MACROECONOMICS
IMF raises US outlook
The IMF is raising its outlook for the US economy, as a budget deal in Washington and the US Federal Reserve’s plan to taper its bond buying ease doubts about the future, IMF managing director Christine Lagarde said. “We see a lot more certainty for 2014,” she said in an interview broadcast on Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press. “With the unemployment rate falling, the Fed’s action last week and the government budget agreement, all of that gives us a much stronger outlook for 2014, which brings us to raising our forecast.” In October, the IMF said the US economy would expand 2.6 percent next year, compared with 1.6 percent this year. Lagarde did not specify any new figures in the interview.
MANUFACTURING
Spain producer prices fall
Spanish producer prices fell the most in seven months last month, led by declines in energy and consumer goods. Prices at factory gates declined 0.9 percent from October, when they dropped a revised 0.5 percent, the National Statistics Institute said in a statement. Prices slipped 0.6 percent compared with a year earlier. The Spanish government is trying to drive down the cost of export goods to boost competitiveness, as it looks to foreign demand to drag the economy out of a five-year slump.
JEWELRY
Swatch wins Tiffany suit
Swiss watchmaker Swatch Group has won a lawsuit against US jewelry group Tiffany & Co over a failed joint venture to jointly design and market luxury watches. Tiffany was required to pay Swatch 402 million Swiss francs (US$449 million) under the ruling by the Netherlands Arbitration Institute, Swatch said in a statement. The case stemmed from a 2007-2011 cooperation deal that Swatch said Tiffany had systematically obstructed. Swatch Group had sought SF3.8 billion from its erstwhile partner, while Tiffany had countersued for SF541.9 million from Swatch.
RETAIL
N Brown Group expanding
Internet and catalogue retailer N Brown Group PLC, which owns the Jacamo and Simply Be brands, is seeking to expand its presence in the UK, the Daily Telegraph reported. The company, which has nine outlets in the UK, has hired a former Asda property executive to spearhead the property acquisition, the report said. “We’re looking for locations which will be suitable to house our brands, Jacamo and Simply Be, and complement our established and thriving Internet and catalogue businesses,” N Brown property acquisitions manager Guy Price said.
STEEL
Fitch downgrades POSCO
Fitch Ratings Ltd has lowered POSCO’s credit rating one level to its second-lowest investment grade because of high capital expenditure and rising debt. Fitch does not expect significant improvements in margins at South Korea’s largest steelmaker, as the industry faces severe overcapacity coupled with a slow recovery in global demand, it said in a statement yesterday. It downgraded POSCO’s long-term issuer default rating and senior unsecured rating to “BBB” from “BBB+”.
RETAIL
Prada issues profit warning
Prada SpA shares slid 4.2 percent to HK$68.50 yesterday after the Italian maker of luxury handbags said sales may miss estimates. The luxury retailer said it may fall short of analysts’ projections for fiscal-year revenue following unfavorable currency moves and slowing Europe and Asia demand.
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],”