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The eurozone economy will avoid a recession this winter after recording weak-but-positive growth of 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022, official data showed Tuesday. The figure is lower than the 0.3 percent growth recorded in the third quarter of 2022, but better than forecasts of a contraction by economists. The data will be welcome after fears of a deep recession following Russia’s war in Ukraine, which unleashed sky-high energy prices and stoked […]
Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, said Tuesday it recorded a loss of 1.637 trillion Norwegian kroner ($164 billion) in 2022, the largest since its creation, citing volatile markets. “2022 was a truly dramatic year in the world. It affected financial markets and hence it also affects our global fund,” deputy chief executive Trond Grande of Norges Bank Investment Management which manages the fund told a press conference. “We had multiple different emergencies and […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — China’s factory activity expanded in January after four months of contraction, official data showed Tuesday, as its economy rebounded following the relaxation of strict Covid-19 curbs. The world’s second-largest economy is roaring back to life after Beijing’s decision last month to abruptly drop its strict zero-Covid policy, which mandated strict lockdowns, sparking protests and hammering businesses. The official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) — a key gauge of Chinese factory output […]
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew will testify in March to US lawmakers in Washington where the Chinese social media app faces accusations that it is beholden to the Communist Party in Beijing. TikTok, whose parent company ByteDance is Chinese, is fighting for its survival in the United States with rising calls from mainly Republican lawmakers that the company should be outright banned for its links to Beijing. Chew will give testimony before the House Energy […]
Hong Kong, China | AFP Hong Kong’s half-trillion-dollar investment fund set up to defend the financial hub’s currency has suffered its largest loss on record of more than HK$200 billion ($25 billion), authorities said Monday. The Exchange Fund, the semi-autonomous Chinese city’s de facto sovereign wealth fund, is one of the largest public investment vehicles in the world. Its slump last year was only the third loss since Hong Kong’s Monetary Authority (HKMA) began disclosing […]
Tokyo, Japan | AFP | Monday 1/30/2023 French automaker Renault will slash its stake in Japanese partner Nissan as part of a deal rebalancing the rocky alliance between the two companies, the firms said Monday. The deal will also see Nissan take a stake in Renault’s new electric vehicle venture Ampere, though the size of the investment was not immediately announced. The agreement comes after months of painstaking negotiations, and repeated delays, as the two […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan’s Toyota was the world’s top-selling automaker in 2022, retaining its lead over German rival Volkswagen for the third year, company data showed Monday. Despite the chip shortage and Covid-related supply chain disruption, Toyota and its subsidiaries sold nearly 10.5 million vehicles last year, around the same as in 2021. In comparison, Volkswagen Group — which held the top spot until 2020 when it was overtaken by Toyota — sold 8.3 […]
Astana, Kazakhstan (AFP) — Several restaurants that used to work under the McDonald’s brand in Kazakhstan reopened on Wednesday without the chain’s logo, weeks after the fast-food giant exited the country over supply problems. Food Solutions KZ, the company that used to operate the local McDonald’s franchise, said three restaurants were resuming operations in the capital Astana and information aboud their new name and menu would come soon. The McDonald’s logo no longer appeared on […]
Washington, United States | AFP | Thursday 1/26/2023 The US economy grew at a slower pace in 2022, the Commerce Department said Thursday, as activity eased in the final months of the year and recession fears loomed. Economic activity has been moderating as the US central bank hiked the benchmark lending rate seven times last year, in hopes of cooling demand and reining in costs as inflation surged. The property sector has slumped, followed by […]
Seoul, South Korea | AFP | Thursday 1/26/2023 South Korea’s economy shrank in October-December for the first time since the second quarter of 2020, as exports tumbled while consumer spending dipped in reaction to rising interest rates, the country’s central bank said Thursday. Gross domestic product in the final period of last year contracted 0.4 percent from the previous quarter, the Bank of Korea said. The reading comes after the BoK hiked borrowing costs for […]
BERLIN, Germany (AFP) – US auto giant Ford is planning to axe 3,200 jobs in Germany, a union said Monday, adding it was extremely concerned about the future of the company’s sites in Europe’s top economy. The news came amid fears in the EU that companies could shift their operations to the United States because of the recently passed landmark Inflation Reduction Act that offers tax cuts for US-made electric cars and batteries. A spokesman for […]
by Alex PIGMAN Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Microsoft on Wednesday said it would lay off 10,000 employees in the coming months as the economic downturn continues to punish US tech giants. The job cuts will affect slightly less than five percent of employees and follow in the wake of similar moves by Facebook-owner Meta, Amazon and Twitter which have announced thousands of layoffs in the once-unassailable tech sector. The cuts were “in […]
