SOUTH KOREA
BOK cuts growth to 2.5%
The Bank of Korea (BOK) has trimmed its forecast for the nation’s growth this year, partly due to the fallout from a massive influence-peddling scandal. The central bank said it expects the economy to expand 2.5 percent this year, slower than its October prediction of 2.8 percent growth, and grow 2.8 percent next year. Bank of Korea Governor Lee Ju-yeol told reporters that economic policy should focus on encouraging consumer spending. Lee said the grim job market was hurting consumer sentiment. Despite slowing growth, inflation is expected to rise to 1.8 percent this year from 1 percent last year, partly due to higher oil prices.
EQUITIES
Soros loses on Trump rally
George Soros lost nearly US$1 billion as a result of the stock-market rally spurred by Donald Trump’s surprise presidential election win, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. Soros became more bearish immediately after Trump’s election, but the stock market has rallied on expectations that Trump’s policies will boost corporate earnings and the overall economy. As a result, some of Soros’ trading positions incurred losses approaching US$1 billion, the newspaper said. Soros exited many of his bearish bets late last year, avoiding further losses. The broader portfolio held by Soros’ firm performed better, gaining about 5 percent on the year, the report said.
INTERNET
Pandora to cut jobs by 7%
US Internet radio network Pandora on Thursday announced plans to trim its workforce by 7 percent as part of a push for profit this year in the competitive online music streaming market. “While making workforce reductions is always a difficult decision, the commitment to cost discipline will allow us to invest more heavily in product development and monetization and build on the foundations of our strategic investments,” Pandora CEO Tim Westergren said in a release. The firm, which saw its ranks of paid subscribers top 4.3 million in the recently ended quarter, has between 1,000 and 5,000 workers, with about 2,500 positions in the US. The job cuts are to be focused in the US, excluding Pandora-owned Ticketfly, which means the number of employees let go could be 177 or so.
AUTOMOBILES
China auto sales rise 13.7%
Auto sales in China, the world’s biggest car market, surged at their fastest in three years last year, an industry group said on Thursday, jumping nearly 14 percent after authorities slashed a purchase tax. A total of 28.03 million cars were sold last year, up 13.7 percent annually, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) said. “Both production and sales achieved historic new highs,” the group said in a statement. It added that China sales “ranked first globally for the eighth straight year.” Sales had risen 4.7 percent in 2015 and 6.9 percent the previous year.
AIRLINES
SpiceJet buys 205 planes
Indian airline SpiceJet yesterday said it had agreed to buy up to 205 Boeing planes worth US$22 billion in what it said was one of the largest deals ever in Indian aviation. SpiceJet chairman Ajay Singh said the low-cost airline, which has a 13 percent share of the Indian market, was expanding both its domestic and international operations. The deal marks a major turnaround for SpiceJet, whose planes were briefly grounded in 2014 after suppliers refused to refuel them due to unpaid bills. SpiceJet is the only Indian low-cost carrier with a Boeing fleet.
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