HONG KONG
PMI falls on dispute, protests
Sentiment among the territory’s manufacturers last month worsened again as the US-China trade spat rumbled on and the economy buckled under the brunt of anti-government protests. The latest reading for the Markit Hong Kong purchasing managers’ index (PMI) slid to 40.8 from 43.8 in July, a second straight monthly drop, according to data released by IHS Markit. It is a fresh low for the indicator of manufacturing intentions in data going back to at least September 2016. Figures below 50 indicate contraction.
AUTOMAKERS
Japanese brands hurt by row
Japanese automakers posted sharper sales falls in South Korea last month, industry data showed yesterday, hit by a consumer boycott of Japanese vehicles amid a worsening diplomatic row between the countries. Toyota Motor Corp and other Japanese automakers saw South Korean sales tumble 57 percent to 1,398 vehicles from a year earlier, steeper than the 17 percent fall in July. Toyota’s South Korean sales fell 59 percent to 542 from a year earlier, while Honda Motor’s sales tumbled 81 percent to 138.
GERMANY
Chemicals output down
A weakening manufacturing sector in the country and around the world weighed heavily on its chemicals output in the second quarter of this year, the VCI industry federation said yesterday. Production was down 8.8 percent annually in the April-to-June period, it said, making for revenues 4.3 percent lower at 48 billion euros (US$53 billion). Looking ahead to the full year, the VCI predicted a fall of 6 percent in chemicals production, significantly worse than its first-quarter forecast of a 3.5 percent decline, while revenues would slump 5 percent to 193 billion euros.
UNITED STATES
Factory output declines
A trade dispute with China and slower global growth are weighing on the economy, reducing factory output last month for the first time in three years. A survey by the Institute for Supply Management, an association of purchasing managers, on Tuesday showed that factory production and new orders fell sharply last month and are shrinking. The institute’s manufacturing index slid to 49.1 last month from 51.2 in July. That is the lowest reading issued since January 2016. Any reading below 50 signals a contraction in the sector. Manufacturers also cut jobs, the survey found.
INTERNET
Facebook to hide ‘like’ count
Facebook Inc on Tuesday confirmed that it is dabbling with no longer making a public display of how many “likes” are racked up by posts. Such a change could ease pressure to win approval with images, videos or comments and, instead, get people to simply focus on what is in posts. “We are considering hiding like counts from Facebook,” a spokesman said on Tuesday.
RUSSIA
Moscow might open Arctic
Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment Dmitry Kobylkin yesterday said he supports allowing private oil and gas companies to work on the Arctic shelf. Speaking to reporters at an economic forum in the eastern city of Vladivostok, Kobylkin said he supported “any decision linked to an increase in investment in projects related to hydrocarbons.” Only state-controlled Gazprom PJSC and Rosneft PJSC are authorized to operate on the country’s Arctic shelf.
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