BANKING
Italian merger approved
The European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank of Italy have given the go ahead for a merger of Banco Popolare and Banca Popolare di Milano, creating Italy’s third-largest bank by assets. The two banks, which announced their planned merger in March, will be known as “Banco BPM.” Shareholders of both banks are yet to vote on the deal, creating some uncertainty despite the favorable views of analysts. The new bank would have an 8.2 percent market share and create a lender with more than 25,000 staff and 4 million customers.
TECHNOLOGY
Dell planning layoffs
Dell Technologies plans to cut about 2,000 to 3,000 jobs after acquiring EMC Corp in the largest technology acquisition ever, according to people familiar with the company’s plans. The reductions are planned for later this year and will be mostly in the US and in areas such as supply chain and general and administrative positions, as well as some marketing jobs, the people said. They asked not to be named because the dismissals are not public yet. The new company has 140,000 employees.
CHINA
PPI fall smallest since 2012
Producer prices fell at their slowest rate for more than four years last month, the government said yesterday. The producer price index (PPI), which measures the cost of goods at the factory gate, fell 0.8 percent last month, the National Bureau of Statistics said. It was the smallest fall since April 2012, figures from Bloomberg News showed, and was significantly narrower than July’s 1.7 percent decline.
INDONESIA
Central bank mulls easing
The central bank might ease monetary policy further this month or next month if economic data supports a move, Governor Agus Martowardojo said yesterday. Bank Indonesia, which left its new benchmark interest rate unchanged at 5.25 percent last month, is still in easing mode, Martowardojo told reporters in Jakarta. The bank had lowered borrowing costs four times this year. It may adjust the key seven-day reverse repurchase rate, the reserve requirement ratio or macroprudential instruments, he said.
MACROECONOMICS
ECB raises growth forecast
The ECB on Thursday raised its growth forecast slightly for this year, but lowered its projections for next year and 2018, with ECB president Mario Draghi telling a news conference in Frankfurt that “uncertainties” caused by the Brexit vote would weigh on trade. The bank now expects GDP to grow by 1.7 percent this year, up from a previous projection of 1.6 percent, Draghi said. The eurozone economy should expand by 1.6 percent in each of the following two years, he added, down from the earlier 1.7 percent forecasts for next year and 2018.
STEEL
Indian firm reports loss
Steel Authority of India Ltd, the nation’s biggest producer, reported a fifth consecutive quarterly loss as a global glut of the metal continued to weigh on prices. The stock plunged the most in 11 weeks. The loss widened to 5.36 billion rupees (US$81 million) in the first quarter ended June from 2.48 billion rupees a year ago, the company said on Thursday. The company took a one-time charge of 542 million rupees due to voluntary retirement compensation. Sales fell 3 percent to 90.8 billion rupees.
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