EUROZONE
Lagarde criticizes members
Bloc members running budgetary surpluses, such as Germany, have failed to make enough effort to increase spending, incoming European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said yesterday. Although member countries had coordinated well their fiscal policies to save the bloc during their sovereign debt crisis, since then “the countries which have budgetary space have not really made the necessary efforts, countries like the Netherlands and Germany, a few others in the world” to help the slowing global economy, she told France’s RTL radio.
BANKING
Lender beats forecast
Standard Chartered PLC beat expectations to record a 16 percent jump in pre-tax profit in the third quarter of this year and yesterday said that revenue rose in Hong Kong, despite months of protests in its major market. The lender said it earned US$1.24 billion before tax in the July-to-September period, against forecasts for a drop, although chief executive Bill Winters warned of “a challenging external environment.” Net profit came in at US$772 million, slightly up from US$752 million in the same quarter last year, while revenue jumped 7 percent in the period. The bank posted an 8.6 percent return on tangible equity, a key profit target, but said it hoped to increase that to 10 percent by 2021.
FOOD
Nestle mulls China units sale
Nestle SA is weighing options including a sale of two ailing Chinese units after years of attempting to turn them around, people familiar with the matter said. The food giant has been reviewing its ownership of Hsu Fu Chi International Ltd (徐福記國際集團), a local confectionery brand, and Yinlu Foods Group (銀鷺食品集團), known for its ready-made porridge, the people said. It is seeking more than US$1 billion for its controlling stakes in the two companies, they said. The two labels could fetch about 1.5 billion francs (US$1.5 billion), MainFirst analyst Alain Oberhuber said in a note, adding that there is a “high probability” they would be divested next year.
SEMICONDUCTORS
AMD forecast meets estimates
Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) on Tuesday gave a quarterly sales forecast that was in line with analysts’ estimates, suggesting the No. 2 maker of computer processors is gaining ground on Intel Corp. Revenue this period would be about US$2.1 billion, plus or minus US$50 million, Santa Clara, California-based AMD said in a statement. Third-quarter net income rose to US$120 million, or US$0.11 a share, compared with US$102 million, or US$0.09, a year earlier. Revenue in the period was US$1.8 billion, up 9 percent from the same period a year earlier, while gross margin widened to 43 percent in the third quarter.
AUTOMAKERS
Tesla US revenue down 39%
Tesla Inc’s third-quarter revenue tumbled 39 percent in the US, its first drop in more than two years, but sales in China and other regions surged, the electric-vehicle maker’s breakdown of sales by geography showed on Tuesday. US sales, which account for the biggest share of the company’s total revenue, fell to US$3.13 billion from US$5.13 billion a year earlier. Sales in China rose 64 percent to US$669 million and its other segment, which covers the rest of the world, rose by more than US$1 billion to US$1.83 billion, a regulatory filing showed.
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