BANKING
Goldman cuts more jobs
Goldman Sachs Group Inc is cutting more jobs in its securities units, extending reductions in fixed-income operations this year to about 10 percent of workers there, according to people with knowledge of the situation. The dismissals in New York and London this week build on cuts that already had targeted about 8 percent of fixed-income personnel through last month, people with knowledge of the matter said. The push also affects the equities division, one person said. The Wall Street Journal reported the recent escalation of fixed-income reductions earlier on Thursday. Michael DuVally, a company spokesman, declined to comment on the expansion.
ELECTRONICS
Google, Honeywell settle
Alphabet Inc-owned Google and Honeywell International Inc on Thursday announced a deal to end a patent dispute over technology used in Nest smart thermostats. The companies said in a joint release that a new patent cross-licensing agreement resolves a pending lawsuit. However, they did not disclose terms or financial details. Google bought Nest in 2014 in a deal valued at US$3.2 billion. Nest operates under the umbrella of Google’s parent company, Alphabet.
MEDIA
News Corp slides into loss
News Corp on Thursday said a one-time legal settlement charge pushed the media giant into a loss in what it described as a “disappointing” quarter. The conglomerate controlled by Rupert Murdoch and his family, which includes newspapers around the world and a large online real-estate Web site, reported a net loss for shareholders of US$149 million in the quarter to March. That compared with a US$23 million profit a year ago. Total revenues slipped about 7 percent to US$1.9 billion. The bottom line was hit by a US$280 million charge to settle a lawsuit brought by consumer packaged goods companies that accused News Corp of controlling a monopoly on in-store advertising in the US.
BRAZIL
Fitch cuts sovereign rating
Brazil was downgraded by Fitch Ratings, which kept a negative outlook on the nation’s debt, citing a deeper-than-anticipated recession and political instability. Fitch cut the rating by one level to “BB,” in line with ratings from S&P Global Ratings and Moody’s Investors Service. Fitch said the Brazilian economy would contract 3.8 percent this year and rebound by 0.5 percent next year. The government’s debt burden is expected to reach about 80 percent of GDP by next year, one of most indebted sovereigns in the “BB” category, Fitch said.
AUSTRALIA
Inflation to miss target
The central bank forecast that core inflation is unlikely to reach the bottom of its target this year and will probably only do so in the ensuing two years as the developed world’s disinflation quandary spreads. Three-year bond yields plunged to a record. The Reserve Bank of Australia, in its quarterly statement yesterday, said underlying inflation is expected to be 1 to 2 percent this year, down from the 2 to 3 percent it forecast in February. It left estimated economic growth at 2.5 percent to 3.5 percent this year and next and predicted unemployment would remain at the current 5.7 percent. It gave no guidance on the interest-rate outlook after cutting its benchmark to a fresh record 1.75 percent on Tuesday.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Qualcomm Inc, the world’s biggest seller of smartphone processors, gave an upbeat forecast for sales and profit in the current period, suggesting demand for handsets is increasing after a two-year slump. Revenue in the three months ended in June will be US$8.8 billion to US$9.6 billion, the company said in a statement Wednesday. Excluding certain items, earnings will be US$2.15 to US$2.35 a share. Analysts had projected sales of US$9.08 billion and earnings of US$2.16 a share. The outlook signals that the smartphone market has begun to bounce back, tracking with Qualcomm’s forecast that demand would gradually recover this year. The San
Clambering hand-over-hand, sweat dripping into his eyes, a durian laborer expertly slices a cumbersome fruit from a tree before tossing it down to land with a soft thump in his colleague’s waiting arms about 15m below. Among Thailand’s most famous and lucrative exports, the pungent “king of fruits” is as distinctive in its smell as its spiky green-brown carapace, and has been farmed in the kingdom for hundreds of years. However, a vicious heat wave engulfing Southeast Asia has resulted in smaller yields and spiraling costs, with growers and sellers increasingly panicked as global warming damages the industry. “This year is a crisis,”