AUSTRALIA
Central bank maintains rates
The central bank yesterday held interest rates at a record low, despite “uncertainty” over consumer spending ahead of the festive season. The cash rate would remain unchanged at 0.75 percent as downside risks in the global economy “lessened recently,” Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Philip Lowe said. The resource-rich economy recorded its weakest annual growth in a decade for the year to June, expanding just 1.4 percent, but Lowe said that it has reached a “gentle turning point.” He said he expected growth to pick up to three percent by 2021.
TECHNOLOGY
T-Mobile begins 5G services
T-Mobile US Inc on Monday said that it became the first company to launch 5G wireless services across the US, although it would be slower than some expect for the new generation of connectivity. The number three US carrier said that its 5G network covers 200 million people and “goes through walls,” outperforming the limited 5G deployment of larger rivals Verizon Communications Inc and AT&T Inc earlier this year. The T-Mobile system operates on a low band that offers speeds faster than current 4G networks, but below the maximum promised for 5G. However, the company called it “real, standards-based 5G.”
INTERNET
Facbook testing transfer tool
Facebook Inc on Monday began testing a tool that lets users move their images more easily to other online services, as it faces pressure from regulators to loosen its grip on data. The social network’s new tool allows people to transfer their photographs and videos directly to competing platforms, starting with Google Photos. The company said that it would first be available to people in Ireland and would be refined based on user feedback. The tool would then be rolled out worldwide in the first half of next year.
BANKING
UniCredit to cut 8,000 jobs
Italian bank UniCredit SpA plans to reduce 8,000 jobs under a three-year plan that aims to increase shareholder value. UniCredit aims to close 500 branches, putting the customer focus on “streamlined processes and innovative products,” it said. The bank, Italy’s largest by assets, yesterday said that net profit would grow to 5 billion euros (US$5.5 billion) by 2023, from a forecast 4.7 billion euros this year, with earnings per share rising 12 percent per year. The bank also plans to return 8 billion euros in value to shareholders through share buybacks, which would reduce its market exposure and increase the value of shares traded, and dividends, which would increase by 40 percent in the period.
UNITED STATES
Manufacturing activity drops
Pain in the US’ manufacturing sector worsened last month as activity contracted for the fourth straight month, an industry survey released on Monday showed. Amid a slowing global economy and trade disputes, weak demand again ate into production of metals, wood products, plastics, appliances, oil, furniture and textiles, the Institute for Supply Management’s (ISM) monthly report said. Inventories and prices fell for the sixth month in a row, while backlogs were the lowest in nearly four years. ISM’s index edged down two-tenths of a point to 48.1 percent, marking a faster rate of contraction than in October. Any reading below 50 indicates contraction.
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