ECONOMY
Brokerages boost intake
Nomura Holdings Inc and Daiwa Securities Group Inc have hired the most university graduates in four years, leading a resurgence in recruitment by Japanese brokerages as the economic outlook improves. About 650 recruits joined Nomura’s domestic securities unit yesterday, 6 percent more than last year, with most to be assigned to retail operations, said Kenji Yamashita, a spokesman for Japan’s largest brokerage. Daiwa boosted its intake by 50 percent to about 450, spokesman Hiroharu Misawa said. The country’s seven largest brokerages increased graduate recruitment by 6 percent to 2,150 in total this year, according to company data compiled by Bloomberg.
ECONOMY
S Korea inflation slows
South Korean inflation slowed to its lowest pace for seven months last month, state data showed yesterday, leaving more room for future monetary easing to boost the economy. The consumer price index for last month rose 1.3 percent from a year ago — slower than 1.4 percent reported in February and the slowest on-year growth since August last year — according to data from the state-run Statistics Korea. The index fell 0.2 percent from the previous month, compared to a 0.3 percent monthly increase in February. Core inflation that excludes volatile food and fuel prices rose 1.5 percent on-year last month compared to a 1.3 percent rise in February.
INDONESIA
Inflation surpases limit
Inflation accelerated to 5.90 percent year-on-year last month, surpassing the upper limit of the central bank’s target range due to an increase in food prices, official data showed yesterday. The rise in the consumer price index was well above the bank’s target range of between 3.5 percent and 5.5 percent for this year, and quicker than the 5.31 percent recorded in February. The statistics office said the increase was driven by surging food prices after the government introduced measures several months ago to limit imports of several products.
AUTOMAKERS
Tesla Motors reports profit
Tesla Motors Inc, the electric carmaker headed by billionaire Elon Musk, said it turned profitable in the first quarter, citing higher-than-expected sales of its Model S sedan. Tesla reached “full profitability” as Model S sales were more than 250 units higher than the 4,500 that the company estimated in the middle of February, the automaker said in a statement on Sunday, without specifying the profit figure. The average analyst estimate compiled by Bloomberg calls for a loss of US$0.11 a share, excluding several items. Tesla has forecast deliveries of the battery-powered Model S would rise to a record 20,000 this year.
TRADE
Deal to begin next month
A free-trade agreement between South Korea and Turkey is to go into effect next month, the latest in a wide-ranging series of trade pacts negotiated by export-dependent South Korea, officials said yesterday. The pact is to remove import tariffs on nearly all products of both countries within the next 10 years, the South Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said. It deals only with products as the two nations have yet to complete negotiations on services and investment, the ministry said. South Korea has already signed free-trade deals with the US, the EU, India, ASEAN, Singapore, Peru, Chile and the European Free Trade Association.
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
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
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
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