BRAZIL
Moody’s reviews rating
Moody’s on Wednesday put the nation’s sovereign rating on review for a cut to “junk” status, piling more pressure on embattled President Dilma Rousseff. The ratings agency said in a statement that “worsening governability conditions and increased risk of policy paralysis” was one of the main drivers for the move. The world’s seventh-biggest economy is currently rated “Baa3,” the lowest level of investment grade. Meanwhile, annual inflation hit a 12-year high at 10.48 percent last month, the government said on Wednesday.
COMMODITIES
Glencore adjusts debt goal
Swiss commodities trader Glencore PLC yesterday said it will seek to cut its net debt to as low as US$18 billion by the end of next year, accelerating a program aimed at reducing its liabilities as raw materials prices plunge. The company is seeking to reduce its debt to between US$18 billion and US$19 billion by the end of next year, compared with a previous target of the low US$20 billion, it said in a statement. Glencore’s net debt totaled US$30 billion at the end of June. It also said it will trim capital spending next year to US$3.8 billion from an earlier estimate of US$5 billion.
AUTOMOBILES
Sales rise in China
Vehicle sales in China last month rose to a high for the year, driven by tax cuts and red-hot demand for sport utility vehicles (SUV). The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers yesterday said that sales of cars, SUVs and minivans rose 23.7 percent from a year earlier to 2.2 million vehicles. That represented an improvement over October’s already healthy 13.3 percent rise. Sales last month were helped by a 72 percent rise in purchases of SUVs, especially Chinese brands in lower price tiers.
BRITAIN
Growth forecast cut
The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) on Wednesday downgraded its growth forecasts for the next three years on the back of weaker trade and manufacturing, which have been dragged by a slowdown in the global economy. The economy is now expected to grow 2.4 percent this year, down from a previous estimate of 2.6 percent, the BCC said. It will then expand 2.5 percent next year and in 2017, the group said, down from its previous forecast of 2.7 percent for each of those years.
MEDIA
EU seeks rule relaxation
The EU on Wednesday unveiled plans that would by 2017 allow travelers to get their Netflix film fix or listen to Spotify when abroad, something currently blocked by complex copyright rules. The commission, the executive body of the EU, said the proposal is to go to the European parliament and the 28 EU member states for approval, which the commission hopes will come next year, with final implementation of the rules in 2017.
PORTUGAL
Economy outlook cut
The economy is to expand less than previously forecast for the next two years because of weaker export growth, the central bank said on Wednesday. GDP is to rise 1.7 percent next year and 1.8 percent in 2017, down from the 1.9 percent and 2 percent forecast in June, the Lisbon-based Bank of Portugal said. It also cut its projection for this year to 1.6 percent from 1.7 percent.
DECOUPLING? In a sign of deeper US-China technology decoupling, Apple has held initial talks about using Baidu’s generative AI technology in its iPhones, the Wall Street Journal said China has introduced guidelines to phase out US microprocessors from Intel Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) from government PCs and servers, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The procurement guidance also seeks to sideline Microsoft Corp’s Windows operating system and foreign-made database software in favor of domestic options, the report said. Chinese officials have begun following the guidelines, which were unveiled in December last year, the report said. They order government agencies above the township level to include criteria requiring “safe and reliable” processors and operating systems when making purchases, the newspaper said. The US has been aiming to boost domestic semiconductor
Nvidia Corp earned its US$2.2 trillion market cap by producing artificial intelligence (AI) chips that have become the lifeblood powering the new era of generative AI developers from start-ups to Microsoft Corp, OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet Inc. Almost as important to its hardware is the company’s nearly 20 years’ worth of computer code, which helps make competition with the company nearly impossible. More than 4 million global developers rely on Nvidia’s CUDA software platform to build AI and other apps. Now a coalition of tech companies that includes Qualcomm Inc, Google and Intel Corp plans to loosen Nvidia’s chokehold by going
ENERGY IMPACT: The electricity rate hike is expected to add about NT$4 billion to TSMC’s electricity bill a year and cut its annual earnings per share by about NT$0.154 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has left its long-term gross margin target unchanged despite the government deciding on Friday to raise electricity rates. One of the heaviest power consuming manufacturers in Taiwan, TSMC said it always respects the government’s energy policy and would continue to operate its fabs by making efforts in energy conservation. The chipmaker said it has left a long-term goal of more than 53 percent in gross margin unchanged. The Ministry of Economic Affairs concluded a power rate evaluation meeting on Friday, announcing electricity tariffs would go up by 11 percent on average to about NT$3.4518 per kilowatt-hour (kWh)
OPENING ADDRESS: The CEO is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence at the trade show’s opening on June 3, TAITRA said Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) chairperson and chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) is to deliver the opening keynote speech at Computex Taipei this year, the event’s organizer said in a statement yesterday. Su is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing (HPC) in the artificial intelligence (AI) era to open Computex, one of the world’s largest computer and technology trade events, at 9:30am on June 3, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said. Su is to explore how AMD and the company’s strategic technology partners are pushing the limits of AI and HPC, from data centers to