REAL ESTATE
US home resales rebound
Home resales in the US rebounded more than expected last month as supply improved, the National Association of Realtors said on Wednesday. Existing-home sales surged 5.1 percent to an annual rate of 5.33 million units last month, beating economists’ expectations of a 3.5 percent increase. Sales were up 1.5 percent from a year earlier, data showed. A separate report from the Mortgage Bankers Association showed mortgage applications last week rose to their highest level in nine weeks as interest rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages hovered at their lowest point in more than a year.
ELECTRONICS
Sony income misses forecast
Sony Corp said full-year operating income was 9.4 percent below its forecast after booking a ¥59.6 billion (US$543 million) impairment charge for the business that makes camera modules, including for smartphones. Operating earnings were ¥290 billion in the 12 months ended last month compared with its earlier projection of ¥320 billion, Sony said yesterday. Net income in the period was ¥145 billion, 3.6 percent more than forecast. The company is assessing the effects of this month’s earthquakes in Japan on earnings in the current year.
ELECTRONICS
Huawei to sell bonds
Huawei Technologies Co (華為), the world’s third-biggest smartphone maker, plans to sell at least US$2 billion of bonds amid a boom in financing for Chinese technology companies, a person familiar with the matter said. The firm plans to offer 10-year notes and is still in discussion with banks about the details, while the size could change, the person said.
GAMBLING
Sands misses profit tips
Sands China Ltd (金沙中國), the Macau-based casino unit of Las Vegas Sands Corp, reported first-quarter profit missed analysts’ estimates as China’s economic slowdown hurt visitor spending. Sands China’s adjusted property earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization shrank 2.5 percent to US$517.9 million from US$531 million a year earlier, the Las Vegas-based parent said on Wednesday. That compares with the US$547 million median estimate of four analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
UTILITIES
GIC to buy ITC shares
Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte agreed to buy 19.9 percent of ITC Holdings Corp from Fortis Inc for US$1.23 billion in cash in one of the biggest investments Asian companies have made in US power lines operators. The transaction allows Fortis to keep an investment-grade credit rating, according to a statement by the three companies on Wednesday. Fortis agreed in February to buy ITC for US$6.9 billion in cash and stock.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Novartis income down 13%
Swiss pharmaceuticals titan Novartis AG yesterday said net income from continued operations fell 13 percent in the first quarter to US$2.01 billion from US$2.31 billion a year earlier as generic competition cut into sales of Gleevec, one of the first effective cancer medicines. Sales dipped 3 percent to US$11.6 billion. Overall, the Basel-based company reported net income fell 85 percent from US$13 billion last year, which included the impact of an acquisition of oncology and consumer healthcare assets from GSK and the divestment of its vaccines and animal health businesses.
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