ECONOMY
US posts 3.7% GDP growth
The US economy staged a far bigger rebound last quarter than first thought, outpacing the rest of the developed world and bolstering confidence that it can remain sturdy in coming months despite global headwinds. The GDP expanded at an annual rate of 3.7 percent in the April-June quarter, the Commerce Department reported on Thursday. That is more than a percentage point greater than the initial 2.3 percent estimate and a sharp upgrade from the anemic 0.6 percent advance during the January-March quarter.
ECONOMY
Swiss avoid recession
Switzerland unexpectedly avoided a recession last quarter as investment and private consumption helped return the economy to growth. GDP increased 0.2 percent in the three months through June, after a contraction of 0.2 percent in the previous quarter, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs in Bern said yesterday. Equipment and software investment increased 1.5 percent in the second quarter compared with the previous three months, while exports of goods excluding non-monetary gold, valuables and merchanting rose 0.5 percent, figures showed.
ECONOMY
UK service industry grows
Growth across UK services companies surged this month, adding to signs that the strong pace of economic upturn has continued into the second half of this year, a business survey showed on yesterday. The Confederation of British Industry’s (CBI) survey showed the biggest influx of work for business and professional services companies since records started in 1998, while conditions for consumer services companies also improved. “Companies are still looking to invest in people and capital, especially in IT which will help them exploit new technology and boost productivity,” the CBI said.
FOOD
Nestle tied to slave labor
Swiss food giant Nestle SA is being sued in the US for allegedly knowingly allowing its Fancy Feast cat food to contain fish from a Thai supplier that uses slave labor. Pet food buyers who filed the class action lawsuit on Thursday in US federal court in Los Angeles seek to represent all California consumers of Fancy Feast who would not have purchased the product had they known it had ties to slave labor. Nestle lists protection of human rights as one of its Corporate Business Principles.
FINANCE
Sachs Korea closes
Goldman Sachs Group Inc completed the winding down of its asset-management business in South Korea, as a regulator approved closing the last remaining part of it. Almost three years after Goldman Sachs Asset Management Korea Co announced its plans to exit and after a name change to Goldman Sachs Investment Advisory Co, the business was shuttered on Friday last week, according to a statement on the Financial Services Commission’s Web site.
FINANCE
Huarong approved for IPO
China Huarong Asset Management Co (中國華融資產管理), the nation’s biggest bad-loan manager, received Hong Kong stock exchange approval for an initial public offering, people with knowledge of the matter said. The Beijing-based company plans to seek about US$2 billion from the share sale, they said. It might start gauging demand for the offering early next month, the people said.
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