GERMANY
Industrial orders strong
The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy said factory orders rose strongly in August, largely from domestic demand and an increase from other countries using the euro currency. August industrial orders increased 1 percent over July according to figures adjusted for seasonal and calendar differences, the ministry said yesterday. A 2.6 percent increase in domestic demand and a 4.1 percent rise from the eurozone helped offset a 2.8 percent decline in orders from non-euro countries. ING economist Carsten Brzeski said the numbers should bring some relief for industry, where new orders have been stagnating since last winter.
CANADA
Homes sales set to decline
The Department of Finance projects home sales could fall as much as 8 percent in the first year after new housing regulations are implemented, before rebounding, based on an analysis using historical data. Minister of Finance Bill Morneau announced the new rules on Monday. They include a stress test for home buyers and increasing the eligibility requirements for mortgages to get insured, and they come into effect as early as Oct. 17. Department of Finance spokesman Jack Aubry said that it is difficult to predict the exact impact, but the overall long-term impact of the measures are likely to be positive.
COMPUTING
Misys to cash out investment
Misys, the UK financial-software maker owned by Vista Equity Partners, plans to sell about £500 million (US$636 million) of stock in an initial public offering as the buyout firm prepares to cash out part of its 2012 investment in the company. The shares are to begin trading on the London Stock Exchange early next month, the company said in a statement yesterday. Proceeds from the sale, along with money from new borrowings, are to be used to repay existing debt, Misys said. Vista acquired Misys in 2012 for £1.3 billion in a deal that took the company private.
AVIATION
EasyJet predict declines
British airline easyJet said its profit would fall by over 25 percent this year as security issues dampened demand and low fuel prices meant there was more competition in the European short-haul market. The airline’s higher exposure to security-hit destinations in Egypt, Turkey and the French cities of Paris and Nice has meant it has fared worse this year than its bigger low-cost rival Ryanair. For the year ended Sept. 30, easyJet said that its profit would fall for the first time since 2009, coming in at between £490 million and £495 million (US$624 million to $630 million), compared with the £686 million it made last year.
AGRICULTURE
Monsanto corn seed sales up
Monsanto Co, which is in the process of being bought by Bayer AG, reported better-than-expected results for its most recent quarter as sales of its corn and soybean seeds rose. Monsanto on Wednesday said that sales of soybean seeds jumped 54 percent in its fiscal fourth quarter from the same period a year ago and corn seeds rose 34 percent. The company reported a loss of US$191 million, or US$0.44 per share, in the quarter, compared with a loss of US$495 million, or US$1.06 per share, in the same quarter a year ago. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, were US$0.07 per share, exceeding Wall Street expectations.
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
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