FRANCE
Activity posts surprise drop
Economic woes resurfaced at the end of the first quarter as business activity unexpectedly resumed a decline. IHS Markit’s measure of manufacturing and services dropped to 48.7 this month, falling once again below the 50 level that separates expansion from contraction. The figure was less than last month’s reading of 50.4 and defied economists’ predictions for a small improvement.
ARGENTINA
Q4 worst since 2009
The economy sharply contracted in the fourth quarter with GDP falling 6.2 percent from a year earlier, the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses said on Thursday. It was the worst quarterly performance since 2009 after the global financial crisis. Analysts had forecast a 6.4 percent contraction. South America’s second-largest economy shrank 2.5 percent last year, the worst since 2014.
JAPAN
Most think dispute will last
Three in four companies expect US-China trade frictions to last until at least late this year, a sharp contrast to market hopes that the two sides might soon strike a deal, the monthly Reuters Corporate Survey found. Nine in 10 think China’s economic slowdown is to persist at least through late this year, with more than half anticipating that China would slow further next year or beyond, the survey showed.
INSURANCE
FWD talks Siam acquisition
Billionaire Richard Li’s (李澤楷) FWD Group (富衛) has revived talks about a potential acquisition of the life insurance operations of Thailand’s Siam Commercial Bank PCL after a two-year hiatus. Siam Commercial reached a preliminary pact with FWD on a potential life-insurance partnership, the lender said yesterday. A deal would see FWD acquire Siam Commercial’s life insurance unit and sign a long-term distribution agreement with the lender, the filing said.
BANKING
Deutsche hedges forecast
Deutsche Bank AG yesterday pledged to reverse years of declining revenue, while cautioning that the market environment so far is weaker than it had anticipated. Revenue for this year should be “slightly” higher than last year, assuming “solid” economic growth, the Frankfurt, Germany-based lender wrote in its annual report. The bank maintained a profitability target for this year, but said that the goal remains dependent on how markets develop.
SPORTSWEAR
Nike back to Q3 profit
Nike Inc on Thursday said that it returned to third-quarter profitability, while touting new investments in e-commerce and women’s athletics. The sports giant scored profits of US$1.1 billion in the quarter ending on Feb. 28, compared with a US$921 million loss in the same period a year ago due to a one-time tax cut. Revenues rose 7 percent to US$9.6 billion. Sales growth was led by China with 19 percent and sales in North America rose 7 percent.
TECHNOLOGY
Tencent loses on gaming
Tencent Holdings Ltd (騰訊) on Thursday said that net profit plunged 32 percent in the fourth quarter in its sharpest quarterly decline as the company weathered tightened regulations on gaming. Net profit came in at 14.23 billion yuan (US$2.12 billion), it said. Revenues rose 28 percent at 84.9 billion yuan last quarter, and 32 percent last year to 312.7 billion yuan driven in part by advertising.
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