CONGLOMERATES
GE posts higher Q4 profit
General Electric Co (GE) posted increased revenue and profit for the fourth quarter on rising sales in emerging markets, higher banking profit, and stronger global sales of aircraft engines and oil and gas drilling equipment. However, GE shares fell 2.3 percent on Friday, because the company failed to increase its profit margin as much as it had predicted. Its profit for the full year rose, although revenue fell slightly, as the firm continues its transformation from a sprawling conglomerate to a more focused industrial company that builds and services complex equipment such as CT scanners, locomotives and gas-fired turbines. GE reported that its net income rose 5 percent to US$4.2 billion, or US$0.41 per share, for the October-December period on revenue of US$40.38 billion. That is up from US$4.01 billion, or US$0.38 per share, on revenue of US$39.16 billion in the previous year.
SHIPPING
UPS misses profit forecasts
United Parcel Service Inc (UPS) reported preliminary fourth-quarter earnings that trailed analysts’ estimates after a surge in online shopping just before Christmas forced it to hire more temporary workers than planned and miss holiday deliveries. The company expects earnings per share of US$1.25 (NT$37.50), it said in a statement, falling short of an average estimate of US$1.43 from 26 analysts. Atlanta-based UPS expects to report an adjusted profit of US$4.57 a share for last year, below its prior projection of US$4.65 to US$4.85, it said. Analysts anticipated US$4.75 on average. UPS will report results on Jan. 30.
MACROECONOMICS
France may raise target
French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici said on Friday that the economy could grow by more than 1 percent this year, higher than the 0.9 percent forecast until now, if new government reforms lead to a return in confidence. “There is a fundamental psychological element of the economy, if all participants ... can mobilize themselves, confidence can return and investment will accelerate,” Moscovici told the daily Le Monde. France has been looking to ride the general global recovery, with growth picking up after a near stagnant 2013. However, French President Francois Hollande announced this week the intention to jump-start the economy with 30 billion euros (US$41 billion) in cuts to payroll taxes and further efforts to balance public finances with 50 billion euros in spending cuts over three years.
FINANCE
Banks drop advance loans
Wells Fargo & Co and US Bancorp are among lenders that plan to stop offering advance loans to direct deposit customers, as the business comes under pressure from regulators and consumer advocates. Wells Fargo, the biggest US home lender, is shutting down its service starting on Feb. 1, the company said yesterday in a statement. Minneapolis-based US Bancorp, the nation’s largest regional lender, said its program would end on Jan. 31, as did Cincinnati-based Fifth Third Bancorp. Regions Financial Corp announced on Jan. 15 that it would discontinue its Ready Advance service this year. Banks are abandoning these products amid intensifying scrutiny from regulators about their high costs and similarities to payday lending.
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