SPAIN
Unemployment rate falls
The nation posted a record drop in registered unemployment last month. Jobless claims fell by 351,285 over the past 12 months, with 118,923 fewer people registered as out of work last month alone, the Labor Ministry said yesterday. On a seasonally adjusted basis, unemployment fell by 50,160 on the month. Despite the pickup in hiring, there are still 4.3 million people out of work as the nation gears up for a general election due at the end of the year.
ENERGY
Brazil to sell blocks of oil
Brazil is to sell off 269 blocks of oil this year to international operators, albeit none in potentially highly lucrative so-called pre-salt areas lying deep in the Atlantic, a Brazilian government minister said on Monday. Brazil is setting great store by the eventual exploitation of tens of billions of barrels of pre-salt stocks and whose selloff, originally slated for next year, is now expected to come in about 2017. In the meantime, Brasilia hopes the current auction round, slated for October, would net at least 2 billion reais (US$666 million.)
BANKING
UBS’ net income rises
UBS Group AG, Switzerland’s biggest bank, said net income in the first three months of the year almost doubled in a quarter that saw all divisions beat analyst estimates. Net income rose 88 percent to 1.98 billion Swiss francs (US$2.1 billion), up from 1.05 billion francs a year earlier, UBS said yesterday. Return on tangible equity — a measure of profitability — amounted to about 14 percent in the quarter, above its target of 10 percent for the year, the bank said.
APPAREL
Adidas confirms targets
Adidas, the German maker of sportswear and equipment, yesterday said that it has confirmed its full-year earnings targets after its business got off to a “good start” in the first three months. In the period from January to March, net profit grew by 8.2 percent to 221 million euros (US$245 million). Underlying or operating profit was up 12.3 percent at 345 million euros on a 17.3 percent increase in sales to 4.083 billion euros, Adidas said.
AIRLINES
Lufthansa losses narrow
German airline Lufthansa saw its operating losses narrow in the first quarter as fuel costs fell in the wake of lower oil prices. Its operating loss of 167 million euros compared with a 240 million deficit a year ago. Fuel was 14 percent cheaper — 36 percent when the airline’s financial hedging is considered. Once everything is accounted for, Lufthansa said yesterday that it returned to profit during the period thanks to a 503 million euros one-off gain. Net profit came in at 425 million euros.
CHEMICALS
Dow to cut workforce
Dow Chemical Co is to cut about 3 percent of its global workforce as it prepares to break off a significant part of its chlorine operations in a deal announced earlier this year with Olin Corp. The company said the cuts would reduce its workforce by 1,500 to 1,750 positions. Dow Chemical employed about 53,000 people worldwide at the end of last year. The company is to take charges totaling about US$330 million to US$380 million in the second quarter for asset impairments, severance and other costs tied the cuts announced on Monday.
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
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],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day