STEEL
WTO ruling favors India
The WTO on Monday upheld in part a judgement that the US broke global trade rules by imposing import duties on Indian steel products, in a mixed ruling that also found elements in Washington’s favor. The WTO’s Appellate Body reversed some of the findings made by the organization’s dispute settlement panel in July and upheld others. It found in favor of both sides in technical elements of the dispute, but concluded that the US was “inconsistent with its obligations” and should be brought into line. India filed its complaint at the WTO in 2012, after Washington imposed duties of nearly 300 percent on imports of products including steel pipes.
INDIA
Current account gap widens
India’s current account deficit widened more than estimated to its largest since the quarter through June last year as exports slowed and gold imports surged. The July-September shortfall in the broadest measure of trade widened to US$10.1 billion from US$7.8 billion the previous quarter, the Reserve Bank of India said in a statement on Monday. The gap amounts to 2.1 percent of GDP, lower than the level the central bank considers sustainable. The current account shortfall is forecast to keep widening in the next two quarters, Credit Analysis & Research Ltd economist Madan Sabnavis said, citing slowing exports.
BANKING
NY sues Deutsche Bank
US federal authorities in New York have sued Deutsche Bank and other financial entities, alleging they dodged more than US$100 million in taxes with some fancy financial footwork. The lawsuit was filed on Monday in Manhattan. It seeks to recover more than US$190 million in taxes, penalties and interest. Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara said Deutsche Bank used shell companies to make tax liabilities disappear nearly 15 years ago. Deutsche Bank spokeswoman Renee Calabro said the bank addressed the government’s concerns about the transaction in a 2009 agreement with the US Internal Revenue Service. She said the government had abandoned its theory the bank was liable and it is unclear why it is pursuing the issue again.
RETAIL
Tesco warns on profit
Troubled British grocer Tesco has warned on full-year profit again, slashing its full-year outlook by almost one-third in the latest downgrade sparked by an accounting scandal and intense competition in its home market. The firm, the world’s No. 3 retailer, yesterday said that on the basis of the changes and investments it has made to date it now anticipates group trading profit for the financial year ending February next year will not exceed £1.4 billion (US$2.2 billion). According to its Web site, analysts previously forecast a consensus group trading profit of £1.94 billion for the year.
FINANCE
CLSA plans expansion
CLSA Ltd, the brokerage owned by Citic Securities Co (中信證券), plans to expand into investment banking globally to build on its existing research and brokering business. Hong Kong-based CLSA plans to hire bankers next year to provide mergers advisory, equity capital markets services and the provision of debt to companies, said Andrew Low (羅安君), the incoming head of the firm’s international investment banking unit. He declined to give details on the expansion. CLSA has more than 1,500 employees in 21 locations across Asia, Europe and the US.
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
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
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
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