INVESTMENT
US Treasury auctions notes
The US Department of the Treasury on Monday auctioned US$24 billion in three-year notes at a high yield of 0.76 percent, down from 0.93 percent in last month’s auction. Of the total, 63.62 percent was allotted at the high yield. The bid-to-cover ratio was 2.69, down from 2.79 last month. Direct bidders took 15.8 percent of the sale, and indirect bidders 44.8 percent.
COMPUTERS
Apple Mac shipments fall
Apple Inc is feeling the slowdown in global purchases of laptop and desktop computers. New estimates from two industry research firms suggest Apple saw a decline of 4 to 8 percent in Mac computer shipments during the second quarter, even as some of its bigger rivals managed to find growth in the PC business. Apple enjoyed steady increases in Mac sales for most of 2014 and last year, while the rest of the PC market was in a slump. Although big PC-makers usually sell more units, Apple’s Macs tend to command both higher prices and consumer loyalty. However, Apple has been reporting a dip in Mac sales since the end of last year, and estimates released on Monday suggest that trend is continuing.
AUTOMAKERS
Daimler sees ‘better’ Q2
Daimler AG, the maker of Mercedes-Benz luxury cars and heavy trucks, said its second-quarter results are “significantly” better than estimates after adjusting for the costs of Takata Corp air-bag recalls and other items. Adjusted earnings before interest and taxes rose 5.6 percent to 3.97 billion euros (US$4.39 billion) in a preliminary tally, the firm said in a statement. The airbag recalls costs almost 500 million euros combined for the Mercedes Cars and Vans. Most of the quarter’s profit came from the 2.21 billion euros generated by the Mercedes Cars unit. The Stuttgart-based firm said it still sees full-year results improving slightly from last year.
FOREX
Yen falls ahead of Abe plan
The yen slumped yesterday on expectations that Tokyo is drawing up a fresh round of huge stimulus to kickstart the torpid Japanese economy. After his ruling coalition swept Sunday’s parliamentary elections, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the government would unveil measures to kickstart growth. Speculation that the central bank might move at its meeting later this month also weighed on the yen, which fell against most of its major peers. The yen has picked up sharply as market turmoil at the start of the year — and Britain’s vote to leave the EU last month — pushed traders to seek out lower-yielding, safer investments.
METALS TRADING
Nickel rises for third day
Nickel led metals higher yesterday, rising for a third day, after Goldman Sachs Group Inc on Monday predicted a surge in prices over six months driven by probable supply cuts in the Philippines, the biggest ore producer. The metal added as much as 2.5 percent to US$10,295 a tonne on the London Metal Exchange and traded at US$10,220 at 2:40pm in Shanghai. Nickel is likely to gain to US$12,000 a tonne in six months according to a new scenario from the bank that assumes a quarter of Philippine output is lost over the period. The Philippines has said mines that fall short of environmental and welfare standards will be shut down. Nickel will advance to US$11,000 a tonne in three months, Goldman said, raising its full-year forecast 15 percent to US$9,739.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”