AGGREGATORS
Qutoutiao surges on IPO
Qutoutiao Inc (趣頭條), a Chinese news and video aggregation app backed by Tencent Holdings Ltd (騰訊), more than doubled in its US trading debut after pricing its shares below range in a downsized initial public offering (IPO). Qutoutiao closed up 128 percent at US$15.97 after almost tripling earlier on Friday, giving it the biggest first-day increase of a significant US-listed IPO this year. About 17 million shares changed hands on Friday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The Shanghai-based company sold 12 million American depositary shares for US$7 apiece to raise US$84 million.
RUSSIA
Interest rates hiked
The central bank has hiked its key interest rate for the first time in nearly four years, moving to shore up the ruble amid increasing risks of US sanctions. It raised the rate to 7.5 percent from 7.25 percent on Friday, saying the move was necessary to contain inflation risks stemming from a weak ruble.
UNITED STATES
Yellen offers plan
Former Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen said that the central bank should consider deliberately courting an economic boom to make up for a bust by promising to keep interest rates “lower-for-longer” after they are cut to zero. In a presentation on Friday at the Brookings Institution in Washington, Yellen said such an approach would commit the Federal Open Market Committee to compensate for its inability to reduce rates below zero by holding them at lower levels longer than would be otherwise justified after the economy recovers. “This strategy enables the Fed to provide substantial additional accommodation during zero lower bound episodes,” she said. It “promises, in effect, to allow the economy to boom” once the recession ends.
TURKEY
Erdogan criticizes bank
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has reproached the central bank for raising interest rates, saying the nation would “see the results” of the bank’s independence. The bank on Thursday raised its key rate from 17.75 percent to 24 percent to stem a currency crisis. The move suggests it is re-asserting its independence. Addressing his ruling party’s officials on Friday, Erdogan said: “Here you go, have your independence. We will see the results of the independence.”
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