BANKING
Wells Fargo is largest bank
The Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (ICBC, 中國工商銀行) has lost its standing as the world’s largest bank by market capitalization to US-based Wells Fargo, data showed yesterday, as China’s economy slows. San Francisco-based Wells Fargo & Co is worth US$236 billion, according to the New York Stock Exchange, where it is listed, while Chinese figures show ICBC is now valued at US$223 billion. ICBC’s six-year reign as the world’s biggest bank began in July 2007, and its value peaked at US$374 billion in November that year thanks to China’s rapid economic expansion, and stood as a symbol of the country’s emergence as a global powerhouse. However, it was deposed on July 12 and Wells Fargo has retained top spot since.
INDIA
Walmart cannot meet rules
Walmart has told India that it is unable to meet local sourcing requirements for foreign supermarket groups wanting to open stores in the country, a report said yesterday. Under rules introduced when the government opened up the sector last year, foreign supermarkets are required to buy 30 percent of their products from local small-scale industries. Walmart has “orally conveyed its stand” to the government over the policy, the Press Trust of India reported, adding to complaints from US companies that they are unable to operate in India. Walmart, which said last year it wanted to launch its first supermarket within two years, has said it can procure only about 20 percent of its goods from small Indian industries.
AUSTRALIA
Inflation below expectations
Inflation came in short of expectations for a third consecutive quarter yesterday, boosting the case for an interest rate cut next month as mining investment peaks. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said consumer prices rose 0.4 percent in April-June compared with the previous quarter, while they were up 2.4 percent year on year as the economy transitions away from a decade-long commodities spending boom. Underlying inflation, which strips out volatility caused by events such as extreme weather, was slightly higher at 0.6 percent, the ABS said.
VIETNAM
Inflation up a second month
Inflation picked up this month for a second consecutive month, official figures showed yesterday, following recent increases in fuel prices. Consumer prices were up 7.29 percent year-on-year, against a 6.69 percent rise last month, according to the General Statistics Office, with analysts saying recent fuel price hikes were largely responsible. Inflation has rebounded after hitting an eight-month low of 6.36 percent in May. The same month, the central bank cut interest rates for the eighth time in little more than a year to spur bank lending and boost consumption after economic growth fell to a 13-year low of 5.03 percent last year.
SEMICONDUCTORS
ARM profits up 30 percent
British chip designer ARM Holdings beat second-quarter expectations with a 30 percent rise in adjusted pretax profit, helped by demand for its latest processors and graphics technology. The Cambridge-based company reported pretax profit of £86.6 million (US$133 million) on revenue up 26 percent to US$171.2 million, both ahead of forecasts. ARM has outpaced the wider semiconductor market for the past five years or so, helped by the dominance of its processor architecture in smartphones and tablet computers.
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
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
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
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