AUSTRALIA
RBA raises growth forecast
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) yesterday raised its full-year growth forecast after a strong first half, but it warned that resources investment — a key driver of the economy — would peak by 2014. The central bank said it now expected growth of 3.5 percent for this year, instead of the 3 percent forecast in May, with the domestic economy powering on at above-average pace in the first six months of the year. However, the bank said the boom in mining and energy-related spending was expected to peak “sometime in 2013-14” and begin modestly subtracting from growth over 2014.
UNITED STATES
Deficit shrank in June
The US trade deficit narrowed in June for the third straight month, with a slight rise in exports adding to a drop in imports to cut the shortfall, the Department of Commerce said on Thursday. The country’s trade gap for the month was US$42.9 billion, the smallest deficit since December 2010, when total trade was 10 percent less. Exports continued their steady climb, rising to US$185 billion. The three-month moving average for exports, at US$183.7 billion, was 5.1 percent above the average of a year earlier of US$174.7 billion. Imports were US$227.9 billion; the three-month average of US$230.9 billion was up 4.1 percent from a year earlier.
AUTOMAKERS
Early retirement offered
The South Korean unit of French auto giant Renault yesterday said it would offer some employees voluntary retirement as sluggish sales continued to squeeze its margins. In the first seven months of the year, Renault Samsung Motor’s sales fell 34 percent from a year earlier to 93,919 vehicles. Analysts cited a lack of new models and stiff competition from South Korea’s dominant Hyundai-Kia group. Employees who take voluntary retirement will get two years’ salary, two years of education fees for children and other allowances, the company said, without saying how many jobs it wanted to shed.
BANKING
SG to sell TCW to Carlyle
The French bank Societe Generale (SG) has reached an agreement to sell US asset manager group TCW to the Carlyle Group and TCW employees, a statement said on Thursday. Financial details were not provided, and the deal is expected to be finalized early next year. The deal includes the 80 percent stake Societe Generale owns directly in the Los Angeles-based company that has about US$127 billion in assets under management, as well the remaining 20 percent it owns via a joint venture with Credit Agricole bank. After the deal, TCW employees and management will hold approximately 40 percent of TCW, according to Carlyle.
CONGLOMERATES
ThyssenKrupp profits rise
German industrial giant ThyssenKrupp yesterday said windfall gains from divestments lifted earnings in the fiscal third quarter, even as orders and revenues were hit by weakening demand due to the crisis. ThyssenKrupp, which operates its business year from October to September, said in a statement it booked a net profit of 238 million euros (US$292 million) in the three months to June. That represented an increase of 16 percent over the year-earlier period. However, sales slipped 7 percent to 10.71 billion euros and orders slumped 21 percent to 10.231 billion euros.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six