Posts by Stephanie Irvin
UK’s car output down for second straight month in April, says industry body
BRITAIN’S car production fell by 7 per cent year-on-year in April, falling for a second consecutive month, as manufacturers wound down existing models and more plants transitioned to electric vehicle (EV) production, industry data showed on Thursday. A total of 61,820 cars rolled off production lines in April, compared with 66,527 units in the same…
Read MoreViews on US economy ‘more pessimistic’ as uncertainty grows: Federal Reserve
OUTLOOKS on the US economy have become gloomier with reports of rising uncertainty and worries over risks, even though growth broadly continued recently, the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday. The views come as discretionary spending cooled and consumers became more sensitive to costs in recent weeks, while job gains were largely modest to negligible, the…
Read MoreSaudi Arabia set to launch US$10 billion Aramco share sale on Jun 2
SAUDI Arabia is preparing to formally launch a secondary offering of shares in oil giant Saudi Aramco as soon as Sunday (Jun 2) that could raise more than US$10 billion, according to sources familiar with the matter. The government, which is Aramco’s largest shareholder, plans to run a book-building process to gather investor interest until…
Read MoreChina halts shipments from JBS beef plant in US over feed additive
CHINA has blocked beef exports from a major JBS beef plant in the United States after a controversial feed additive was found in meat shipments to the world’s largest buyer. JBS is “working diligently with US and Chinese authorities to resolve the situation as soon as possible”, the Brazilian meat giant said. The plant suspended…
Read MoreFrom Grade A offices to S’pore’s first net-zero hotel: How developer has transformed the city’s skyline
NOT many boys at the tender age of 10 live apart from their parents in an entirely different country. But Stephen Riady was not just any young boy. Born in Jakarta in 1960, he was sent by his father, Indonesian entrepreneur Mochtar Riady, to pursue his education in Singapore. Little did he know that, years…
Read MoreUS bank profits jump 79.5% as large firms shake off failed bank costs
PROFITS for the US banking sector surged 79.5 per cent to US$64.2 billion in the first quarter of 2024, boosted primarily by large banks not shouldering billions in special fees they were directed to pay to recover costs incurred by bank failures last spring. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) said most of the higher…
Read MoreUS: Wall St drops as rate worries push bond yields higher
Wall Street opened lower on Wednesday (May 29), with investors turning risk-averse as concerns around the timing and scale of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate cuts pushed Treasury yields higher and pressured megacap stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 136.6 points, or 0.35 per cent, at the open to 38,716.28. The S&P 500 fell…
Read MoreThe US$10,000 shipping container is again the talk of global trade
Companies transporting goods from Asia face costs of as much US$10,000 for an urgent full-size shipping container over the next month – about double current spot rates, according to prices circulating between carriers and importers. Marseille, France-based CMA CGM, the world’s No 3 carrier, already announced a US$7,000 rate for a 40-foot container for the…
Read MoreHSBC completes sale of Russian unit to Expobank
HSBC has transferred ownership of its Russian unit to Expobank for an undisclosed fee, the two lenders said on Wednesday (May 29), ending around two years of negotiations and uncertainty. HSBC’s exit from Russia has been on the cards since February, when Russian President Vladimir Putin gave approval for the asset sale to privately owned…
Read MoreDidi reports bigger loss as incentives, EV bet continue to weigh
DIDI Global’s net loss grew in the March quarter, after climbing marketing costs and losses on its stake in electric vehicle-maker XPeng outweighed a revenue boost. China’s leading ride-hailing provider’s net loss grew to 1.35 billion yuan (S$251.4 million) in the first three months of the year, reversing two straight quarters of profitability despite a…
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