NEW ZEALAND
Manufacturing drives growth
The economy expanded 0.9 percent quarter-on-quarter in the fourth quarter last year, taking annual growth to 2.7 percent, official data showed yesterday. The figures, driven by a 2.1 percent rise in manufacturing, were in line with expectations and are unlikely to alter the central bank’s policy of tightening interest rates, which began earlier this month. Statistics New Zealand said manufacturing reached its highest level since March 2006 as the economy recorded its 12th consecutive quarter of growth.
UNITED KINGDOM
GDP growth forecast raised
The economy is set to grow faster than expected in the buildup to next year’s general election, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said on Wednesday in a vote-chasing budget aimed at wooing pensioners and savers. GDP is set to grow 2.7 percent this year, up from the previous forecast of 2.4 percent, Osborne said. The economy is then forecast to expand by 2.3 percent next year, upgraded from the previous growth forecast of 2.2 percent. The economy expanded by 1.8 percent last year.
COMMODITIES
JPMorgan Chase seals deal
JPMorgan Chase & Co said on Wednesday that it has made a deal to sell its physical commodities business for US$3.5 billion as regulators weigh whether to restrict banks’ ability to control power plants, warehouses and oil refineries. If it is approved by regulators, the deal would put the commodities business in the hands of energy and commodities trading company Mercuria Energy Group Ltd. The deal is targeted to close in the third quarter.
EQUITIES
Rogue trader to be jailed
France’s highest court upheld a prison sentence for a one-time rogue trader convicted of carrying out one of the biggest trading frauds in history, but threw out the 4.9 billion euros (US$7 billion) in civil damages he had been ordered to pay back. Jerome Kerviel almost took down his bank, Societe Generale SA, seven years ago with 4.9 billion euros in losses. Convicted in 2010, he sees himself as a victim of a system that turned a blind eye to his illegal trades as long as they made money for the bank. Kerviel is currently in Italy, walking back to Paris on a pilgrimage after meeting the pope.
INTERNET
Pandora wins partial victory
A US judge handed Internet radio company Pandora Media a partial victory in a royalties dispute with music publishers and songwriters in a decision released on Wednesday. The decision, closely watched for its impact on the fast-growing online radio industry, keeps intact the royalty rate paid by Pandora, the largest US Internet radio firm. US District Judge Denise Cote set a five-year royalty rate owed by Pandora to the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers for licensing music at 1.85 percent, the same level as currently exists.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Trial results disappoint
Britain’s GlaxoSmithKline said it was disappointed by some of the results of a stage III trial for a lung cancer treatment, but would continue with it as there could still be a group of patients who may benefit. The company said yesterday that its MAGE-A3 antigen-specific cancer immunotherapeutic did not meet two of its targets in a phase III non-small cell lung cancer clinical trial, but that it is continuing to assess it with regards to a third target.
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
Clambering hand-over-hand, sweat dripping into his eyes, a durian laborer expertly slices a cumbersome fruit from a tree before tossing it down to land with a soft thump in his colleague’s waiting arms about 15m below. Among Thailand’s most famous and lucrative exports, the pungent “king of fruits” is as distinctive in its smell as its spiky green-brown carapace, and has been farmed in the kingdom for hundreds of years. However, a vicious heat wave engulfing Southeast Asia has resulted in smaller yields and spiraling costs, with growers and sellers increasingly panicked as global warming damages the industry. “This year is a crisis,”
HIGH-TECH: As leading-edge process technologies become more complicated, only a handful of players are able to provide design services, the company’s CEO said Artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) yesterday said that revenue would grow significantly again in 2026 after adding a major AI chip customer, reversing moderation amid a product transition next year. The Taipei-based application-specific IC (ASIC) designer reiterated its strong revenue growth forecast for this year and 2026 after its stock plummeted about 23 percent to NT$3,145 from a peak of NT$4,085 on March 6 amid growing competition. Alchip said it has built strong partnerships with cloud service providers (CSP), denying that it had lost orders to smaller competitors such as Faraday Technology Corp (智原). Faraday said it has secured