GERMANY
Nation’s economy contracts
The nation’s first economic contraction since 2015 was led by a drop in exports and private consumption, a trend that needs to be reversed if Europe’s largest economy is to rebound before the end of the year. The 0.2 percent decline in the third quarter, matching the initial reading, has been blamed on a slump in the auto industry that the Bundesbank and government predict would be temporary. The data published yesterday showed that exports plunged 0.9 percent in the period, while private consumption fell 0.3 percent. There was strong growth in capital and construction investment.
SINGAPORE
Property market cools
The city-state’s property market cooling measures have moderated the pace of price rises and subdued transaction activity, the nation’s central bank said. That should contribute to stronger household balance sheets over the medium term. Aggressive land bids have declined after the July curbs, which should benefit the long-term stability of the property sector and encourage prudence among real-estate firms, the Monetary Authority of Singapore said in its annual financial stability review yesterday.
TRADE
Import barriers a concern
The world’s biggest economies slapped import restrictions on nearly half a trillion US dollars of trade over the past six months, the WTO said on Thursday, voicing “serious concern.” Forty new import barriers were erected by G20 states between mid-May and mid-October — six times more than during the preceding six months — impacting US$481 billion in trade, a WTO report showed. That was the highest figure recorded since the WTO started calculating the measure in 2012.
RETAILERS
US online sales increase
Nordstrom Inc and Walmart Inc saw the biggest online sales increases in the week leading up to Thanksgiving among US retailers studied by Edison Trends. Nordstrom’s Web revenue almost doubled over the period — Thursday last week to Wednesday — from a year earlier, while Walmart’s increased 67 percent. Target Corp, Macy’s Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Best Buy Inc also saw sales rise, according to Edison, an e-commerce research company that uses e-mail receipts from purchases to calculate trends.
INTERNET
Facebook to pay 100m euros
Social media giant Facebook Inc has agreed to pay more than 100 million euros (US$114 million) to end a fiscal fraud dispute, Italian tax authorities said on Thursday. The accord aims to “end the disagreement relating to tax inquiries undertaken by the financial police at the behest of the Milan prosecutor for the period 2010 to 2016,” Italy’s tax authority said in a statement. The authority added that Facebook Italy would be “making a payment of more than 100 million euros.”
CANADA
Nation lacks ‘tech clusters’
Technology talent is drawing more investment to cities such as Toronto and Montreal, but the nation could lose momentum if it does not do more to encourage industries to scale up, CBRE Ltd said. The nation lacks “tech clusters,” dense areas of activity that contain critical mass for companies, and educational and research institutions, the Toronto-based brokerage said in a report on Thursday. Toronto is the only city competitive enough to rank among powerhouses in North America, it said.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
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