ECONOMY
S&P cuts the EU’s rating
Ratings agency Standard and Poor’s (S&P) on Thursday cut the credit rating for the EU by one notch, saying that the bloc had grown more uncertain after Brexit. S&P cut the EU’s rating to “AA,” still the third-highest possible level, from “AA+” with a “stable” outlook, which signifies that the agency believes no further cut would be necessary in the medium term. On Monday, both S&P and Fitch downgraded Britain’s rating citing the referendum that decided an exit from the EU. S&P cut the country’s rating from the top “AAA” to “AA,” while Fitch lowered its rating from “AA+” to “AA.”
BANKING
Key interest rate raised
The Banco de Mexico on Thursday raised its key interest rate by half a point to contain inflation and shore up the peso after its battering following Britain’s decision to leave the EU. Facing the prospect of “sluggish” global growth in the second half of this year, the central bank decided to “increase the interbank base rate by 50 points to a level of 4.25 percent,” it said in a statement. Mexico’s GDP saw growth of 2.5 percent last year. This year, the bank predicts the economy should expand between 2.5 percent and 3.5 percent.
CHINA
New home prices slow
The cost of new homes rose at a slower rate last month from the previous month, figures showed yesterday, as measures to tame prices in economy took hold. The average price for new houses in 100 major cities increased 1.32 percent month-on-month to 11,816 yuan (US$1,776) per square meter, the China Index Academy said in a statement, down from April’s 1.7 percent. Year-on-year, new home prices were up 11.18 percent last month, compared with 10.34 percent in May, the academy said.
MINING
Newmont sells PTNNT stake
Newmont Mining Corp, the largest US bullion producer, agreed to sell its Indonesian copper and gold assets for US$1.3 billion as the country pushes miners to build smelters rather than exporting raw materials. PT Amman Mineral Internasional, a closely held Indonesian company backed by three local banks, will buy Newmont’s 48.5 percent interest in PTNNT, which operates the Batu Hijau mine, the Colorado-based company said in a statement on Thursday. Sumitomo Corp also agreed to sell its stake in an asset that Newmont says has a gross valuation of more than US$2.5 billion.
INTERNET
Google to offer ‘Nougat’
Google is serving a new morsel for fans of its Android software: The next version has been dubbed “Nougat,” extending the tradition of nicknaming each overhaul of Android after a sweet food. The Nougat name announced on Thursday comes seven weeks after Google sought suggestions during its annual conference for software engineers. Nougat is scheduled to be released in new smartphones this fall, when the makers of existing Android devices will also be able to enable updates to the new software. Nougat’s new features will include the ability to run apps without actually installing them on a device.
MANUFACTURING
Russian PMI rises
The purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for Russian manufacturers last month jumped to the highest level since November 2014, topping economist forecasts as domestic demand powered gains in orders and output. The PMI surged to 51.5 from 49.6 in May, Markit Economics said yesterday.
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
Apple Inc has been developing a homegrown chip to run artificial intelligence (AI) tools in data centers, although it is unclear if the semiconductor would ever be deployed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The effort would build on Apple’s previous efforts to make in-house chips, which run in its iPhones, Macs and other devices, according to the Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. The server project is code-named ACDC (Apple Chips in Data Center) within the company, aiming to utilize Apple’s expertise in chip design for the company’s server infrastructure, the newspaper said. While this initiative has been
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that revenue would rise moderately in the second half of this year, driven primarily by robust demand for advanced wafers used in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. “The first quarter is the lowest point of this cycle. The second half will be better than the first for the whole semiconductor industry and for GlobalWafers,” chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) said during an online investors’ conference. “HBM would definitely be the key growth driver in the second half,” Hsu said. “That is our big hope
The consumer price index (CPI) last month eased to 1.95 percent, below the central bank’s 2 percent target, as food and entertainment cost increases decelerated, helped by stable egg prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. The slowdown bucked predictions by policymakers and academics that inflationary pressures would build up following double-digit electricity rate hikes on April 1. “The latest CPI data came after the cost of eating out and rent grew moderately amid mixed international raw material prices,” DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) told a news conference in Taipei. The central bank in March raised interest rates by