MINING
Wesfarmers to sell mines
Wesfarmers Ltd, the Australian retail-to-fertilizer conglomerate, has started a sale process for its two coal mines in the country after prices for the commodity soared this year, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The Perth-based company has sent preliminary information on the Curragh and Bengalla mines to potential buyers ahead of calling for bids, the people said, asking not to be identified, as the details are not public. Wesfarmers is working with UBS Group AG on the potential divestments, which might fetch as much as A$2 billion (US$1.5 billion), two of the people said.
UNITED STATES
Retail sales rise
Retail sales last month rose more than expected as households bought motor vehicles and a range of other goods, pointing to sustained economic strength that could allow the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates next month. The Department of Commerce on Tuesday said retail sales increased 0.8 percent last month, also boosted by demand for building materials, likely as households cleaned up and made repairs in the wake of Hurricane Matthew. “This is just the kind of data the Fed doves need to see to convince them to hike rates in December. The economy is doing pretty well, this data is bullish for the economic outlook in the months ahead,” said Chris Rupkey, chief economist at MUFG Union Bank in New York.
FOREIGN EXCHANGE
Yen weakest performer
The yen’s swoon after US president-elect Donald Trump’s shock election victory has turned the developed world’s strongest currency into its weakest performer. Macro Currency Group said it has also opened up an enticing buying opportunity. Mark Farrington, who oversees US$2.2 billion as managing director at the London-based fund manager, said Japan’s currency is poised to rally, because Trump’s policies will spur political risk, reviving demand for the yen as a haven. The recent rout in US Treasuries might also drive Japanese investors back to local bonds.
UNITED KINGDOM
Inflation to rebound
Bank of England Governor Mark Carney on Tuesday said that inflation would rebound in the coming months as the Brexit-fueled slump in the British pound sparks price hikes. Carney, addressing British lawmakers on the influential Treasury Select Committee, said that “inflation is going up [and] that’s a consequence of a very large move” in the exchange rate. However, his comments came as official data showed that British annual inflation had experienced an unexpected slowdown last month from a two-year high. The 12-month inflation rate declined to 0.9 percent compared with 1 percent in September, Britain’s Office for National Statistics said in a statement.
INTERNET
WhatsApp halts ad targeting
WhatsApp has temporarily suspended giving parent company Facebook information about users in Europe for ad targeting, responding to concerns there over privacy, a source close to the matter said on Tuesday. Conversations with officials in Europe over the past few months resulted in the social network deciding to only tap WhatsApp user data there for purposes such as fighting spam, according to the source. The break was described as an effort to give regulators time to share privacy concerns and for Facebook to consider ways to address them.
DECOUPLING? In a sign of deeper US-China technology decoupling, Apple has held initial talks about using Baidu’s generative AI technology in its iPhones, the Wall Street Journal said China has introduced guidelines to phase out US microprocessors from Intel Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) from government PCs and servers, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The procurement guidance also seeks to sideline Microsoft Corp’s Windows operating system and foreign-made database software in favor of domestic options, the report said. Chinese officials have begun following the guidelines, which were unveiled in December last year, the report said. They order government agencies above the township level to include criteria requiring “safe and reliable” processors and operating systems when making purchases, the newspaper said. The US has been aiming to boost domestic semiconductor
Nvidia Corp earned its US$2.2 trillion market cap by producing artificial intelligence (AI) chips that have become the lifeblood powering the new era of generative AI developers from start-ups to Microsoft Corp, OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet Inc. Almost as important to its hardware is the company’s nearly 20 years’ worth of computer code, which helps make competition with the company nearly impossible. More than 4 million global developers rely on Nvidia’s CUDA software platform to build AI and other apps. Now a coalition of tech companies that includes Qualcomm Inc, Google and Intel Corp plans to loosen Nvidia’s chokehold by going
ENERGY IMPACT: The electricity rate hike is expected to add about NT$4 billion to TSMC’s electricity bill a year and cut its annual earnings per share by about NT$0.154 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has left its long-term gross margin target unchanged despite the government deciding on Friday to raise electricity rates. One of the heaviest power consuming manufacturers in Taiwan, TSMC said it always respects the government’s energy policy and would continue to operate its fabs by making efforts in energy conservation. The chipmaker said it has left a long-term goal of more than 53 percent in gross margin unchanged. The Ministry of Economic Affairs concluded a power rate evaluation meeting on Friday, announcing electricity tariffs would go up by 11 percent on average to about NT$3.4518 per kilowatt-hour (kWh)
OPENING ADDRESS: The CEO is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence at the trade show’s opening on June 3, TAITRA said Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) chairperson and chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) is to deliver the opening keynote speech at Computex Taipei this year, the event’s organizer said in a statement yesterday. Su is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing (HPC) in the artificial intelligence (AI) era to open Computex, one of the world’s largest computer and technology trade events, at 9:30am on June 3, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said. Su is to explore how AMD and the company’s strategic technology partners are pushing the limits of AI and HPC, from data centers to