MEXICO
Peso hits 14-month low
The peso on Friday fell to its lowest level in 14 months against the US dollar, hit by fears over rocky negotiations for an updated trade deal between Mexico, the US and Canada. The peso closed down 1.3 percent, at 19.94 to the US dollar, according to the central bank — its lowest level since March 2 last year. The strong US economy has led to a global US dollar rally, punishing many emerging-market currencies in recent weeks, notably the Argentine peso and Turkish lira.
DENMARK
Tax agency files US suits
The nation’s tax agency has started pursuing legal claims in the US over a tax-refund scam that it says wrongly forced it to pay out more than 12.7 billion kroner (US$1.57 billion) to agents representing 277 pension plans in the US, and others in the UK, Canada, Malaysia and Luxembourg. The agency has filed more than three dozen lawsuits against pension funds in US federal courts this month — including four on Friday — seeking to recover the payments, claiming more than 300 entities had pretended to own shares in Danish companies and submitted claims for refunds of dividend taxes. Danish companies are required to withhold a 27 percent tax on dividends, a levy that is refundable to non-Danish shareholders, the agency’s filings showed.
INTERNET
Facebook adds office tower
Facebook Inc is constantly expanding in its Silicon Valley hometown of Menlo Park, California. Now, it is making a bigger push into San Francisco. The social media giant on Friday reached a deal to take all of the office space at the newly constructed Park Tower at Transbay, three people with knowledge of the matter said. They asked for anonymity because the transaction is private. It is the second big step into the city for the company following an agreement last year at 181 Fremont, another new tower. A Facebook representative could not immediately be reached for comment.
BANKING
Goldman to change CEO
Lloyd Blankfein is likely to step down as Goldman Sachs Group Inc’s chief executive officer in December, the New York Times reported, quoting people familiar with the firm’s plans. David M. Solomon, who was named president in March, is to take the top spot, the newspaper said. While Blankfein is likely to depart at about the time of the bank’s annual dinner for alumni, the timing could still change, it said. Goldman Sachs in March set the stage for its next era by naming Solomon, 56, as sole president under Blankfein, picking him over Harvey Schwartz as heir apparent for the CEO spot.
ARGENTINA
IMF to give loan support
The board of the IMF on Friday concluded an informal meeting on a loan program for the nation, but offered scant new details on the nature of pending support for the troubled economy. A crisis of confidence in the Argentine peso has seen it plunge nearly 20 percent over the past six weeks and forced the nation to seek a financial lifeline from the IMF. In a statement, IMF managing director Christine Lagarde said that Buenos Aires would have political ownership of the program, which she said needed support from the public.
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