SWITZERLAND
Economy rose 0.7% in Q2
The economy is showing little sign of taking a hit from the mounting global trade dispute, with growth so far this year coming in far ahead of expectations. It expanded 0.7 percent in the three months through June, beating the 0.5 percent median forecast of economists in a survey. The latest figures mark a fifth straight quarter of “above-average” growth, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs said yesterday. After weakness earlier this year, exports bounced back with an increase of 2.6 percent last quarter.
SWEDEN
Central bank maintains rates
The central bank gave itself more scope to delay planned increases in interest rates as policymakers showed they were unwilling to take any chances during a volatile week that risks ending in political turmoil. Three days before a national election, with polls pointing to a potentially chaotic outcome, the Riksbank kept its main rate at minus-0.5 percent, as expected, and said it would not raise rates next month, it said in a statement yesterday. However, the bank expects to add 25 basis points to its main rate in either December or February, it said.
GERMANY
Industrial orders disappoint
Industrial orders unexpectedly dipped again in July after a sharp drop in June, official data showed yesterday, as global trade frictions cast a growing shadow over Europe’s top economy. New contracts at industrial firms slipped 0.9 percent, federal statistics authority Destatis said in figures adjusted for seasonal swings, following a 3.9 percent plunge in June. The Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy said in a statement that order intake had “slowed significantly” since the start of the year after robust growth last year.
BANKING
Italian banks’ ratings cut
UniCredit SpA and Intesa Sanpaolo SpA were among five Italian banks that had their ratings outlook lowered by Fitch Ratings following its decision on Friday last week to revise Italy’s outlook to negative. UniCredit, Intesa, Mediobanca SpA, Credito Emiliano and Banca Nazionale del Lavoro SpA’s outlook ratings were cut to negative from stable, Fitch said on Wednesday. The agency cited an increased risk of a reversal of structural reforms negatively impacting the nation’s credit fundamentals for the ratings downgrade.
FINANCE
AmEx pricing under probe
US officials are investigating whether American Express Co (AmEx) misrepresented its foreign exchange pricing to business clients, a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. The probe by the FBI is at an early stage, the source said, confirming a report in the Wall Street Journal. AmEx recruited corporate clients with offers of low foreign exchange rates, but then raised the rates without warning, boosting company revenues and commissions, the Journal said.
TECHNOLOGY
Grab expects sales to double
Singapore’s Grab yesterday predicted that sales would double next year to US$2 billion as it integrates the acquisition of Uber Technologies Inc’s regional business and delves deeper into new areas from bike-sharing to digital payments. Grab cofounder Hooi Ling Tan (陳慧玲) told a Bloomberg technology summit in Singapore that the firm would make a big push in Indonesia, where revenue has tripled so far this year and it has a 65 percent share of the ride-hailing market.
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