E-COMMERCE
Mexico, Alibaba sign deal
The Mexican government on Wednesday said that it inked a deal with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴) to get Mexican products and services, especially from small and medium-sized firms, onto the top Chinese e-commerce firm’s platform. The deal comes as Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto wraps up a trip to China to discuss trade and investment, as part of a strategy to diversify and open new markets for his country’s products. During Pena Nieto’s trip, Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen (王受文) said China was interested in possibly establishing a free-trade agreement with Mexico.
TRADE
US, S Korea deal to endure
The White House has set aside for now consideration of terminating a trade agreement with South Korea, a senior administration official said on Wednesday. US President Donald Trump had been discussing with his senior advisers ending the trade deal out of concern that it was tilted against the US. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it was possible that the deal could yet be terminated, but that there were no immediate plans to do so.
INVESTMENT
Goldman stops Pactera work
Goldman Sachs Group Inc suspended work for an affiliate of Chinese conglomerate HNA Group Co (海航集團) that has been under increased scrutiny by the Chinese government, a person familiar with the situation said on Wednesday. The US investment bank last month had been enlisted to manage a stock offering of HNA outsourcing business Pactera Technology International Ltd (文思海輝). However, Goldman Sachs concluded the financial structure of the Pactera business was too opaque to allow it to proceed with the work, the person said.
BRAZIL
SELIC rate reduced to 8.25%
The central bank on Wednesday slashed its key interest rate by 1 percentage point to 8.25 percent, the eighth consecutive cut as the country slowly exits a painful recession. The 1 percentage point fall in the base SELIC rate had been predicted by markets and matched a previous cut in July. The decision was announced hours after the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics reported that inflation notched up only slightly last month, leaving the year-to-date inflation rate of 2.46 percent the lowest in 18 years.
UNITED STATES
Services growth accelerates
Services businesses last month grew at a faster pace as measures for new orders and hiring improved, although some of those gains could disappear temporarily in the wake of damage from Hurricane Harvey. The Institute for Supply Management on Wednesday said that its services index rose from 53.9 in July to 55.3 last month. Anything above 50 signals growth. The services sector has expanded for 92 straight months. The gains in hiring, new orders and production point to continued economic growth.
GERMANY
Industrial output flat: data
Industrial production failed to recover in July from a slide the previous month, official data showed yesterday, with a flat result disappointing analysts’ hopes for a return to growth. Overall, firms produced the same amount in July as the previous month, the Federal Statistical Office said in preliminary figures adjusted for price, seasonal and calendar effects. June saw a 1.1 percent fall in production, the agency confirmed.
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
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