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China: investors take weak growth in their stride but rightly fret about...
One effect of the recent turmoil in China’s financial markets is that investors are no longer surprised by gloomy news on the economic outlook. Chinese equities barely flinched after the announcement...
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Taiwan – NZ trade deal: small economics, big politics
And beyond that, you can see New Zealand Taiwan has sealed an important free trade agreement with New Zealand – the two countries have no formal diplomatic relationship. It’s a big precedent for an...
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Taiwan: bribery report hits nerve
When Transparency International reported this week that a third of Taiwanese said they paid a bribe last year to get government services, it sparked some anger in Taipei. Many question whether Taiwan...
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Foxconn and Pegatron: changing fortunes – but for how long?
Just a few weeks ago, Foxconn was apologising profusely for poor performance as rival contract manufacturer Pegatron was riding high on reports that it had won out over Foxconn, Apple’s main...
View Article[video] Taiwan’s yacht builders face tough future
Tiawanese yacht makers like Horizon and Bluewater have helped push the country up the ranking of leading boat makers. The problem is that the whole industry has shrunk as a result of the global...
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Asia PMIs: turning red
A quick look at manufacturing purchasing managers’ indices for Asia this year shows a worrying trend. From a positive start to 2013, the numbers for the six countries tracked by Markit Economics/HSBC...
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Asia PMIs: just one positive
After the recent emerging markets rout, any good news, however slight, is welcome. A quick look at the Asia PMI scorecard shows just one bright spot among several less encouraging numbers, but it’s the...
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HTC: who’s buying?
While attention has been focused on the demise of new chapter for Nokia as part of Microsoft, another phonemaker is in deep trouble. Unlike Nokia, Taiwan’s HTC actually makes very good smartphones, and...
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Asia PMIs: signs of improvement
There has been a bit of a turnaround in sentiment in Asian manufacturing from August to September. The purchasing managers index (PMI) readings for six major Asian economies paint a more optimistic...
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Taiwan exports: a ray of light amid the gloom
Taiwan’s exports slumped 7 per cent in September year-on-year, far worse than analysts had predicted. That’s the bad news. The good news – and it’s a crumb of comfort – is that the electronic parts...
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Asia’s housing bubbles put UK in shade
My bubble's bigger than your bubble Rising house prices and property bubbles are something of a UK obsession. But for all the help to buy worries, house prices rose by just 1.4 per cent year-on-year in...
View ArticleTaiwan GDP: two charts, one bad one good
Taiwan’s growth for Q3 came in lower than expected: it was 1.58 per cent year on year, against a government forecast of 2.47 per cent. But there are reasons to be cheerful.Continue reading »
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Asia PMIs: 5 out of 6 ain’t bad
PMI scores | Source: HSBC / Markit Asian manufacturers are more positive than any point since April, according to the latest Markit / HSBC PMI surveys. The purchasing managers index for October for six...
View ArticleSouth Korea’s status: clarity at last
The years of periodic “will-they-won’t-they” chatter about South Korea’s potential upgrade to developed market status are over, at least for now. Index compiler MSCI has finally thrown in the towel....
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Book review: Five key EM insights to elucidate “the East”
“When eating an elephant, take one bite at a time”, US Army officer and Vietnam veteran Creighton Abrams once said. In his new book, The Rise of the New East, Ben Simpfendorfer does just that. His...
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EMs fuel strongest growth in auto shareholder value
As the global automotive industry continues its recovery there is particularly bright news for investors in OEMs (original-equipment manufacturers – otherwise known as automakers) that are focused on...
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iPhone 6 to boost Taiwan’s GDP
As rumours swirl about the design of Apple’s iPhone 6 ahead of its hotly anticipated debut next week, economists have made some more hard-headed – but no less remarkable – predictions about its impact....
View ArticleAsian companies fined the most for breaking US antitrust law
Asian companies are the hardest hit by fines for breaking antitrust law in the US, a new Korean report has found. Fines imposed on Asian companies by the US increased from $428m between 1995 and 2004...
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Fears of an Asian war trump Cold War concerns
In spite of Mikhail Gorbachev’s warning this month that the world is on the brink of a new Cold War, it is Asia that we should be worrying about, says former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. The...
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Surging debt seen as key threat to emerging Asia
Emerging Asia is set to be the world’s fastest-growing region again in 2015, skirting the contagion from Russia’s crisis and riding the fall-out from weak commodity prices, according to Fitch, the...
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