BANKING
US rate hike lacks support
The head of the New York Federal Reserve Bank says he is less inclined to support a Fed rate hike next month amid recent global turmoil, including falling oil prices and a slowdown in China. William Dudley says the developments pose downside risks for the US economy and have contributed to heightened market volatility. Dudley told reporters in New York that at the moment, the case for the Fed to hike interest rates next month for the first time in nearly a decade is “less compelling to me than it was a few weeks ago,” he said.
ENERGY
Total SA agrees to sale
Total SA, Europe’s second-biggest oil company by market capitalization, has agreed to sell gas pipelines and a terminal in the UK for £585 million (US$906 million) to North Sea Midstream Partners as part of a longstanding plan to shed non-core assets. The French company is to sell its interests in networks known as FUKA and SIRGE and the St Fergus Gas Terminal in Scotland, according to a statement. Total said it expects to become the largest oil and gas producing company in the UK at the end of this year following the start up of the Laggan-Tormore natural gas field.
OILfield services
Powerhouse merger planned
Schlumberger Ltd is buying Cameron International Corp in a cash-and-stock deal valued at about US$12.71 billion that would create an oilfield equipment and service powerhouse, the companies announced on Wednesday. Cameron shareholders are to receive 0.716 shares of Schlumberger common stock and a cash payment of US$14.44 for each of their shares. Schlumberger and Cameron put the acquisition’s total value at US$14.8 billion. The combined company had pro forma revenue of US$59 billion last year. Both companies’ boards unanimously approved the acquisition, which is expected to close in next year’s first quarter.
ENERGY
CNOOC warns of Q2 losses
Two of China’s biggest energy companies, Sinopec (中石化) and CNOOC (中海油), on Wednesday saw their first- half net profits slump as low international oil prices and a weak global economy hit the bottom line. Sinopec’s net profit for the first six months slumped 22.3 percent to 24.43 billion yuan (US$3.81 billion), while CNOOC reported a 56.1 percent year-on-year plunge in net profit to 14.73 billion yuan in the first half. Sinopec’s revenue dropped 23.3 percent year-on-year to 1.04 trillion yuan in the January-June period and CNOOC’s revenue also fell sharply by 35.5 percent year-on-year to 89.59 billion yuan in the first half. CNOOC warned there was little to hope for in the second half.
INTERNET
Facebook introduces AI
Facebook is the latest technology company to offer users a virtual assistant service. Facebook is testing the artificial intelligence-powered service, called simply “M,” inside its messaging app, Messenger, with some users. David Marcus, the head of messaging products at the Menlo Park, California, company, says in a Facebook post that “M” can do things like buy items for you, get gifts delivered and book restaurant reservations or appointments. Apple’s Siri is the most well-known virtual assistant. Microsoft and Amazon also have options. With more than 700 million users, Messenger is one of the world’s most popular messaging apps.
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],”
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
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained