OIL
Prices see minor rebound
A minor rebound on bargain-buying in Asian trade occurred yesterday following sharp falls that have seen prices hit multi-year lows owing to a supply glut and weak global demand, analysts said. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for November delivery climbed US$0.20 to US$82.04 a barrel in afternoon trade and Brent crude for November added US$0.30 to US$85.35. Brent on Tuesday tumbled 4.3 percent to levels not seen since 2010. WTI is still languishing at two-year lows after plummeting 4.5 percent in New York on Tuesday as the International Energy Agency slashed its demand forecast to 92.4 million barrels per day this year, 200,000 fewer than its previous growth forecast.
PHARMACEUTICALS
AbbVie rethinks takeover
London-listed pharmaceutical firm Shire PLC said it believed US suitor AbbVie Inc should proceed with its US$55 billion takeover despite a change to US regulations which curbed the tax benefits of the tie-up. Chicago-based AbbVie yesterday said it would reconsider a recommendation to its shareholders to back the Shire takeover. It had previously been eager to buy Shire, partly due to the opportunity to reduce its US tax bill by moving its tax base to Britain. However, last month, the US government announced tough new rules on corporate “inversion” deals — tie-ups which allow companies to escape high US taxes by reincorporating abroad, prompting concerns about the attractiveness of the deal.
TRADE
WTO backs US in dispute
The WTO has ruled in favor of US poultry and egg farmers in a dispute with India. US Trade Representative Michael Froman said on Tuesday that the WTO had ruled against Indian restrictions on US imports of meat and eggs that were intended to prevent avian influenza from entering that country. The restrictions began in 2007. The US argued in a 2012 challenge that there was no scientific basis for the restrictions and that they were inconsistent with international guidelines. There has not been an outbreak of high-pathogenic avian influenza in the US since 2004, officials said.
TOURISM
Singapore arrivals fall
International visitor arrivals to Singapore fell 3 percent in the first half of this year, hurt by a 30 percent drop in tourists from China, official data showed yesterday. Singapore’s tourism board said overall arrivals totalled 7.5 million in the six months to June, with second quarter numbers dipping by a sharper 6 percent. Travellers from China totalled 871,000 in the first half of the year, almost a third fewer than from the same period last year, the board said. It said that a tourism law implemented by China in October last year which tightened regulations on overseas travel contributed to the decline.
MINING
Rio iron ore production soars
Rio Tinto yesterday said that last quarter’s iron ore production soared to a record high, as criticism mounts that the mining giants’ rising output is adding to a global supply glut and depressing prices. The world’s second-largest mining firm reported a 12 percent year-on-year jump in its third-quarter iron ore production to 76.8 million tonnes. Global iron ore shipments for the quarter also hit new highs, surging 15 percent to 78 million tonnes.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure