CHINA
Lending declines sharply
Bank lending declined sharply last month to 597.8 billion yuan (US$91.1 billion) from November’s 708.9 billion yuan, the central bank said yesterday. “The lower-than-expected new loans suggest that credit demand remained weak,” ANZ Banking Group said in a research note, adding that commercial banks were reluctant to lend given increasing risk. Total social financing — the broadest measure of credit in the economy — was 1.82 trillion yuan last month, the central bank said, higher than 1.02 trillion yuan in November and above the median forecast of 1.15 trillion yuan according to a Bloomberg News survey.
UNITED STATES
Economy rosy: JPMorgan
JPMorgan Chase & Co chief executive Jamie Dimon said on Thursday the economy looks “pretty good” and growth, though slowing, would not end up in recession. “We’re not forecasting a recession,” Dimon said in a conference call with analysts after the bank reported fourth-quarter earnings that topped expectations. He cited economic growth of about 2 to 2.5 percent in the past two years, coupled with the creation of 5 million jobs.
BEVERAGES
Merger tough: Suntory head
The head of Japanese whisky maker Suntory says merging Japanese and US work cultures remains a major challenge in his company’s acquisition of the maker of Jim Beam bourbon. Suntory Holdings Ltd president Takeshi Niinami said yesterday that integration is not easy because of differing career aspirations and compensation systems for Japanese and US employees. Suntory bought the former Beam Inc in 2014. Niinami said his goal is to create a global workforce that shares ideas freely.
RETAIL
Carrefour meets estimates
Carrefour SA, France’s largest retailer, reported fourth-quarter revenue that met analysts’ estimates, boosted by Spain and Italy, achieving a fourth year of annual growth. Revenue rose 2.4 percent on an organic basis to 22.4 billion euros (US$24 billion), Boulogne-Billancourt, France-based Carrefour said yesterday in a statement. Analysts expected 22.6 billion euros, according to the median of estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
RETAIL
Best Buy reduces outlook
Best Buy Co Inc on Thursday reduced its sales outlook for the fourth quarter. The Minneapolis-based company said it expects a larger drop in fourth-quarter revenue, though the company improved its outlook for operating income. The company’s domestic same-store sales, a key measure of a retailer’s health, fell 1.2 percent in the nine-week period ended on Jan. 2 compared with growth of 3.4 percent during the same period the previous year. Online revenue rose 12.6 percent, compared with growth of 13.4 percent the previous year.
RIDE HAILERS
Uber subsidiary fined
The California Public Utilities Commission on Thursday hit a Uber subsidiary with a US$7.6 million fine for failing to comply with reporting requirements fully and in a timely manner. The commission also said that the subsidiary, Raiser-CA, was in contempt and had 30 days to pay the penalty or face suspension of its license to operate in the state. Uber on Thursday said it was disappointed with the ruling and vowed to appeal. The company maintained that it provided what information it could without risking the privacy of riders and drivers.
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