Category: Finance

So this could be exciting news for anyone who loves toys. FAO Schwarz is looking at China as part of its expansion plans. They are opening locations in Beijing and Shanghai this year with China’s largest toy distributor, Kidsland. Kidsland also has plans to open 30 smaller FAO Schwarz locations and shops in department stores around China in the five years ahead.

You’ll also soon see FAO Schwarz airport shops coming in the US and Canada in the next number of years, with the first one opening later this year.

And for those in New York missing the glamour and fun of the company, FAO Schwarz will soon open a new, 20,000 square foot, store in Rockefeller Plaza before Christmas 2018.

 

 

 

 

Google has recently opened a third office in China in Shenzhen. While some services are still blocked in china, the group obviously still manages its business in the area. Google’s search engine has been blocked in the area since 2010 but they have been making modest gains in mending their relationships with China.

China is part of Facebook’s top four areas including Europe, Canada and Australia.

 

Some are reporting seeing public road tests of fully autonomous cars in China. Baidu, China’s largest search engine, has been seen on public roads in northern Beijing testing the cars. A Baidu executive said that the cars could be ready by the end of the year.

Right now, at least five Chinese or Chinese-invested companies have licences to test driverless cars on public roads in Silicon Valley.

Baidu is testing the driverless carrs on a 3km stretch of road in the city of Wuzhen. Baidu executives actually say that the terrible traffic in China is a serious obstacle to their ability to stay competitive with autonomous driving.

As the general manager of Baidu’s Intelligent Driving Group, Li Zhenyu, said “China faces unique obstacles in its efforts to achieve autonomous driving. There are many, many more challenges here.”

 

China’s manufacturing grew at the fastest pace since 2012 in September. The PMI (Purchasing Managers’ Index) released recently rose to 52.4 in September from 51.7 in August. This was the 14^th straight month of expansion for China’s manufacturing industry and the highest reading since April 2012.

China International Capital Corporation reported that, “Over the short term, we believe the resilient demand growth and disciplined balance sheet expansion … will point to further improvement in manufacturing profitability and investment returns.”

Learn more here.

The BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) just signed $800 million loan agreements that are for three green development projects. The projects are in China’s  Fujian, Hunan and Jiangxi provinces.

As reported by China Daily, “The loan will finance the Fujian Putian Pinghai Bay Offshore Wind Power Project, the Ecological Development Project in the Green Heart Center of the Hunan Chang-Zhu-Tan City Cluster and Jiangxi Industrial Low-Carbon Restructuring and Green Development Pilot Project.”

Learn more about this large loan and the important projects that will be aided as a result.

Together with the Asia Development Bank, China has launched a financing platform with a mission. The financing platform is being launched by ADB and the China National Investment and Guaranty Corporation (I&G), the State Development and Investment Corporation (SDIC),  China’s finance ministry and National Development and Reform Commission. This platform is intended to help support efforts by both small and medium sized organizations to cut pollution.

China has now picked five regions that will be part of the pilot government green financing program according to the cabinet.

Learn more here.

 

 

Financial apps are a booming industry, and China is one great example of this trend. These apps grew in China by 230 % during 2016, according to the analytics company App Annie. The growth was driven in large part by Alipay and WeChat Pay.

As the App Annie report said, “Apps have paved the way for fintech players, who can both complement and disrupt established banks through innovative services. Banks must keep pace with the constant introduction of new technologies and consumer expectations to ensure a best-in-class app experience. Those who fail to adapt find themselves left behind.”

Great news for the Chinese economy. China has started in 2017 with its strongest quarterly performance in 18 months.  The gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 6.9% in the first quarter of 2017, which was just slightly higher than analysts’ consensus expectations.

Wang Xinling, lead analyst at the think tank China Policy said,
“This level of growth cannot be sustained. The first quarter’s results were boosted by bank lending, and a peak in starts of long-term construction projects. After this, the indicators will start to weaken.”

Fixed-asset investment in the first quarter expanded 9.2% over the year before, which beat the forecasts that analysts had made of an 8.8% growth.

As Eswar Prasad, a China finance expert at Cornell University said,

“The apparent strength of Chinese GDP growth belies rising macroeconomic tensions and financial system stresses, exemplified by high and rising levels of corporate leverage as well as a frothy housing market.”

Read the full article and find out more details.

eBay is moving back into China, and it’s their first major move since a decade ago. This time, however, eBay seems to be sweeping the Chinese market. Chinese shoppers made $86 billion in online purchases from vendors in different countries.

Now, eBay is having a partnership with the port city of Ningbo. With the new partnership, eBay is hoping to improve their process by training local workers to help the manufacturers to meet deadlines and demands from overseas customers.

See more at PYMNTS.