E-COMMERCE
More Amazon seasonal jobs
Amazon.com Inc plans to hire 200,000 seasonal workers in the US to fetch products in its warehouses, pack boxes and make deliveries, doubling the number of temporary workers it hired last year. Amazon attributed the hiring growth to the increasing breadth of its logistics operations, which include stowing, packing and sorting products, and shipping them to customers’ homes from facilities specifically designed for e-commerce. The Seattle-based company also said it promoted 19,000 employees in its logistics operations to supervisory roles this year.
CHINA
Push to allocate quota
The Ministry of Finance has ordered local governments to speed up the issuance of debt earmarked for infrastructure projects, so that the proceeds can be invested early next year to help shore up the slowing economy. All localities are required to allocate the recently issued “special bond” quota of 1 trillion yuan (US$142 billion) “as soon as possible” to specific projects, the ministry said in a statement late on Wednesday. There were no details on when the sales would begin, or what the total quota for next year would be. Analysts disagreed on whether the statement implied issuance could start next month.
SWITZERLAND
Q3 saw growth burst
Economic growth unexpectedly accelerated in the third quarter thanks to strong exports of pharmaceuticals and chemicals, helping the nation shrug off the effects of the downturn in Germany, its top trading partner. The 0.4 percent pace beat the 0.2 percent median forecast of economists. Exports increased 0.8 percent, while equipment investment and government spending also rose. The weak spot was exports of machinery and equipment, reflecting the global factory slump. The Swiss National Bank has kept interest rates at a record low minus-0.75 percent in order to prevent the Swiss franc appreciating. Policymakers say there is room to cut rates further if needed.
MEXICO
Q4 economic forecast cut
The Bank of Mexico has lowered its forecast for the fourth quarter, predicting a performance between minus-0.2 percent and 0.2 percent, due to slowing activity in the automobile sector. The darker outlook continues the economy’s stagnation since the final quarter of last year. The central bank also lowered its forecast for next year to an increase of 0.8 percent to 1.8 percent. It previously forecast a gain of 1.5 percent to 2.5 percent. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Wednesday said that the economy is doing well. “There isn’t the growth we wanted, but there is better income distribution, there’s well-being and the economic growth is going to increase little by little.”
ENERGY
EDF to build windfarm
French power group EDF SA yesterday announced it would build a new Scottish windfarm. State-controlled EDF, which has faced criticism in Britain over cost overruns at the Hinkley Point C nuclear project, said it would start construction of the 450 megawatt offshore Neart na Gaoithe windfarm in the North Sea, off the coast of Fife. The windfarm, in which Irish power firm ESB is to take a 50 percent stake, would be commissioned in 2023. EDF said the offshore windfarm would be its largest in Britain to date. Once operational, the windfarm would generate enough electricity to power more than 375,000 households each year, or 4 percent of Scotland’s electricity consumption, EDF said.
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