Day: October 18, 2021

China’s GDP Growth Slows as Property and Energy Take a Toll

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Volkswagen, the market leader in China, said on Friday that its production had been falling as the company faced an ever-worsening chip shortage and other supply chain issues. The company doesn’t have enough cars to fill customers’ and dealerships’ orders, creating a backlog. “Our priority is to work off our backlog,” said Stephan Wöllenstein, the chief executive of Volkswagen’s China division. Finding Strength in Exports For months, economists have made the same prediction: The fast growth of China’s exports cannot last. The economists were wrong. China’s exports kept surging through…

US ‘very concerned’ despite China denials over hypersonic missile

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The United States is “very concerned” about China’s development of hypersonic technology, the US disarmament ambassador, Robert Wood, has said, after reports that Beijing had recently launched a hypersonic missile with a nuclear capacity. “We are very concerned by what China has been doing on the hypersonic front,” Robert Wood told reporters in Geneva. The Financial Times reported on Saturday that Beijing had launched a nuclear-capable missile in August that circled the Earth at low orbit before narrowly missing its target. Citing multiple sources, the FT claimed the hypersonic missile…

China’s Overseas Coal Pledge Is Not a Climate Change Gamechanger

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Advertisement To great fanfare at the U.N. General Assembly, Xi Jinping promised that China would not build more coal plants overseas. The global response, including from heads of states, was that this is a historic turning point in the fight against climate change. But it’s most likely not. In fact, the pledge has already been gradually fulfilled over the last few years as part of broader tendencies that have little to do with Chinese climate policies. The climate impact of the pledge is, therefore, likely to be minimal. Problematically, overly…

UK bond yields soar as investors anticipate interest rate rise; China’s growth slows – business live

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Some economists fear that raising interest rates at this point would be a blunder. It would tighten monetary policy at a time when households and businesses are already being squeezed by higher energy costs, and as government Covid-19 support measures, such as the universal credit uplift, are withdrawn, hurting vulnerable families. A rate hike might calm inflation expectations; policymakers worry that workers will seek higher wages to match rising prices in the shops (although not every employee has as much leverage as, say, a qualified HGV lorry driver). But it…

Goldman Sachs Wins Approval to Buy Out Partner in China

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Goldman Sachs has won approval to take full ownership of a joint venture in China, enabling the Wall Street firm to expand its operations in the country at a time when Beijing has made moves to open up its financial sector. The go-ahead from the China Securities Regulatory Commission for Goldman Sachs to buy out Beijing Gao Hua Securities, its local partner, comes as Beijing tries to make good on a pledge it made in 2017 to allow foreign investment banks to fully own their China operations. “This marks the…

Foxconn launches three made-to-order electric vehicle concepts as it steals the march on Apple’s secret automotive project

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Young Liu, chairman of Foxconn Technology Group, also known as Hon Hai Precision Industry, speaking during the launch of the company’s Foxtron electric vehicle line-up during the Hon Hai (Foxconn) Tech Day in Taipei on 18 October 2021. The Foxtron line-up comprises the Model C sedan, Model E sports-utility vehicle and Model T commuter bus. Photo: EPA-EFE South China Morning Post