BANKING
ECB extends swap accord
The European Central Bank (ECB) yesterday said that its current temporary bilateral liquidity swap arrangements with five other central banks would remain in place until further notice. “The Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank, the [US] Federal Reserve, and the Swiss National Bank announced on Thursday that their existing temporary bilateral liquidity swap arrangements are being converted to standing arrangements, that is, arrangements that will remain in place until further notice,” the ECB said in a statement.
GERMANY
Consumer confidence stable
German consumer confidence is holding up as economic expectations continue to point upwards in Europe’s top economy, a new poll showed yesterday. “The first survey after the parliamentary elections paints a calm picture,” market research company GfK said in a statement. “A small uptick in economic expectations suggests that the German economy will recover in the coming months, albeit slowly.” Overall, GfK’s headline household confidence index was forecast to slip to 7 percent this month from 7.1 points last month. The reading is based on responses from about 2,000 households on their expectations about pay and the economy as a whole in the coming months, as well as their willingness to spend money.
RETAIL
Starbucks profit climbs 34%
Starbucks says its profit rose 34 percent in the quarter, as the coffee chain used its loyalty program to get customers to visit more often and spend more on revamped sandwiches and other food. The Seattle-based company said global sales rose 7 percent at cafes open at least a year, including an 8 percent rise in both the US and Asia. In the region encompassing Europe, the Middle East and Africa, where the company has struggled, the figure rose 2 percent. For the quarter, Starbucks said it earned US$481.1 million, or US$0.63 per share, while revenue rose to US$3.8 billion.
ENERGY
Shell Q3 profit fell 31%
Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Europe’s largest oil firm, says third-quarter earnings fell due to weaker refining conditions, and higher exploration and production expenses. In addition, production fell 2 percent to 2.93 million barrels per day due to shutdowns of facilities for maintenance, notably in Nigeria, where Shell has suffered from attacks on pipelines. The company reported earnings on a current cost of supplies basis — which strips out the impact of fluctuations of oil prices between when it is produced and when it is sold — of US$4.25 billion, down 31 percent from US$6.15 billion in the same quarter a year ago. CEO Peter Voser said Shell’s woes are mostly short term, as he expects costs to fall next year and the company’s underlying production is growing.
ELECTRONICS
Sony books net loss
Japanese electronics giant Sony yesterday said it booked a net loss of ¥15.8 billion (US$160 million) in the six months to September and cut its full-year earnings forecast by 40 percent to ¥30 billion from ¥50 billion, citing tough times in the electronics business with tepid demand for digital cameras, PCs and televisions. However, the firm said it was in black on the operating side, with earnings up 40 percent to ¥51.1 billion on sales of ¥3.49 trillion, an 11.8 percent rise year-on-year. However, it failed to offset the negative impact of a one-time corporate tax rise, Sony said in a statement.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
Apple Inc has been developing a homegrown chip to run artificial intelligence (AI) tools in data centers, although it is unclear if the semiconductor would ever be deployed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The effort would build on Apple’s previous efforts to make in-house chips, which run in its iPhones, Macs and other devices, according to the Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. The server project is code-named ACDC (Apple Chips in Data Center) within the company, aiming to utilize Apple’s expertise in chip design for the company’s server infrastructure, the newspaper said. While this initiative has been
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that revenue would rise moderately in the second half of this year, driven primarily by robust demand for advanced wafers used in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. “The first quarter is the lowest point of this cycle. The second half will be better than the first for the whole semiconductor industry and for GlobalWafers,” chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) said during an online investors’ conference. “HBM would definitely be the key growth driver in the second half,” Hsu said. “That is our big hope
The consumer price index (CPI) last month eased to 1.95 percent, below the central bank’s 2 percent target, as food and entertainment cost increases decelerated, helped by stable egg prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. The slowdown bucked predictions by policymakers and academics that inflationary pressures would build up following double-digit electricity rate hikes on April 1. “The latest CPI data came after the cost of eating out and rent grew moderately amid mixed international raw material prices,” DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) told a news conference in Taipei. The central bank in March raised interest rates by