NEW ZEALAND
Jobless rate falls to 4%
The unemployment rate fell more than forecast in the second quarter as the economy’s recovery boosted hiring and began to stoke wage inflation. The jobless rate fell to 4 percent from a revised 4.6 percent in the first quarter, Statistics New Zealand said yesterday. Employment rose 1 percent from the previous three months. Private sector, ordinary time wages increased the most in 13 years. The labor market report is the latest sign that the economy is growing faster than its capacity, and that the Reserve Bank could start to raise the official cash rate to keep a lid on price pressures. Annual inflation surged to 3.3 percent in the second quarter, breaching the central bank’s 1 to 3 percent target range.
BANKING
Commerzbank posts loss
Germany’s second-largest lender Commerzbank AG yesterday posted a huge loss for the second quarter, as it covered the costs of letting employees go and closing branches. The bank’s loss reached 527 million euros (US$625 million), as it booked 511 million euros of restructuring costs in its bid to digitize its operations and return to profitability. Revenue for the quarter was down by 18 percent on the previous year at 1.86 billion euros. Several one-off items also had a negative impact. The German government still holds an about 15 percent stake in the bank which it bailed out during the 2008-2009 financial crisis.
RIDE-HAILING
Lyft posts first-ever profit
Lyft Inc delivered its first-ever adjusted profit during the second quarter, a milestone for a company that has racked up losses since its founding. The company had previously said that it would not turn a profit before taxes, depreciation and other expenses until the third quarter. Lyft’s adjusted profit was US$23.8 million, helped by surging demand for its ride-hailing services and deep cost cutting the company made last year. The adjusted profit beat analysts’ estimates that the company would lose US$40.2 million in the second quarter.
BANKING
OCBC, UOB up payouts
Two of Singapore’s largest lenders are to increase their dividend payouts after profit in the second quarter beat forecasts on lower provisions for bad loans. Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC, 華僑銀行), the city-state’s second-biggest bank, is planning to pay an interim dividend of S$0.25 per share after reporting a 59 percent jump in net income to S$1.16 billion (US$860 million). United Overseas Bank Ltd (UOB, 大華銀行) is planning a S$0.60 per share payout following a 43 percent increase in profit to S$1 billion. Profit for both banks was helped by an improved credit outlook, with OCBC reporting a 69 percent drop in provisions for potential loan losses and UOB posting a 54 percent decline.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Softbank bets on Roche
Softbank Group Corp has quietly built a US$5 billion stake in Roche Holding AG, placing a bet on the pharmaceutical company’s strategy of using data to develop drugs, people familiar with the matter said. The Japanese conglomerate is now one of Roche’s largest investors, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The drugmaker has a dual-class share structure with separate voting and non-voting shares. The founding families own 50.1 percent of the voting class, while cross-town rival Novartis AG holds one-third. It was unclear which type of shares Softbank holds.
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