CHINA
Exchange reserves fall
Foreign-exchange reserves fell to US$3.19 trillion last month, People’s Bank of China data showed yesterday, in line with market expectations and the lowest level since December 2011. Reserves fell by US$15.89 billion, the biggest drop since May. Economists polled by Reuters had predicted reserves would fall to US$3.19 trillion from US$3.20 trillion at the end of July. The nation’s gold reserves fell to US$77.18 billion at the end of last month, down from US$78.89 billion at the end of July, the bank said.
GERMANY
Industrial output declines
Industrial production dropped 1.5 percent in July from June, feeding worries of a slowing economy at the start of the third quarter, the Ministry of the Economy said yesterday. Analysts had predicted a 0.1 percent rise. Production in industry, excluding energy and construction, was down 2.3 percent, with the largest drop in the production of capital goods, which fell 3.6 percent, data showed.
AUTOMAKERS
Software tie-up announced
Chinese-owned Volvo Cars and Swedish-based automotive safety group Autoliv Inc say they are creating a jointly owned company to develop autonomous driving software. The automaker on Tuesday said that the new company, which has yet to be named, would develop advanced driver-assistance systems and autonomous driving systems. It is to begin operations in Gothenburg, Sweden, early next year. The systems are to be used by Volvo and offered for sale to other automakers.
ENERGY
Enbridge to buy Spectra
Canada’s Enbridge Inc is buying Houston-based Spectra Energy Corp for about US$28 billion, creating North America’s largest energy infrastructure company. Both companies operate pipelines that deliver oil and natural gas. According to the terms of the deal announced on Tuesday, Spectra Energy shareholders are to receive 0.984 per share of the combined company, or about US$40.33 for each Spectra Energy share they own. When the deal closes, which is expected to happen in the in the first quarter of next year, the new firm will be called Enbridge Inc and keep its current headquarters in Calgary, Canada.
AGROCHEMICALS
Syngenta executive to retire
Syngenta AG chief financial officer John Ramsay announced he will retire at the end of this month, marking the end of his career with the sale of the world’s largest agrochemical producer to China National Chemical Corp (中國化工) for US$43 billion. The Swiss maker of pesticides and herbicides named commercial finance head Mark Patrick to be finance chief when Ramsay steps down at the end of the month, the Basel-based company said yesterday. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the year after US national security officials gave it the go-ahead.
AIRLINES
KLM labor deal reached
Dutch labor leaders and KLM airline on Tuesday announced they had struck a pay deal for ground staff, hailed by the union as a breakthrough after weeks of tensions. The Dutch Trade Union Federation said the deal reached was “significantly better” than what had been on the table, as all ground staff will get a better profit-sharing scheme, including a guaranteed dividend of 1,600 euros (US$1,798.4) this year and a one-time 1 percent dividend next year. And from 2018 there would be a guaranteed 1 percent pay rise.
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
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
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