CHINA
Industrial profits rebound
Profits at industrial firms grew last month, rebounding from four months of contraction, adding to optimism that the world’s second-largest economy might be starting to stabilize. Profits rose 13.9 percent year-on-year to 589.52 billion yuan (US$87.6 billion), the National Bureau of Statistics said yesterday, recovering from a 14 percent fall in the first two months of the year. That marked the biggest monthly increase since July last year. For the first quarter of the year, profits dropped 3.3 percent to 1.3 trillion yuan from a year earlier, this bureau said. However, profits at state-owned industrial firms declined 13.4 percent in the first quarter, it said.
AVIATION
American cuts forecast
American Airlines Group Inc on Friday slashed its profit forecast largely due issues related to Boeing Co’s 737 MAX aircraft. The US carrier estimated an overall hit of US$350 million to this year’s earnings as a result of the grounding ordered by global regulators, which has forced the cancelation of nearly 15,000 flights and the reaccommodation of almost 700,000 customers. American Airlines, which has 24 MAX airplanes in its fleet, said that net income for the first quarter was US$185 million, up 16.4 percent from a year earlier, while revenue rose 1.8 percent to US$10.6 billion.
ENERGY
Petrobras to sell refineries
Brazil’s state-run oil giant Petroleo Brasileiro SA on Friday said that its board approved a plan to sell eight refineries in Brazil, including its large, recently built Abreu e Lima unit, a company securities filing showed. Petrobras said that among the other refineries to be put up for sale are the Gabriel Passos, Getulio Vargas and Alberto Pasqualini units.
UNITED KINGDOM
Credit rating risks tumble
The nation’s credit rating remains at risk of a further downgrade, despite the extended deadline for its departure from the EU, S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings Inc said on Friday. The agreement between the EU and the UK to extend Brexit to Oct. 31 reduces, but does not eliminate the risk of a “no deal” Brexit in the next six months, Fitch said. S&P said that its negative outlook reflected the risk of sustained economic weakness and a hit to government finances. The ratings agencies have “AA” ratings on British government debt.
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