Business

Trump bans investment in firms that aid China’s military

  WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order banning Americans from investing in Chinese firms deemed to be supplying or supporting Beijing’s military and security apparatus, earning a sharp rebuke from China. The order listed 31 companies Thursday it said China was using for the “increasing exploitation” of US investment capital to fund military and intelligence services, including the development and deployment of weapons of mass destruction. US-China […]

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Philippine economy shrinks 11.5% in third quarter

MANILA, Philippines (AFP) — The Philippine economy shrank for the third straight quarter in July-September, official data showed Tuesday, but there were signs activity was slowly picking up as coronavirus restrictions eased and more businesses reopened. President Rodrigo Duterte’s government has been gradually loosening measures introduced in March to contain the virus after they sent the country plunging into its first recession in three decades and pushed many families deeper into poverty. Gross domestic product […]

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Indonesia tumbles into first recession for two decades

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — Indonesia’s virus-hit economy contracted in the third quarter, plunging it into its first recession since the archipelago was mired in the Asian financial crisis more than 20 years ago. Activity in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy slumped 3.49 percent on-year in July-September, the statistics agency said Thursday, with tourism, construction and trade among the hardest-hit sectors. The data marked the second consecutive quarter of contraction after a 5.3 percent decline in April-June. […]

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Oil giant Shell rebounds into profit in third quarter

LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Anglo-Dutch oil titan Royal Dutch Shell on Thursday logged third-quarter net profit of $489 million (415 million euros), rebounding after a vast coronavirus-driven loss in the prior three months. Profit after tax for July-September was boosted by steadier oil prices and contrasted with a vast net loss of $18.1 billion in the second quarter, when Shell was slammed by Covid-19. Earlier this year, oil prices dropped off a cliff — […]

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Nokia doubles Q3 net profit and pledges ‘to win’ at 5G

HELSINKI, Finland (AFP) — Equipment maker Nokia more than doubled its net profits in the third quarter as the firm’s new CEO promised on Thursday to do “whatever it takes” to become the 5G market leader. On his first results day since taking the reins of the Finnish networks giant in August, Pekka Lundmark announced a move to a more focused approach as the company vies for 5G market share against competitors Ericsson and Huawei. […]

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Microsoft rides cloud to higher earnings

SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Microsoft on Tuesday said its profit in the recently ended quarter continued to soar as the pandemic boosted a trend toward business being taken care of in the internet cloud. The US technology titan’s profit rose to $13.9 billion, up 30 percent from the same quarter last year, according to earnings figures. Revenue in the quarter climbed 12 percent to $37.2 billion. “Demand for our cloud offerings drove a […]

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Asian markets extend losses as virus surges in US, Europe

HONG KONG, China (AFP) — The fresh surge in coronavirus cases across the United States and Europe pushed Asian markets further down Wednesday, while investors have essentially given up on the chances of a new stimulus out of Washington. With US lawmakers unlikely to agree any new rescue package before Tuesday’s election, analysts said the new wave of virus infections and lingering uncertainty over the vote would mean equities face a wobbly few days. European […]

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Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Kun-hee dies at 78

  by Sunghee Hwang Agence France Presse SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Kun-hee, who transformed the South Korean firm into a global tech titan, died at the age of 78 on Sunday, the company said. Under Lee’s leadership, Samsung rose to become the world’s largest producer of smartphones and memory chips, and the firm’s overall turnover today is equivalent to a fifth of South Korea’s GDP. Samsung’s meteoric rise helped make […]

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Huawei revenue growth wilts under ‘intense pressure’

  by Dan Martin Agence France Presse SHANGHAI, China (AFP) — Huawei’s revenue growth slowed significantly in the first nine months of 2020, the Chinese telecom giant said Friday, citing “intense pressure” on operations during the coronavirus and as the US moves to cut off its access to vital components. Huawei, the leading global supplier of telecoms networking equipment and a top smartphone producer, said it grossed 671.3 billion yuan ($100.7 billion) in revenue in […]

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Cathay Pacific to cut workforce by nearly a quarter

  by Jerome TAYLOR / Su XINQI Agence France Presse Cathay Pacific announced plans Wednesday to cut its workforce by nearly a quarter and close one of its short-haul airlines in an effort to survive the “devastating” impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. Across the globe, airlines have been hammered as the pandemic has slashed international travel, and they face a long, hard winter after a much-hoped-for rebound failed to materialise. Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong’s flag […]

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Asian markets lifted by stimulus optimism, vaccine hopes

  HONG KONG, China (AFP) Asian markets rose Wednesday on signs US lawmakers are edging towards agreeing a new stimulus for the struggling economy, while hopes for a vaccine helped temper worries about surging virus infections around the world. After months of stuttering talks, and with a deadline approaching, Democrats and the White House said they were closing the gap on their proposals, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi saying legislation was being drawn up. The […]

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Netflix reports slowing subscriber growth; shares slide

  by Glenn CHAPMAN Agence France Presse Netflix shares slid on Tuesday after the US streaming television titan reported that subscriber growth slowed in the recently ended quarter, after booming in the early days of the pandemic. While Netflix added 28.1 million paying subscribers so far this year, only 2.2 million of them came in the third quarter, the company said in an earnings release letter. “We think this is primarily due to our record […]

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