TECHNOLOGY
HP credit rating reviewed
Moody’s Investor Service put the credit ratings of Hewlett-Packard (HP) under review for a possible downgrade on Friday, a day after the company said it would retain its personal computer business. The credit ratings agency said the review includes the “A2” long-term rating, which is five steps below the top grade “AAA” rating. Moody’s senior vice president Richard Lane said the review will “focus on HP’s unfolding corporate strategy under HP’s new CEO, as well as the capital structure and liquidity profile implications.” In a statement, Moody’s said it will also “assess management’s plans to achieve its growth objectives, which we believe will entail making acquisitions, while also reducing financial leverage.” Moody’s said HP’s liquidity profile remains “solid,” although it estimated the company spent almost US$6 billion of the US$13 billion in cash it had on hand as of July to fund the US$10.3 billion acquisition of British enterprise software company Autonomy.
SPAIN
Unemployment rate soars
The country’s unemployment rate soared to a 15-year high of 21.52 percent in the third quarter, data showed on Friday, a stinging blow for the Socialist government just three weeks ahead of elections. The towering unemployment rate, up from 20.89 percent in the second quarter this year, is the highest since the end of 1996 and the highest among major industrialized nations. Among 16-24 year olds, the rate was a staggering 45.8 percent, barely down from 46.1 percent three months earlier. The overall unemployment line grew to 4.978 million people at the end of last month from 4.834 million at the end of June, National Statistics Institute figures showed. The figures make grim reading for a government already facing the prospect of a defeat in Nov. 20 elections by the conservative opposition Popular Party.
MANUFACTURING
Whirlpool plans job cuts
Appliance maker Whirlpool Corp plans to cut 5,000 jobs, about 10 percent of its workforce in North America and Europe, as it faces soft demand and higher costs for materials. The world’s biggest appliance maker also on Friday drastically cut its earnings outlook for this year and reported third-quarter results that missed expectations, hurt by higher costs and a slowdown in emerging markets. Shares fell 12 percent in midday trading. The company, whose brands include Maytag and KitchenAid, has, like other appliance makers, been squeezed by soft US demand since the recession and rising costs for materials such as steel and copper. Due to its size, Whirlpool’s performance provides a window on the economy because it indicates whether consumers are comfortable spending on big-ticket items.
AUTOMAKERS
Strike hits Suzuki’s India unit
Suzuki Motor Corp’s Indian unit, which sells almost half the cars in the country, said second-quarter profit dropped the most since December 2008 as a worker strike at a factory disrupted production. Maruti Suzuki India Ltd’s net income fell 60 percent to 2.4 billion rupees (US$49 million) in the three months ended Sept. 30 from 5.98 billion rupees a year earlier, the New Delhi-based company said in a statement yesterday. That is the smallest profit since the quarter ended December 2008, missing the 4.1 billion rupee median of 24 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Sales fell 16 percent to 75.4 billion rupees. Higher interest rates and fuel prices have increased the cost of ownership by as much as 4 percent, damping demand for automobiles, the company said.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last