BANKING
ECB worried about debt
Some European Central Bank (ECB) policymakers see room for little more than 200 billion euros (US$235 billion) of purchases under the institution’s bond-buying program next year, according to bank officials familiar with the matter. The ECB is likely to run out of available debt under current rules at just over 2.5 trillion euros, the officials said, asking not to be named as the matter is private. With purchases set to reach 2.28 trillion euros by the end of this year, talks are focused on how to spread the additional capacity, they said. Such a limit is at the lower end of volumes under discussion, setting the ECB Governing Council up for a potentially difficult policy meeting on Thursday next week as some members fret about ending quantitative easing while inflation remains weak. The ECB currently buys 60 billion euros a month of debt.
RARE METALS
Palladium hits 16-year high
Palladium yesterday climbed above US$1,000 an ounce for the first time since 2001 as global demand grows for the metal in pollution-control devices used by gasoline-powered vehicles. Prices jumped as much as 1.6 percent to US$1,007.42, before trading at US$1,005.55 by 8:14am in London. The metal is one of this year’s best performing commodities, advancing 48 percent, more than three times the increase in gold and about 10 times the gain in its sister metal platinum. Palladium became more expensive than platinum last month for the first time in 16 years. Citigroup sees global surpluses in platinum stretching out to 2020, while the shortfall in palladium is set to widen to more than a million ounces next year before narrowing to 750,000 ounces by 2020, the bank said.
ENERGY
OPEC sees ‘healthy’ demand
Oil demand will grow at a “healthy pace” over the next five years as renewables show the fastest expansion of any type of energy, OPEC secretary-general Mohammad Barkindo said. Crude demand is expected to climb an average 1.2 million barrels a day through 2022 and slow to 300,000 barrels a day in 2035 to 2040, Barkindo said on Sunday in Kuwait, giving a preview of OPEC’s World Oil Outlook set to be released on Nov. 7. The share of fossil fuels in the global energy mix will slip below 80 percent by 2020 and fall to 75.4 percent by 2040, he said. Wind, solar, geothermal and photovoltaic sources are expected to be the fastest-growing energy, increasing by an average of 6.8 percent a year from 2015 to 2040, though still accounting for less than 5.5 percent of the world’s total energy mix by 2040, he said.
TAXES
Trump presses cut claims
US President Donald Trump’s administration yesterday said that by slashing corporate taxes from 35 percent to 20 percent, the average US household will get an estimated US$4,000 more a year. This stunning 5 percent increase is likely to be met with skepticism from tax experts and Democratic lawmakers. The White House analysis claims the tax cut would generate “conservatively” an income jump totaling US$504 billion, or about US$200 billion more than the revenues currently generated by the corporate income tax. Trump has pitched his tax plan as supporting the middle class even though the details point to major companies and the wealthy as the biggest winners. Opinion surveys suggest that voters generally frown upon the idea of cutting taxes for businesses — essentially rewarding these firms for avoiding taxes by exploiting loopholes and keeping profits overseas.
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
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
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