UNITED STATES
Month of robust job creation
The US saw robust job creation again last month, with unemployment falling back to a 16-year low, restoring the economy to the employment level seen before the 2008 crisis. The economy added 209,000 net new positions for the month, well above analyst forecasts, although below the 231,000 increase in June, the Department of Labor reported on Friday. However, average monthly job creation so far this year is 185,000, slightly below the average recorded last year and well below 2015 and 2014. Last month’s gain pushed the unemployment rate back down a tenth of a point to 4.3 percent, the lowest level in 16 years.
CHINA
Former bank head jailed
The nation’s anti-graft watchdog yesterday said the former head of the supervisory board at China Development Bank (中國國家開發銀行), the country’s largest policy lender, has been jailed for 14 years and fined 3.5 million yuan (US$520,020) for receiving bribes. The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said in a statement on its Web site that Yao Zhongmin (姚中民) accepted bribes amounting to 36.2 million yuan directly or indirectly through his brother between 2002 and 2013.
ISRAEL
S&P raises outlook
Improved economic growth and efforts to rein in spending prompted Standard & Poor’s to raise the outlook on the country’s debt profile, the credit rating firm announced on Friday. While S&P held Israel’s debt rating stable at “A+,” it improved the outlook to “positive” from “stable,” which means it could raise the grade a notch in the next two years, the company said in a statement. The agency praised the government for “measures that restrain future expenditure growth” which in turn “could enable the government to resist ongoing spending pressures.”
TECHNOLOGY
Google works on ‘magazine’
Alphabet Inc’s Google is working with publishers on a news product called Stamp that would serve up articles in a mobile magazine-like design, similar to Snapchat’s Discover service, according to a person familiar with the matter. Stamp evolved from media relationships Google already has for another one of its products, called AMP, which is meant to help load articles faster. The Wall Street Journal reported the talks earlier. “The success of the open source AMP project is down to the constant collaboration with publishers that involves working early on upcoming features,” Google said on Friday in a statement.
INVESTMENT
Berkshire profits fall
Berkshire Hathaway Inc, the conglomerate controlled by billionaire Warren Buffett, said on Friday that its second-quarter profit fell 15 percent as costs rose for its various businesses and it earned less from its investments. The Omaha, Nebraska-based company reported net income of US$4.26 billion, or US$2,592 per Class A share, during the quarter. That is down from the US$5 billion, or US$3,042 per share, a year ago. Operating earnings came to US$2,505 per Class A share, down from US$2,803 a year ago. Revenue rose 6 percent to US$57.52 billion. The company said costs rose at its insurance businesses, railroads and financial products providers.
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
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
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