UNITED KINGDOM
Central bank raises forecast
The Bank of England on Thursday revised up its growth forecasts for the economy for the next three years, but cautioned about the inflation outlook in the wake of the pound’s sharp decline since the nation voted to leave the EU. The bank increased its growth forecast for this year to 2 percent, 1.6 percent next year and 1.7 percent in 2019. It also kept its main interest rate at the record low of 0.25 percent, as expected. In the fourth quarter of last year, it expanded at a quarterly rate of 0.6 percent.
EUROZONE
COI shows strong start
A closely watched survey shows that the economy of the 19 countries that use the euro got off to a strong start this year. Financial information company IHS Markit says its gauge of business activity across both the manufacturing and services sectors — the composite output index (COI) — held steady at a five-and-a-half-year high of 54.4 last month, way above the 50 threshold. A job creation gauge spiked to a nine-year high.
REAL ESTATE
Vancouver sales fall 40%
This time last year, Vancouver was one of world’s hottest housing markets as buyers turned up throughout the winter for bidding wars and sales reached an all-time high. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver yesterday reported transactions in Metro Vancouver plunged 40 percent last month over a year earlier as both buyers and sellers hover on the sidelines. It was the seventh straight month of declines, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The ratio of sales to listings — used by the industry as a harbinger of prices — is also at a two-year low.
ARGENTINA
FDI seen doubling this year
Foreign direct investment (FDI) in the nation is expected to double this year from last year’s US$4 billion largely due to upcoming auctions for renewable and non-renewable energy projects, Treasury Minister Nicolas Dujovne said on Thursday. “It’s hard to put a number to it, but it will be much higher than in 2016,” he said during a meeting with foreign correspondents. However, “just with the execution of the payments for the bids on renewable and non-renewable, the FDI will at least double in 2017 from 2016.”
ELECTRONICS
Sharp cuts losses
Sharp Corp yesterday narrowed its full-year loss outlook after posting its first quarterly profit in more than two years, lifted by cost reductions and a turnaround in the display business. The net loss is expected to reach ¥37.2 billion (US$329 million) in the year ending on March 31, the Osaka-based firm said. That is narrower than its previous forecast for a ¥41.8 billion shortfall. “Except for the solar business, all of our operations are profitable,” executive vice president Katsuaki Nomura said. Net income was ¥4.2 billion in the three months that ended on Dec. 31 last year and operating income was ¥18.8 billion in the quarter, Sharp said.
AUTOMAKERS
Honda’s profit soars 36%
Honda Motor Co yesterday said profit jumped 36 percent in the October-to-December quarter on an annual basis, shrugging off damage from a strong yen. The Tokyo-based firm said reduced cuts lifted fiscal third-quarter profit to ¥168.8 billion, up from ¥124.1 billion the previous year. Quarterly sales edged down 3 percent to ¥3.5 trillion from ¥3.6 trillion. Honda raised its full fiscal-year profit forecast to ¥545 billion, up 58 percent from ¥344.5 billion in 2015.
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