ENERGY
Group suggests exchange
China should set up an oil-futures exchange with contracts traded in yuan because local companies cannot participate fully in the global market, the Chicago Board Options Exchange said. “From a global point of view, one of the solutions to ease the excessive volatility in oil markets would be” an oil futures market established by China, Asia affairs managing director Eugene Zheng (鄭學勤) said in Shanghai yesterday. China should also develop commodity-options products, Zheng said. “With its own markets and prices, China can help correct irrational prices,” Zheng said, speaking at the Shanghai Futures Exchange’s annual conference.
TELECOMS
Skype heads off trouble
Internet phone service Skype says a small percentage of its 170 million users have been unable to sign in to its service, a problem that it expects to fix with a software update. Skype said on its Web site the trouble stemmed from corrupted data affecting computers using Windows, Linux or Macintosh operating systems. The company, which is based in Luxembourg, said it released a new version of Skype for Windows late on Thursday to deal with the problem. On Friday, it released a version for Mac. Linux users were told to delete a file manually. Skype said individuals using its service on cellphones, televisions or other non-computer devices were unaffected.
AUTOMOBILES
Fiat to buy Chrysler stake
Fiat said in Milan on Friday it planned to boost its stake in Chrysler to 57 percent by the end of this year as the Italian auto giant moves to consolidate its control of the Detroit-based brand. Fiat announced in a statement its decision to exercise an option to buy an additional 6 percent stake in Chrysler from the US Treasury. It said the price of the purchase would be agreed with the Treasury shortly. Fiat currently holds a 30 percent stake in Chrysler, but the reimbursement of Chrysler loans to the US and Canadian governments on Tuesday has opened the way for the Italian company to increase its holding.
AUTOMOBILES
GM scraps hybrid plan
General Motors Co (GM) has canceled plans to develop a plug-in hybrid vehicle based on the current Cadillac SRX crossover platform, deciding the project was not financially viable, three people with direct knowledge of the project said. While two of the sources said the plans could still be revived on a future platform, they and two others familiar with the matter said engineers involved had been reassigned to other projects. The Cadillac plug-in shared much of the same technology that GM developed for its battery-powered Chevrolet Volt, which has been the centerpiece of the automaker’s effort to convince consumers of its turnaround after its bankruptcy and government bailout in 2009.
RETAIL
CRC to buy Italian chain
Thailand’s Central Retail Corp (CRC) will buy La Rinascente, an historic chain of Italian department stores, for 205 million euros (US$293 million) under the terms of a deal announced on Friday. The R/U holding that controls 97 percent of Rinascente approved the sale to CRC, the property fund Prelios, a leading shareholder, said in a statement. The heir of the chain’s founders, Maurizio Borletti, who holds a 4 percent stake in La Rinascente, had tried to oppose the sale, but a court in Milan earlier rejected his attempt to block it. La Rinascente has 11 department stores in Italy’s main cities.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure