COMMODITIES
Glencore shares on the rise
Commodities miner and trader Glencore PLC this week sought to reassure investors over concerns about its debt load, as shares rose for the third time in four days. Shares rose 1.1 percent to £0.92 by 8:02am in London yesterday, narrowing this week’s loss to 5.4 percent. The shares have endured a roller-coaster week after it plunged a record 29 percent on Monday before recovering much of those losses in the following two days.
MEDIA
FremantleMedia buys Kwai
FremantleMedia, the television producer and distributor behind shows such as The X Factor and Family Feud yesterday said it bought a majority stake in French producer Kwai to boost its scripted television portfolio. The investment by FremantleMedia, which is owned by Bertelsmann SE’s RTL Group, is part of a strategy to form partnerships to create content that can cross international borders. Financial details were not disclosed. Kwai, which is run by Thomas Bourguignon, the creator of French detective series Femmes de Loi, is to produce scripted series that appeal beyond France, FremantleMedia said. Kwai shot two French television films earlier this year, and upcoming series include Republican Gangsters for Canal Plus and Godzilla for Arte.
OIL
US lifts oil export ban
A bill to lift the 40-year-old ban on US oil exports passed the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday, but the future of the measure is uncertain in the full chamber, after a controversial amendment was added to it. The bill, sponsored by Senator Heidi Heitkamp, a Democrat from oil-producing North Dakota, passed 13 to 9. Heitkamp was the only Democrat to vote for the measure. Senator Pat Toomey, a Republican of Pennsylvania, added an amendment to the bill that would make Iran compensate US victims of Iranian backed terrorism, language that senators said would doom the bill’s future.
INTERNET
Facebook tests video profile
The world’s largest social network is testing new profile videos that can be created from phones and would replace a still profile photo. The seven-second, looping videos play automatically when you look at someone’s profile page. The videos can include sound that would play only if you click on the video. For now, only some iPhone users in California and the UK have access to the changes. Any Facebook user can see them. Facebook Inc does not have a specific date for expanding the feature.
RETAIL
Recreational pot legalized
Marijuana sales for recreational use began in Oregon on Thursday, as it joined Washington state and Colorado in allowing the sale of a drug that remains illegal under US federal law. Oregon residents 21 years and older can buy up to 7 grams of dried marijuana at about 200 existing medical-use marijuana dispensaries under the new law. Backers hope the law can help curb a flourishing black market, but opponents say it heightens drug use and access by children. Voters in Oregon and Alaska last year approved marijuana use and possession in state-regulated frameworks. Marijuana shops created specifically for the recreational market, like those operating in Washington state and Colorado, are expected to open next year in both Oregon and Alaska.
AUCTIONS
Jack Ma painting to be sold
A painting by Jack Ma (馬雲) and Chinese artist Zeng Fanzhi (曾梵志) that is to be auctioned by Sotheby’s in Hong Kong tomorrow could fetch as much as HK$2.5 million (US$322,577) for charity, according to the auction house. The oil on canvas painting created last year depicts the Earth and is titled Paradise. Ma and Zeng collaborated on the piece to raise awareness of environmental protection, according to the Sotheby’s catalogue. “This is the first time I’ve painted, and to have been able to do it with Fanzhi — I am deeply honored,” Ma, the billionaire co-founder and chairman of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴), is quoted in the catalogue as saying. “Together we have created an earth: to protect the Earth, to protect the oceans, to protect the air,” he said.
ELECTRONICS
Samsung releases Gear S2
Samsung yesterday began selling its new smartwatch in the US, starting at US$300. The South Korean company announced the Gear S2 in August, but gave no details on prices then. The S2 has a circular frame that can be rotated to scroll through notifications and apps. Previous models required swiping, similar to smartphones, which could tire out fingers given how little fits on each screen. The watch itself is also smaller — roughly the size of the larger version of Apple Inc’s Apple Watch. For the first time, Samsung’s smartwatch will work with any Android smartphone, not just Samsung’s, although all features might not work.
COMMODITIES
Interest in Glencore grows
The sovereign wealth fund of Singapore is among investors that have expressed interest in buying a minority stake in Glencore PLC’s agriculture business, according to two people familiar with the conversations. Others involved in preliminary negotiations include Japanese trading houses, such as Mitsui & Co, and at least one Canadian pension fund, said the individuals, who asked not to be identified because the matter is confidential. Citigroup Inc, one of the banks hired to run the sale alongside Credit Suisse Group AG, in an analyst note on Tuesday said that the whole business could be worth as much as US$10.5 billion. Glencore is seeking to sell a minority stake in the unit, which deals in commodities from wheat to cotton and soybeans to sugar.
FOOD SERVICE
Court charges OSI units
Two subsidiaries of OSI Group LLC have been charged in a Chinese court in a year-long food safety scandal that saw the US supplier of meat products probed for allegedly selling out-of-date products. Prosecutors have filed a lawsuit against OSI’s Shanghai and Hebei Husi Foods Ltd (福喜食品), along with 10 employees, accusing the US company’s units of making and selling substandard products, according to a statement posted on a Shanghai government Web site dated Wednesday.
JAPAN
Household spending rises
Household spending in August rose for the first time in three months and the availability of jobs improved to its best in more than two decades, which could temper concerns that the economy has fallen into a recession. The 2.9 percent annual increase in household spending in August was more than the median estimate for a 0.4 percent year-on-year increase and followed a 0.2 percent annual decline in July as consumers bought more cars.
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
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