s near 25-year history.
MACROECONOMICS
US production disappoints
US productivity fell in the April-to-June quarter by a larger amount than first estimated, while labor costs accelerated sharply. Productivity declined at an annual rate of 0.6 percent, even worse than the 0.5 percent drop initially reported, the US Department of Labor reported on Thursday. It marked the third consecutive quarter that productivity has fallen. Labor costs rose at an annual rate of 4.3 percent, the biggest rise since a 5.7 percent increase in the fourth quarter of last year. Labor costs had fallen at a 0.3 percent rate in the first quarter.
AUTOMAKERS
Car, truck sales fall in US
US sales of new cars and trucks fell last month, ending the US summer on a low note for the auto industry and making it less likely that this year’s auto sales will match the record set last year. General Motors Co’s sales dropped 5 percent year-on-year while Ford Motor Co’s sales were down 8 percent annually. Toyota Motor Corp’s sales were down 5 percent, Honda Motor Co’s fell 4 percent and Nissan Motor Co’s dropped 6.5 percent. Volkswagen AG’s sales dropped 9 percent, Hyundai Motor Co’s sales were flat, while Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV bucked the trend with a 3 percent increase in sales. Overall industry sales dropped 4 percent to 1.5 million vehicles, according to Autodata Corp.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day