STOCK MARKETS
Fed spooks investors
Already-jittery US stock markets on Thursday temporarily shot lower following another remark from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. The Dow Jones Industrial Average briefly dropped more than 250 points from the day’s high after Powell said the Fed’s large securities holdings should be “substantially smaller” than the current level of just under US$4 trillion. However, in prepared remarks released later on Thursday, Fed Vice Chairman Richard Clarida reiterated the central bank’s reassurance that if needed it could stop or slow the drawdown of its securities holdings.
AVIATION
Merger gets green light
Boeing Co and Embraer SA are to push ahead with their proposed merger after Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Thursday confirmed that he would not oppose the move. A statement published by the presidency said Bolsonaro was satisfied that “the final proposal preserves [Brazil’s] sovereignty and national interests,” and hence he would not exercise his “veto” right to scupper the merger. Under the US$5.2 billion deal, Boeing is to take control of Embraer’s commercial airplane manufacturing business.
AUTOMAKERS
Ford to lay off thousands
Ford Motor Co is to cut thousands of jobs, weed out slow-selling models and potentially close factories in Europe, as the automaker’s global cost-cutting drive targets a region that has dragged on earnings for years. Ford, which employs about 54,000 workers across the region mainly in Germany, Britain and Spain, would also review its joint venture in Russia, part of a host of measures that head of Europe Steven Armstrong called a “step-change in the performance of the business.” He did not specify the number of possible job cuts and said that plant closures are an option to streamline operations.
ELECTRONICS
Xiaomi to invest 10bn yuan
Xiaomi Corp (小米) is to invest at least 10 billion yuan (US$1.5 billion) on artificial intelligence and smart devices over the next five years. The investment is part of the Beijing-based company’s strategy of wringing more revenue from high-value services and the Internet of Things, billionaire cofounder Lei Jun (雷軍) said in a statement. The company is also focusing on pushing upmarket while expanding into Europe, Lei told Bloomberg Television on Thursday.
BANKING
Credit Suisse to buy shares
Credit Suisse Group AG expects to buy back shares worth at least 1 billion Swiss francs (US$1.02 billion) by the end of this year as chief executive Tidjane Thiam rewards investors for sticking with him through a three-year revamp. The bank’s board has authorized purchases of as much as SF1.5 billion this year “subject to market and economic conditions,” Credit Suisse said in a statement yesterday. The program is to begin on Monday.
BANKING
JPMorgan to raise bonuses
JPMorgan Chase & Co plans to increase annual bonuses at its corporate and investment bank, as a growing number of Wall Street firms share proceeds from a busy year, a person briefed on the decision said. Average percentage increases are to be in the mid-single digit percentage, with equities traders and investment bankers probably getting more than that, the person said. The division accounts for about a third of the firm’s revenue.
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