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.
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
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
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