NEW ZEALAND
Inflation at 32-year high
Inflation in the second quarter of this year rose to a 32-year high of 7.3 percent year-on-year, official figures released yesterday showed. The main drivers were rising fuel, food and housing costs, said Stats NZ, putting inflation at a level last seen in 1990. “Supply chain issues, labor costs, and higher demand have continued to push up the cost of building a new house,” said Jason Attewell of Stats NZ. Earlier this month, the central bank raised its benchmark interest rate to its highest level in six years and said further rises could follow.
INDIA
Growth forecast reduced
Morgan Stanley cut its forecast for the country’s annual growth to 7.2 percent for this year, as tighter financial conditions and a slowdown in global trade have pressured major economies around the world. The brokerage’s forecast, down from its previous projection of 7.6 percent, comes after the country’s economic growth slowed to the lowest in a year in the first three months of this year at 4.1 percent. The revised target is in line with the Reserve Bank of India’s view. For the next year, Morgan Stanley expects the annual GDP to touch 6.4 percent. The country’s annual consumer inflation, which touched multiyear highs in the past few months, eased marginally to 7.01 percent last month. The brokerage expects more respite ahead.
RETAIL
H&M to leave Russia
Swedish retailer Hennes & Mauritz AB (H&M) is to start winding down its operations in Russia, having halted all sales in the country in March after Russia’s attack on Ukraine. The Stockholm-based company expects to book costs of 2 billion kronor (US$190 million) from the process, of which about 1 billion kronor would have a cash-flow effect, it said in a statement. H&M’s Russian business accounted for about 4 percent of its 199 billion kronor in sales during the past financial year. The company has operated in the country since 2009.
MALAYSIA
7-Eleven might exit drugs
Convenience store operator 7-Eleven Malaysia Holdings Bhd is weighing exiting its pharmacy chain, people with knowledge of the matter said. The Kuala Lumpur-listed company is working with an adviser on the potential divestment of Caring Pharmacy Group Bhd, which is attracting interest from some Japanese parties, the people said. The company could seek a valuation for the retailer of about US$400 million in a deal, one of the people said. 7-Eleven Malaysia is the biggest 24-hour convenience store operator in the Southeast Asian nation. The company started offering franchising programs to local entrepreneurs in 2009 after the number of stores in its network crossed 1,000 the same year.
DELIVERY
Deliveroo cuts forecast
Deliveroo PLC slashed its projections for sales growth this year after the value of transactions on its platform grew more slowly in the latest quarter, reflecting an increasingly cautious view of economic performance and mounting challenges facing consumers. The London-based food delivery company said in a statement yesterday that gross transaction value (GTV) was projected to rise 4 to 12 percent this year, after previously forecasting growth of 15 to 25 percent. That reduction comes after GTV rose 2 percent year-on-year in the second quarter in constant currency, a slowdown compared with a 12 percent expansion in the first quarter.
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
Minister of Finance Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) yesterday told lawmakers that she “would not speculate,” but a “response plan” has been prepared in case Taiwan is targeted by US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, which are to be announced on Wednesday next week. The Trump administration, including US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, has said that much of the proposed reciprocal tariffs would focus on the 15 countries that have the highest trade surpluses with the US. Bessent has referred to those countries as the “dirty 15,” but has not named them. Last year, Taiwan’s US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US
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