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A crystallizer, used in the process of manufacturing nickel sulphate hexahydrate, stands at the BHP Group Kwinana Nickel Refinery in Kwinana, Western Australia, in 2019.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 29, 2024

Companies ‘paralyzed’ as Australia prepares tough climate rules

Over 6,000 companies in Australia will need to make fully comprehensive disclosures on emissions that include climate impacts across supply chains.
Joining the revolution brought by the era-defining release of ChatGPT requires a supply of cash that only tech behemoths like Microsoft can provide.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 29, 2024

AI startups swap independence for Big Tech's deep pockets

In the past few months promising companies have seen founders and key executives quietly exit the stage to join the world's dominant tech companies.
The Bank of Japan building in Tokyo on March 18. With the BOJ’s policy tightening, the difficulty of managing the country’s debt payments is expected to become worse.
BUSINESS
Jul 29, 2024

Japan expects to hit primary balance goal in fiscal 2025

The government initially aimed to achieve the goal in fiscal year 2011 but kept pushing it back for over a decade.
Toyota's global sales declined 4.7% in the first half of this year compared to the same period the year before.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 30, 2024

Toyota first-half sales fell even as hybrids and EVs gained in U.S.

Toyota’s global output — including that of subsidiaries Daihatsu Motor and Hino Motors — dropped 9.8% versus the first six months of 2023 to about 5 million units.
Japanese currency authorities spend ¥5.5 trillion to prop up the yen against the dollar in the past month.
BUSINESS
Aug 1, 2024

Japan spent ¥5.5 trillion to prop up the yen in past month

The latest action appears to have helped reverse the tide on the yen’s weakness.
Japan's personal mortgages are set to rise for the first time in a generation following the Bank of Japan's rate hike.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 1, 2024

Japan’s ultralow mortgages to see first increase in 17 years

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group said it plans to increase the short-term prime rate for the first time in 17 years in September.
Investors are grappling with the possibility that the Federal Reserve may need to loosen its tight grip on the economy much faster than anticipated to avoid a recession.
BUSINESS / ANALYSIS
Aug 3, 2024

U.S. recession scare fuels searing rally in bonds and puts yield curve flip in view

Investors are grappling with the possibility the Federal Reserve may need to loosen its grip on the economy faster than anticipated to avoid a recession.
A man takes a picture of an electronic quotation board displaying the closing numbers of share prices on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Friday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 3, 2024

Tokyo stocks likely to remain volatile in coming days

The benchmark Nikkei 225 average has been forecast to move between 34,000 and 38,000.
Many market followers believe the pillars that had underpinned gains for years — a series of key assumptions that investors across the world were banking on — have been shaken.
BUSINESS
Aug 6, 2024

$6.4 trillion stock wipeout has traders fearing ‘great unwind’ is just starting

Many market followers believe the pillars that had underpinned gains for years have been shaken.
A Google logo at the company's campus in Mountain View, California, on May 2. Google acted illegally to maintain a monopoly in online search, a federal judge ruled on Monday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 6, 2024

Google illegally monopolized search options, judge rules

The judge's decision will "lay the blueprint for other tech cases going forward,” an antitrust professor said.
SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son is preparing a big artificial intelligence bet.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 6, 2024

SoftBank to log slim profit ahead of Masayoshi Son’s next AI bet

Emerging from a month of sharp selloffs, the investment firm is expected to report a net income of ¥1 billion for the June quarter.
Fujitsu is seeking to expand its ability to prepare artificial intelligence tools that match clients’ needs, but is having trouble securing enough technology workers.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 6, 2024

Fujitsu struggling to secure staff to grow IT consultancy on slim margins

Operating profit margin at Fujitsu’s service solutions segment was 7% last quarter, while the margin at one competitor was 16.4%.
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo. BOJ Deputy Gov. Shinichi Uchida sent a strong dovish signal in the wake of historic financial market volatility in Japan by pledging to refrain from hiking interest rates when markets are unstable.
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 7, 2024

BOJ deputy governor plays down chance of near-term rate hike

Shinichi Uchida's remarks stand in contrast with Gov. Kazuo Ueda's hawkish comments made last week when the BOJ unexpectedly raised interest rates.
Protesters for and against affirmative action demonstrate on Capitol Hill in Washington. As the backlash against diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) has intensified in the U.S., the number of so-called anti-DEI proposals have multiplied.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 12, 2024

For anti-DEI groups swarming annual meetings, even a loss is a win

This year, prominent conservative investors filed 42 anti-DEI proposals, up from just one in 2021.
The Bank of Japan won't be able to introduce another rate hike this year, according to former board member Makoto Sakurai.
BUSINESS
Aug 12, 2024

Ex-BOJ board member rules out another rate hike this year

Recent market upheaval and the BOJ’s reaction to it are making market participants wary about the outlook.
Adult diaper products made by Daio Paper and academic institutions. The company, which produces products for hospitals and care facilities, is collaborating with the University of Tokyo and other academic institutions to enhance the quality of its products.
BUSINESS
Aug 13, 2024

Adult diaper market to surpass ¥100 billion by year-end

Manufacturers are ramping up efforts to develop a wider variety of products to cater to Japan's postwar baby boomers who are turning 75 or older.
U.S. President Donald Trump and SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on May 30, 2020
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 13, 2024

Musk scorns subsidies, but Tesla still lobbies for U.S. benefits

Despite Musk's gradual embrace of Trump, the company continues to lobby the U.S. and state governments for benefits championed by the Democratic Party.
A container-sized cabin produced by Zheng Weirong's company
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 13, 2024

Chinese swap handbags for trips as ‘experience economy’ booms

Consumer spending in China is still constrained by modest income growth and falling home prices, which make homeowners feel less wealthy overall.
The tradition of koromogae, which involves changing storage spaces for clothes according to the season, is becoming less common, largely due to the increasing adoption of Western-style closets that accommodate all clothing year-round.
BUSINESS
Aug 13, 2024

Mothball makers innovate amid shrinking market

The market has been diminishing as synthetic fibers, which are resistant to insect damage, have become widely used in clothing.
Google is appealing an Aug. 5 ruling that it illegally monopolized the markets of online search and search text ads but the presiding judge has ordered the start of plans for the second phase of the case, which will involve the government’s proposals for restoring competition, including a possible breakup request.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 14, 2024

U.S. considers a rare antitrust move: breaking up Google

If the breakup plan proceeds, the most likely units for divestment are the Android operating system and Chrome web browser.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida leaves at the end of a news conference, in which he announced he is stepping down, at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 14, 2024

Kishida's shock announcement shakes already unsettled Japanese markets

The prime minister's decision to step down follows the Bank of Japan's surprise rate hike just two weeks earlier.
People walk along Takeshita street at Harajuku shopping area in Tokyo
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 15, 2024

Japan's economy rebounds strongly on consumption boost, backing case for more rate hikes

The Bank of Japan had forecast that a solid economic recovery will help inflation hit its 2% target and justify raising interest rates further.
The Shein logo adors the company's first pop-up store in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Aug. 2.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 15, 2024

Seoul authorities find toxic substances in Shein and Temu products

The explosive growth has led to increased scrutiny of their business practices and safety standards, including in the EU and South Korea.
Tourists at a water fountain at the Acropolis archaeological site during extreme hot weather conditions in Athens in July 2023.
BUSINESS
Aug 16, 2024

Extreme weather drives travelers to cooler destinations this summer

Cruise operators, hotel companies and airlines are adding trips and accommodations to meet rising demand for temperate destinations.
Fukuoka Financial Group President Hisashi Goto
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 16, 2024

Regional bank that hired JPMorgan’s Japan strategist seeks more

Fukuoka Financial Group is seeking specialists in alternative investment and equities as it faces pressure to boost returns for shareholders.
The central and Tokyo governments, which own 100% of Tokyo Metro, expect to receive approval for the firm's listing from the Tokyo Stock Exchange as soon as mid-September, sources said.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 19, 2024

$4.7 billion valuation for Tokyo Metro targeted in IPO, sources say

Tokyo Metro could have Japan's biggest initial public offering in roughly six years.
A recruiter holding a placard advertising jobs talks to young men at an unofficial job market in the suburbs of Beijing.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Aug 21, 2024

China's rising youth unemployment breeds new working class

Millions of graduates are being pushed into a tough bargain, with some forced to accept low-paying work or even subsist on their parents' pensions.
Former Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman will lead the committee searching for a successor to Disney CEO Bob Iger.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 22, 2024

Disney names James Gorman to lead CEO succession planning effort

Disney is weighing both internal and external candidates to succeed Bob Iger.
The yen's rebound is clouding an outlook for Japanese firms' earnings that have enjoyed a boost from the weak yen.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 22, 2024

Yen’s rebound threatens earnings growth in Japan

Weak demand in China and the risk of a slowing U.S. economy are fueling worries about how sustainable their earnings growth will be.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda is scheduled to respond to questions from lawmakers in parliament on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 22, 2024

BOJ governor set to face intense scrutiny after market chaos

Gov. Kazuo Ueda will respond to questions from lawmakers in the Lower House on Friday morning, and those in the Upper House in the afternoon.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami