Archives: August 2009

The Bear is Back as Chinese Stocks Plunge

Posted by: Bruce Einhorn on August 31

It’s been a month to forget for Chinese investors, and the last day of August was the worst of all. The Shanghai benchmark index plunged 6.7% today, its worst one-day...

Sarah Palin to Speak at Hong Kong Investor Forum

Posted by: Bruce Einhorn on August 31

Bill Clinton. Al Gore. Alan Greenspan. Sarah Palin? CLSA, the Hong Kong-based brokerage, announced today that the hockey mom who quit her job as Alaska governor last month will be...

Historic victory for DPJ in Japan's election

Posted by: Ian Rowley on August 30

After 54 years of almost unbroken rule Japan's Liberal Democratic Party government has been expelled from office. At 10:21 pm local time, national broadcaster NHK announced that the opposition Democratic...

Apple, China Unicom to Announce iPhone Deal?

Posted by: Bruce Einhorn on August 27

The long wait of China's iPhone fans may finally be over. Mike Kent at SciTechToday writes that China Unicom is having a media briefing on Friday and is expected to...

Humanitarian Talks Mark North Korea’s Shift in Game

Posted by: Ihlwan Moon on August 26

Since the early 1990s when a nuclear crisis first surfaced on the Korean peninsula, North Korea has swung between confrontation and conciliation in a game of brinkmanship with the U.S....

Delhi Government to Investigate Collapse of Roof at Brand New Airport

Posted by: Mehul Srivastava on August 25

Shed a tear for Delhi's residents. First, the city baked for months as the monsoons decided to skip a year. Then, one hour of rain on Friday, and the city...

China Mobile and HTC Make Smartphone Alliance

Posted by: Bruce Einhorn on August 24

Apple vs. Google. Apple vs. Microsoft. Apple vs. RIM. Add another company to the list of Apple antagonists: Apple vs. China Mobile. The largest Chinese cellular operator (and the largest...

Sony Unveils New PlayStation 3 "Slim" To Boost Sales

Posted by: Kenji Hall on August 18

Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. That sums up how Sony executives must have felt as they debated whether to lower the price of the PlayStation 3...

South Korea Mourns Kim Dae Jung’s Death

Posted by: Ihlwan Moon on August 18

Former South Korean President Kim Dae Jung, who died on August 18 while being treated for pneumonia, epitomized three key values of the country in the past four decades: democracy,...

Yang’s PGA Championship Win Boosts Golf in Korea

Posted by: Ihlwan Moon on August 17

South Korean golfer Y.E. Yang’s surprise win in Sunday’s U.S. PGA Championship will certainly boost the sport’s standing in his country. After all Yang became the first Asia-born man to...

What to Make of China's Falling FDI?

Posted by: Bruce Einhorn on August 17

The Shanghai stock market fell 5.8% today following news from the Chinese government that foreign direct investment in July fell 35.7% to $5.36 billion. That’s ten months in a row...

Japan’s recession ends as GDP rises at 3.7% pace between April and June

Posted by: Ian Rowley on August 16

Japan’s economy is growing again. According to figures launched this morning in Tokyo, between April and June, GDP edged up 0.9% compared to three months earlier. At an annualized rate,...

Hollywood's Small WTO Victory Over China

Posted by: Bruce Einhorn on August 13

The top lobbyist for the major Hollywood studios is hailing yesterday’s news that the World Trade Organization has ruled in favor of the U.S. government’s complaint against China’s restrictions on...

Japan's population decline is gathering momentum

Posted by: Ian Rowley on August 11

Japan's Internal Affairs Ministry published the latest numbers on the country's declining population on Aug. 11. The data doesn't make for pleasant reading. In the year through the end of...

Hyundai Seen Benefiting from Korea-India Trade Deal

Posted by: Ihlwan Moon on August 07

South Korea and India on August 7 signed an agreement, giving Korean companies better access to India’s 1.2 billion consumers and opening Korea’s job markets for Indian engineers and other...

Lenovo Still Struggles Outside China

Posted by: Bruce Einhorn on August 06

Lenovo, China’s biggest PC maker, reported better-than-expected quarterly results today, a sign that the company is starting to benefit from a new strategy focusing more on the Chinese market. Lenovo...

Pepsi Launches Own Music Label in China

Posted by: Frederik Balfour on August 06

Forget Michael Jackson. PepsiCo (PEP) has launched its own music label in China that will enable it to groom, produce and ultimately control its recording stars. So instead of having...

Japan Inc. continues to spend big on R&D despite the recession

Posted by: Ian Rowley on August 05

Despite the severity of the global recession, Japanese companies have been reluctant to slash research and development budgets. Indeed, while the downturn, which led to a sharper fall in Japan's...

GM China Auto Sales Soar 78%

Posted by: Frederik Balfour on August 03

Vrooom! GM auto sales in China soared 78% in July compared with last year, propelling Chinese car sales for General Motors’ mainland joint ventures in the first seven months by...