UK ECONOMY
Austerity not going away
Austerity will remain in place in Britain for years to come, the British government said on Thursday even though the UK economy is growing faster than most of its peers. That was the message from British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne as he unveiled his latest tax and spending plans. He pledged to “fix the roof while the sun is shining” even when the budget is expected to turn a small cash surplus in the 2018 to 2019 financial year. Osborne said the British economy is expected to grow 1.4 percent this year instead of the previous forecast of 0.6 percent. Next year, growth is forecast to be even stronger at 2.4 percent against 1.8 percent.
EUROZONE
Bank holds record-low rate
The European Central Bank (ECB) held its key interest rate at a record low of 0.25 percent on Thursday, while raising its forecast for the eurozone’s gradual recovery, despite prolonged low inflation. ECB President Mario Draghi said the cheap money would keep flowing, reiterating that he expected “key rates to remain at present or lower levels for an extended period of time.”
BANKING
Deutsche Bank cuts 200 jobs
Deutsche Bank AG is cutting about 200 commodities jobs, joining the world’s largest financial firms in reducing headcount to the lowest since 2009 as prices for everything from energy to metals head for the first annual drop since the recession. The bank will exit dedicated energy, agriculture, dry bulk and base metals trading, and transfer its financial derivatives and precious metals desks to the fixed income and currencies division. Deutsche Bank is joining JPMorgan Chase & Co and Morgan Stanley in cutting back after investors pulled a record US$34.1 billion from commodity funds globally since December last year.
COMPUTERS
Hijacking stopped: Microsoft
Microsoft on Thursday announced it worked with Europol’s European cybercrime center, the US FBI and tech industry allies to disrupt a “dangerous” army of virus-infected computers used to hijack searches at Google, Bing and Yahoo. Microsoft estimated the bogus online advertisement billing and stolen traffic cost advertisers about US$2.7 million monthly.
AUTOMAKERS
Brazil production hits record
Vehicle production in Brazil, the world’s fourth-largest car market, reached a record 3.5 million units over the first 11 months of the year, according to industry data released on Thursday. The total beat a previous record of 3.4 million units produced during the whole of 2011 and was up 11.8 percent over the total for last year, the National Association of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers said. Exports during the period totaled a record US$15.4 billion with 522,900 units sold, up 29.4 percent from last year.
AVIATION
Qantas downgraded to ‘junk’
Embattled Australian carrier Qantas’ credit rating was downgraded by Standard & Poor’s (S&P) to “junk” status yesterday after the airline issued a shock profit warning and cut jobs. Qantas on Thursday flagged a half-year loss of up to A$300 million (US$271 million) and said it would axe 1,000 jobs as it struggles under the weight of record fuel costs and fierce competition from subsidized rivals. In response, S&P cut the airline’s rating from “BBB-,” the lowest investment grade, to “BB+” and placed it on a creditwatch with negative implications.
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
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”