MACROECONOMICS
Vietnamese inflation slows
Vietnamese inflation slowed to its weakest pace in eight months this month, official data showed yesterday, in the latest sign that the economy is cooling. Consumer prices rose 6.36 percent year-on-year this month, the Government Statistics Office said, slightly down from a 6.61 percent increase last month. Hanoi cut interest rates this month for the eighth time in little more than a year to boost its economy, which fell to a 13-year low of 5.03 percent last year.
MANUFACTURING
French business looking up
French manufacturers turned sharply brighter about their business prospects this month because activity was unexpectedly buoyant and orders were picking up, the latest figures from the national statistics institute INSEE showed yesterday. The index of manufacturing confidence rose by 4 points to 92 points this month from 88 points last month, INSEE figures showed. This took the level of confidence back up to the level of February, but fell short of 100 points, which has been the average since 1976.
TECHNOLOGY
ITC clears Xbox 360
The US International Trade Commission (ITC) sided with Microsoft on Thursday in a patent dispute with Google-owned Motorola Mobility that could have barred the imports of Xbox 360 videogame consoles. “The investigation is terminated,” the ITC said in a notice announcing it was rejecting a Motorola Mobility patent complaint dating back to late 2010. Motorola Mobility had argued that Xbox 360 consoles infringed on patent technology for wirelessly transmitting data.
AVIATION
Boeing 787 to fly in China
Chinese regulators have approved the Boeing 787 to fly in the country, a Boeing spokesman said on Thursday, a move that opens up a large potential market to the US aerospace giant. Chinese airlines have yet to take delivery of the 787 Dreamliner, which last month was cleared to return to service after all 50 in use worldwide were grounded in the middle of January following two overheated battery incidents. Air China (中國國際航空) has ordered 15 of the planes, while China Southern Airlines (中國南方航空) and Hainan Airlines (海南航空) have each ordered 10 planes.
AUSTRALIA
Economy sound: Gillard
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard yesterday moved to allay fears about the economy, saying it had strong fundamentals, after US carmaker Ford said on Thursday it would stop making vehicles at its unprofitable Australian plants in 2016 and cut 1,200 jobs. Gillard told reporters the Australian economy was in transition as the investment boom in the mining and resources sector wound down, and there would be a loss of jobs as a result.
INTERNET
Yahoo buys PlayerScale
Yahoo pressed on with its shopping spree on Thursday with the acquisition of a startup that powers games played on smartphones, tablets, consoles or PCs. Yahoo confirmed in a statement on Thursday it has bought PlayerScale. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The PlayerScale platform works behind the scenes to handle payments, multi-person play, online chat and other features woven into games played on a broad range of devices.
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