UNITED STATES
Import prices down
Import prices fell only 0.1 percent last month in data reported by the US Department of Labor on Friday, offset by recovering oil prices, suggesting a slowdown in the rate of imported deflation is occurring which might eventually allow the US Federal Reserve to raise interest rates. Labor department data also showed the price of imported consumer goods other than cars rose 0.1 percent last month, the first gain since February.
UNITED KINGDOM
Trade deficit climbs
The nation posted a larger-than-forecast trade deficit in August and construction output fell at the fastest pace since 2012, underlining the economy’s slowing momentum. The goods trade deficit was £11.1 billion (US$17 billion) compared with an upwardly revised £12.2 billion in July, the Office for National Statistics said in London on Friday. Economists in a Bloomberg survey had forecast a narrowing to £9.9 billion. Construction output fell 4.3 percent.
PRIVATIZATION
Italy to sell postal shares
Italy plans to raise as much as 3.7 billion euros (US$4.2 billion) by selling stock in state postal company Poste Italiane SpA, the country’s biggest initial public offering since it sold a stake in utility Enel SpA in 1999. The government is expected to offer “slightly less” than 40 percent of the company at a price of between 6 euros and 7.5 euros per share, the finance ministry said in a statement. The ministry said 30 percent of the offering will be reserved for retail investors. The shares are scheduled to start trading in Milan on Monday.
AVIATION
Egypt lifts flight tax
Egypt’s aviation minister said airlines have begun applying a tax increase on all flights out of the country. The tax increase, which went into effect on Friday, is part of the government’s plan to shore up public finances after years of unrest following the 2011 uprising. Minister Hossam Kamal said the tax on business-class tickets increased by a third to reach 400 Egyptian pounds (US$51), while the tax on coach tickets increased by half to reach 150 Egyptian pounds (US$19).
ENTERTAINMENT
Sony cuts PS4 price
Sony Corp on Thursday sliced US$50 off the price of PlayStation 4 video game consoles, matching that of rival Microsoft Corp’s Xbox One ahead of the frantic holiday shopping season. The PS4 dropped to US$350 in the US starting on Friday, according to Sony Computer Entertainment America. Sony has shipped a total of 25.45 million PS4 consoles worldwide, while Microsoft has shipped 13.88 million Xbox One consoles, according to industry tracker VGChartz Network.
SMARTPHONES
Snooping apps removed
Apple on Friday rid its App Store of some applications that it said could snoop on people’s data and posed a security threat. While Apple did not disclose which apps were pulled from its virtual shelves, the list was reported to include software capable of blocking ads from appearing inside other applications such as Facebook. Apple said it was working closely with developers to quickly get their apps back on the App Store.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI
Qualcomm Inc, the world’s biggest seller of smartphone processors, gave an upbeat forecast for sales and profit in the current period, suggesting demand for handsets is increasing after a two-year slump. Revenue in the three months ended in June will be US$8.8 billion to US$9.6 billion, the company said in a statement Wednesday. Excluding certain items, earnings will be US$2.15 to US$2.35 a share. Analysts had projected sales of US$9.08 billion and earnings of US$2.16 a share. The outlook signals that the smartphone market has begun to bounce back, tracking with Qualcomm’s forecast that demand would gradually recover this year. The San