SINGAPORE
Home sales recover
Home sales rebounded last month as more buyers got used to virtual real-estate viewings with the city-state still under COVID-19 lockdown. The number of new units sold jumped 75 percent to 486 last month, compared with just 277 in April, Urban Redevelopment Authority data released yesterday showed. Still, sales for last month were about 50 percent lower than a year earlier. While Singapore has started to slowly ease the two-month lockdown, display units remain closed and viewings are not allowed. That means a proper recovery in sales could only be expected from next month, analysts said.
INDONESIA
Surplus soars as imports fall
The nation posted a far larger trade surplus than forecast of US$2.1 billion last month, as a 42 percent decline in imports outweighed a larger-than-expected drop in exports, Statistics Indonesia said yesterday. Imports fell for an 11th straight month, underscoring concerns about the health of an economy that relies heavily on consumer spending. Partial lockdowns to curb the virus have hurt demand and economic growth. The government now expects GDP to grow 2.3 percent this year, down from a previous forecast of 5.3 percent, and has said it even could contract by 0.4 percent in a worst-case scenario.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Israel, Moderna in talks
Israel is in advanced talks with Moderna Inc to buy its COVID-19 vaccine that is entering the final stage of testing, news Web site YNET reported on Sunday. YNET, quoting unnamed officials at the Ministry of Health, did not report further details. A ministry spokesman declined to comment on the report. Moderna on Thursday confirmed it planned to start a trial of 30,000 volunteers for its vaccine next month. Meanwhile, AstraZeneca PLC on Saturday said it signed a contract with European governments to supply the region with its potential vaccine against the coronavirus.
EQUITIES
Bank bullish on stocks
Stock market gains have further to run and investors are still underpricing the scale of the world’s COVID-19 recovery, investment bank Morgan Stanley said in an outlook note. “While the last four months have been exceptional, we think that this cycle has been, and will be, more ‘normal’ than appreciated,” said Andrew Sheets, the bank’s chief cross-asset strategist. “We think that stocks and credit will be modestly higher and tighter over the next 12 months,” he said. The bank forecasts the S&P 500 index at 3,350 points and benchmark US 10-year yields at 1.3 percent by the middle of next year. The S&P 500 closed at 3,041.31 points on Friday and US 10-year yields last sat at 0.6625 percent.
FURNITURE
IKEA plans to return aid
IKEA is in talks about returning aid granted by nine countries to subsidize furloughs triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic because its business is recovering faster than expected, the Financial Times reported. The global furniture retailer is negotiating with Belgium, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Ireland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Spain and the US, retail operations manager Tolga Oncu at Ingka Group, which controls IKEA, told the paper. At the start of the crisis, IKEA had expected sales to drop off between 70 and 80 percent as it faced store closures, he told the paper. Now, all but 23 of its stores have reopened and sales are being buoyed by pent-up demand, he 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
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