The Fruit of Knowledge
Posts tagged asian market
‘Extinction Looms’ For Forest Elephants Due To Poaching
Mar 5th
Forest elephants in central Africa are being slaughtered in record numbers. The most comprehensive study ever, done over a decade, shows that poaching — mostly for the Asian market for ivory — has put the forest elephant on the brink of extinction. Poaching has overcome laws and treaties to protect the species. The U.S. government and wildlife groups are struggling to slow the killing. A meeting in March of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species will focus on solutions. Audie Cornish talks to Christopher Joyce.
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Mortgage Rates Continue Rise From Recent Lows
May 22nd
Mortgage Rates rose again today, this time at a slightly faster pace than yesterday’s moderate increase. All of the market movement responsible for the increase in rates was seen in the overnight session, during European and Asian market hours, whereas the domestic hours were relatively uneventful.
Yesterday we mentioned that the recent weakness looked more like a ‘leveling off’ from last Thursday’s market levels and despite the incremental weakness in rates markets, today’s movement is still mostly consistent with that view. That said, if rates continue to worsen tomorrow, at the very least, it will significantly widen the scope of what “leveling off” could mean.
Here’s why… For now, ‘leveling off’ simply means the the borrowing costs associated with prevailing Best-Execution rates are getting slightly higher but Best-Ex rates themselves are staying the same, currently at 3.75% for 30yr Fixed Conventional loans.
(Read More: What is A Best-Execution Mortgage Rate? )
We could also look at this phenomenon in terms of 10yr yields (although we’d be careful to note that 10yr yields do not govern mortgage rates, but are useful in terms of assessing broader trends in the overall bond market). 10′s have recently been trading under the long-term floor at 1.80%. Today’s weakness
Read More from the Article Source: Full Article
Study: White ousts silver as America’s favorite automotive paint color
Oct 6th
Filed under: Car Buying, China, Europe, Japan, UK, Design/Style
When it comes to tastes in automobiles, Europeans and Americans tend to be on opposite sides of the spectrum. Small trumps big. Manual over automatic. Car against truck. Black versus white.
That’s right, automotive paint supplier PPG says 20% of new cars in North America were white in 2011, while black dominated Europe with 26%. The Asian market preferred the neutrality of silver, which colored 25% of vehicles sold there.
Truth be told, none of the three major global markets embraced any real colors, as white, silver, and black made up the top three in each region. In North America, the order was white-silver-black, Europeans had it black-white-silver, while Asians chose silver-white-black. White took over the top spot globally with, of course, silver and black tied for second. Last year, silver topped PPG’s list.
Perhaps the most important detail we found in PPG’s press release was this factoid: “40 percent of the automotive consumers said they would prefer a wider range of color choices.”
Read the entire release after the jump.
Continue reading White ousts silver as America’s favorite automotive paint color
White ousts silver as America’s favorite automotive paint color originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 06 Oct 2011 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Official: Singapore billionaire Peter Lim buys into McLaren
Aug 22nd
Filed under: Earnings/Financials
The Formula 1 circus is still a little more than a month away from sailing in to Marina Bay for the 2011 Singapore Grand Prix, but an outfit like McLaren isn’t accustomed to sitting around and waiting. So they’ve brought a little bit of Singapore to them.
The move revolves around one Peter Lim. The billionaire Singaporean businessman owns, among other properties, a series of bars and restaurants across Asia themed after the famed soccer team Manchester United, but after failing to acquire the team with a half-a-billion-dollar bid, has apparently turned to supercars instead.
With an undisclosed investment, Lim has joined the likes of chairman Ron Dennis, TAG founder Mansour Ojjeh and Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company in sharing ownership of McLaren and sitting on its board of directors. Lim apparently hopes to help McLaren Automotive expand into the Asian market, where it is preparing to launch the new MP4-12C late next year. Press release after the jump.
Continue reading Singapore billionaire Peter Lim buys into McLaren
Singapore billionaire Peter Lim buys into McLaren originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 22 Aug 2011 07:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Windows Phone ‘Tango’ may be Mango’s successor, geared toward less-expensive handsets
Aug 9th
Windows Phone’s Mango update was released to manufacturers for testing two weeks ago, and you know what that means — it’s time to speculate on what’s lined up after the still-unreleased refresh. Mary Jo Foley’s dishing out some juicy rumors from sources that the next version of Windows Phone is codenamed “Tango,” and has a few tricks up its sleeves. The new OS would have a tighter focus on Nokia’s desire to bring lower-priced phones to the fold; it’ll also apparently target the Asian market “largely or even exclusively.” This prediction sounds as though Tango would only be pushed to inexpensive handsets, effectively turning Windows Phone into a two-tiered platform — but as many rumors go, we’re still waiting for a little more meat to chew on before making such a conjecture. If the new codename sticks, however, we expect to see a video chat service that won’t be too happy with the news. We’ll grab the popcorn and get a good seat for the (lopsided) duel that’s sure to come.
Windows Phone ‘Tango’ may be Mango’s successor, geared toward less-expensive handsets originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Aug 2011 23:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Peek calls own internet-only devices ‘collector’s items,’ heads to India with the cloud
Jul 21st
Nokia? Samsung? LG? Those jokers are all ‘old world’ has-beens. The future — according to Peek’s latest email campaign — is Indian featurephones. Well, at least MicroMax’s latest, the Q80 EZPAD. Peek says its ‘Genius Cloud’ gifts the Q80 with smartphone-like features via cloud-based software. The firm’s site claims that the service will run on any hardware, from not-phone to smartphone, providing push mail, instant messaging, video chat, social networking, software GPS, web browsing, and other smartphone features. Writing on Business Insider, Peekster-in-Cheif Amol Sarva asserts that low-end devices have pushed Nokia out of the asian market, and suggests that with the help of the Genius Cloud, featurephones can do the same to RIM. If that doesn’t work out, at least the firm still has a corner on the dedicated tweeting handheld market.
Peek calls own internet-only devices ‘collector’s items,’ heads to India with the cloud originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Jul 2011 08:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Scottish salmon: facts and figures
May 10th
China’s dispute with Norway over the awarding of the Nobel prize to dissident Liu Xiaobo has provided a chance for Scottish salmon farmers to break into the Asian market. Here, we reveal some facts and figures about the Scottish salmon market.
Report: GM could produce Chevy Volt in South Korea if needed
Apr 28th
Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, Chevrolet, GM, Asia
General Motors could produce the plug-in hybrid Chevrolet Volt in South Korea through its local unit, says GM Korea’s vice president of vehicle sales, service and marketing, Ankush Arora. According to the Wall Street Journal, Arora spoke at a press briefing late last week and stated:
As far as producing the Volt in Korea is concerned, there is no such plan. But if global demand for the model surges, the company may consider rolling out the Chevrolet Volt in South Korea.
On a related note, GM Korea is currently conducting a study on consumer sentiment, road conditions and infrastructure in South Korea, and will eventually decide whether or not to launch the Volt in South Korea. Arora apparently told the WSJ that:
We have not fixed any timing for the launch of the Volt. It’s too early for us to comment whether Korea will be the first Asian market or the second Asian market [after China in which we will] launch the Volt.
In 2010, GM Korea posted a net profit of $543 million and General Motors holds a 76.9 percent stake in GM Korea, a manufacturing base for several Kei cars and subcompact vehicles.
[Source: Wall Street Journal]
Report: GM could produce Chevy Volt in South Korea if needed originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Thu, 28 Apr 2011 18:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Next-gen Chevrolet Colorado teased in Thailand
Mar 7th
Filed under: Concept Cars, Truck, Work, Chevrolet
Next-generation Chevrolet Colorado teaser – Click above for high-res image
General Motors let a sneak peek at its new global-platform Chevrolet Colorado slip ahead of the truck’s official debut at the Bangkok Motor Show in Thailand. The show starts March 25, so GM is giving us just enough to get the gist of what our next-generation Chevrolet Colorado/GMC Canyon may look like.
The General says it picked Thailand for the truck’s debut because the Southeast Asian market is becoming a huge player for the automaker, and people in Thailand are buying pickups at an alarming rate. In 2010, pickups accounted for 43 percent of vehicles sold in Thailand.
The truck will be built in Thailand for global consumption, but will most likely carry over Stateside as the new Colorado/Canyon, and is being prepped by GM of Brazil for the American market. Follow the jump for The General’s official press blast.
[Source: General Motors, PickupTrucks.com]
Continue reading Next-gen Chevrolet Colorado teased in Thailand
Next-gen Chevrolet Colorado teased in Thailand originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 07 Mar 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Samsung unveils 2011 NX roadmap to Asian market
Feb 18th
Samsung has released more details of future NX system plans to the South East Asian market. A Korean blog is reporting the company as planning three NX body types, including a higher-end model, along with six lenses including a 700mm prototype. The additional lenses include the 16mm and 85mm lenses discussed at the time of the NX100 launch and build on the details shown to a Taiwanese blog in September 2010. As usual, Samsung has made no formal announcement for the US or European markets. Several of the proposed lenses were shown at the CES trade show in January.
