CHINA
July factory output dips
Factory activity last month slowed, official data showed yesterday, missing forecasts as extreme weather and a trade war with the US weighed on manufacturing. The purchasing managers’ index, a key gauge of factory conditions, came in at 51.2 points for last month, down from 51.5 points the previous month, the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics said. The number was below the 51.3 reading tipped in a Bloomberg News survey of economists. Although the numbers indicate a slowdown, they held comfortably above the 50-point mark that separates expansion from contraction.
JAPAN
June factory output falls
Factory output in June dropped for the second consecutive month, official figures released yesterday showed. The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said output was down 2.1 percent in June from the previous month, far more than expectations for a 0.3 percent decline. Meanwhile, data from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare showed that the jobless rate edged up to 2.4 percent in June from a 26-year low of 2.2 percent the previous month. However, the jobs-to-applicants ratio is at its highest rate in 44 years, with 162 job offers going for every 100 job hunters, the ministry said.
AIRLINES
Cathay revamping business
Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd offered a voluntary early retirement package to employees in Japan as part of a three-year restructuring effort to revive earnings growth. Cathay is undergoing a “comprehensive review” of its regional organization, including Northeast Asia, which consists of Taiwan, Japan and South Korea, the airline’s Japan office said in e-mailed comments. Employees in Japan were briefed on the general outline of the new organization at a meeting on Monday last week, where the voluntary early retirement program was also announced, it said. The company has about 7,600 employees based in 100 locations outside Hong Kong, according to the report, which did not say how many employees would be affected.
ENTERTAINMENT
Vivendi to sell 50% of UMG
Vivendi SA on Monday said it plans to sell up to 50 percent of Universal Music Group (UMG) as net profit slid 6.3 percent in the first half of the year to 165 million euros (US$193.43 million). As revenue dipped 1.4 percent at the music label to 2.6 billion euros, Vivendi’s management team told the company’s board of directors that an initial public offering was too complicated, and instead recommended a “sale of up to 50 percent of UMG’s share capital to one or more strategic partners.” Vivendi said it expected the transaction would be completed by the end of next year.
AUTOMAKERS
Tesla in talks about EU plant
Electric automaker Tesla Inc has held talks with officials from Germany and the Netherlands about building its first major factory in Europe, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. Tesla held talks with two German states on hosting a “Gigafactory” — which would construct both cars and batteries — and has also discussed building the factory in the Netherlands, the newspaper said, citing officials. In June, Tesla revealed plans to build a factory in Shanghai, which would dramatically increase its notoriously constrained production capacity.
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