ARGENTINA
Moody’s negative on nation
Moody’s on Monday switched the outlook on its “B3” rating for Argentina from stable to negative, warning of haphazard economic policies and a lack of progress in debt talks. A drop below “B3” into the “C” rating range would indicate that Moody’s believes Argentina is vulnerable to default. Argentina has almost US$9 billion in overdue debt to the Paris Club of government creditors. Moody’s said it also believed there would be a continued “haphazard policy environment, evidenced most recently in the nationalization without compensation of YPF, Argentina’s largest oil company, and import controls that have stalled economic growth.”
GERMANY
Investor confidence rises
Last month saw German investor confidence rose for the first time in five months, after the European Central Bank unveiled a plan to buy government bonds to stem the sovereign debt crisis. The ZEW Center for European Economic Research in Mannheim said its index of investor and analyst expectations, which aims to predict economic developments in the next six months, climbed to minus-18.2 from minus-25.5 last month. Economists forecast a gain to minus-20, according to the median of 41 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Merck pulls out Erbitux
German pharmaceuticals maker Merck KGaA yesterday said it was withdrawing its application for its drug Erbitux to be used to treat patients with lung cancer. Merck said in a statement it had decided to “voluntarily withdraw the marketing authorization application to the European Medicines Agency” for Erbitux to be used to treat patients with advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer. Merck KGaA had already said in July that phase III clinical trials of Erbitux for treatment of gastric cancer drug had shown no benefits of the drug for patients.
TECHNOLOGY
Google acquires Snapseed
Google has snapped up the digital photo editing service Snapseed as part of its effort to compete against Facebook’s online social network. Snapseed is the centerpiece of Google’s acquisition of Nik Software, which developed the service’s photo-editing technology. Google did not disclose the terms of the Nik Software acquisition. San Diego-based Nik Software says more than 9 million people use Snapseed’s application for the iPhone and iPad.
CRIME
Former Elf chief on trial
Loik Le Floch-Prigent, former chief of French oil giant Elf, has been charged with accessory to fraud in the West African nation of Togo after appearing before a judge, his lawyer said yesterday. The former Elf CEO faced questioning from a Togolese judge for about three hours on Monday after being extradited from Ivory Coast in the fraud probe. The investigation involves a complaint from an Emirati businessman who alleges he was the victim of a US$48 million fraud.
SEMICONDUCTORS
AMD finance chief quits
Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD), the second-largest maker of processors for PCs, said chief financial officer (CFO) Thomas Seifert was leaving the company to seek other opportunities. Corporate controller Devinder Kumar was appointed as interim CFO until a replacement can be found, the Sunnyvale, California-based company said in a statement on Monday. Seifert’s resignation takes effect on Sept. 28.
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
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
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