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.
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
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