UNITED STATES
House prices bounce back
House prices rebounded strongly last month, suggesting underlying demand and a shortage of homes for sale are underpinning the market after a tax break on purchases was withdrawn. The 2.1 percent increase, the second-largest gain in 15 years, followed a 0.6 percent decline in July, when the tapering of a year-long stamp duty holiday landed buyers of more expensive homes with a significant tax bill. The annual pace of growth accelerated to 11 percent from 10.5 percent, the figures from Nationwide Building Society showed. The average house price stood at ￡248,857 (US$342,419) last month, an increase of almost ￡25,000 compared with a year earlier, Nationwide said.
GERMANY
Retail sales fall 5.1 percent
Retail sales fell by far more than expected in July after two months of sharp increases, data showed yesterday. The Federal Statistics Office said retail sales dropped 5.1 percent on the month in real terms after a revised jump of 4.5 percent in June and an increase of 4.6 percent in May. The July reading missed a Reuters forecast for a fall of 0.9 percent. The monthly comparison was distorted heavily by the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions on shopping in most parts of the nation in June, the statistics office said. Retail sales edged down by 0.3 percent in real terms year-on-year, it added.
EL SALVADOR
Bitcoin fund approved
Congress on Tuesday approved a law to create a US$150 million fund to facilitate conversions from bitcoin to US dollars ahead of the Central American nation’s planned adoption of the cryptocurrency as legal tender next week. With 64 votes in favor and 14 votes against, Congress approved the fund as the nation prepares to officially adopt bitcoin on Tuesday next week. The Central American nation would be the first in the world to use the cryptocurrency as legal tender. Money for the new fund would be redirected from the Ministry of Finance’s budget and administered by State Development Bank of El Salvador, lawmakers said.
AIRLINES
SAS’ net loss narrows
Scandinavian airline SAS yesterday said that it sees encouraging signs of travel increasing, but it still faces “headwinds” from the COVID-19 pandemic as it reported a narrower net loss. The carrier reported a net loss of 1.36 billion Swedish kronor (US$157.6 million) for May to July, down from a net loss of 2.37 billion kronor for the same period the previous year. Revenue rose to 3.98 billion kronor, from 2.5 billion kronor a year earlier, the company said, driven mainly by increased demand, but the company noted that was still 70 percent below the same quarter of 2019, which was unaffected by COVID-19.
INTERNET
Google extends home work
Google is extending its voluntary return-to-office policy through January next year, chief executive Sundar Pichai said on Tuesday, citing uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in many parts of the world. The rapid spread of the more contagious Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 is also making companies reconsider their mask mandates and vaccination policies. “Beyond January 10, we will enable countries and locations to make determinations on when to end voluntary work-from-home based on local conditions,” Pichai said in an e-mail to employees.
CAUTIOUS RECOVERY: While the manufacturing sector returned to growth amid the US-China trade truce, firms remain wary as uncertainty clouds the outlook, the CIER said The local manufacturing sector returned to expansion last month, as the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose 2.1 points to 51.0, driven by a temporary easing in US-China trade tensions, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The PMI gauges the health of the manufacturing industry, with readings above 50 indicating expansion and those below 50 signaling contraction. “Firms are not as pessimistic as they were in April, but they remain far from optimistic,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said at a news conference. The full impact of US tariff decisions is unlikely to become clear until later this month
GROWING CONCERN: Some senior Trump administration officials opposed the UAE expansion over fears that another TSMC project could jeopardize its US investment Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is evaluating building an advanced production facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has discussed the possibility with officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration, people familiar with the matter said, in a potentially major bet on the Middle East that would only come to fruition with Washington’s approval. The company has had multiple meetings in the past few months with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and officials from MGX, an influential investment vehicle overseen by the UAE president’s brother, the people said. The conversations are a continuation of talks that
CHIP DUTIES: TSMC said it voiced its concerns to Washington about tariffs, telling the US commerce department that it wants ‘fair treatment’ to protect its competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reiterated robust business prospects for this year as strong artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from Nvidia Corp and other customers would absorb the impacts of US tariffs. “The impact of tariffs would be indirect, as the custom tax is the importers’ responsibility, not the exporters,” TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said at the chipmaker’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Hsinchu City. TSMC’s business could be affected if people become reluctant to buy electronics due to inflated prices, Wei said. In addition, the chipmaker has voiced its concern to the US Department of Commerce
STILL LOADED: Last year’s richest person, Quanta Computer Inc chairman Barry Lam, dropped to second place despite an 8 percent increase in his wealth to US$12.6 billion Staff writer, with CNA Daniel Tsai (蔡明忠) and Richard Tsai (蔡明興), the brothers who run Fubon Group (富邦集團), topped the Forbes list of Taiwan’s 50 richest people this year, released on Wednesday in New York. The magazine said that a stronger New Taiwan dollar pushed the combined wealth of Taiwan’s 50 richest people up 13 percent, from US$174 billion to US$197 billion, with 36 of the people on the list seeing their wealth increase. That came as Taiwan’s economy grew 4.6 percent last year, its fastest pace in three years, driven by the strong performance of the semiconductor industry, the magazine said. The Tsai
RSS