EUROPE
Germany wants ECB chair
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and German Minister of Finance Wolfgang Schaeuble want to install a German at the head of the European Central Bank (ECB) when ECB President Mario Draghi’s term expires in two-and-a-half years, according to Der Spiegel magazine. Merkel and Schaeuble are set to push for Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann to become the fourth guardian of the euro, saying it is finally Germany’s turn after the Netherlands, France and Italy, Der Spiegel reported, without saying where it got the information. Weidmann is willing to accept the post if it were to be offered to him, according to the pre-release of an article published on Friday.
TRADE
US, Japan to fight barriers
US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Hiroshige Seko yesterday expressed an interest in strengthening bilateral trade and fighting trade barriers, a statement from the US trade representative said after a meeting. The statement said they had a cordial first meeting on the sidelines of a meeting of trade ministers from APEC countries in Hanoi, Vietnam. It said they “agreed to promote mutually beneficial trade, fight trade barriers and trade-distorting measures, foster economic growth and help establish high standards.”
TELECOMS
AT&T workers walk out
The Communications Workers of America union said that up to 40,000 AT&T Inc workers have started walking off the job over contract fights with the telephone company. They are to return to work on Monday. That includes 21,000 workers on the wireless side of the company. Wireless workers want wage increases that cover higher healthcare costs, better scheduling and promises from the company to not cut jobs. About 17,000 other potential protesters come from AT&T’s home telephone, Internet and cable division in California, Nevada and Connecticut.
BANKING
Former bank executive fined
Barclays PLC’s former head of global foreign-exchange trading was fined US$1.2 million and banned from the banking industry for his involvement in rigging currency rates, the US Federal Reserve said on Friday. The Fed said it imposed the penalties after Christopher Ashton failed to respond to the central bank’s June last year allegations that he participated in online chatrooms used to manipulate foreign-exchange prices, according to a statement.
INDONESIA
S&P upgrades credit rating
Standard & Poor’s (S&P) on Friday raised the country’s sovereign credit rating to investment grade in a move likely to attract more investment to Southeast Asia’s top economy. The agency lifted the country’s long-term sovereign credit rating from “BB+,” or junk status, to “BBB-,” an investment grade, saying the move reflected efforts to stabilize the country’s public finances. “We believe the government’s increased focus on realistic budgeting has reduced the likelihood that a shortfall in future revenue would widen the general government deficit significantly,” S&P said in a statement.
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
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
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