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.
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
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in