BANKING
Goldman warns of Q4 loss
US banking giant Goldman Sachs Group Inc on Friday said that the US tax reform bill enacted this month would cut its earnings this year by about US$5 billion, mainly because of a tax targeting earnings held abroad. The tax reform package is expected to “result in a reduction of approximately US$5 billion in earnings for the fourth quarter ... approximately two-thirds of which is due to the repatriation tax,” the company said in a statement. “The one-time hit means a likely loss for the fourth quarter for the banking group. Goldman Sachs reported a net profit of US$2.4 billion in the fourth quarter of last year, while the annual total last year was US$7.4 billion.
SEMICONDUCTORS
AMD worst performer
Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) finished the year dead last in the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index after quadrupling last year. Falling 9.4 percent this year, AMD was one of only four companies in the 30-member semiconductor index to lose value this year. Semiconductor stocks, led by Micron Technology Inc and Nvidia Corp, were among the year’s best performers, with a 38 percent gain. Bears have increased bets against AMD, with nearly a quarter of outstanding shares being utilized by short sellers, a 52-week high, according to Markit data.
AVIATION
EgyptAir buys C Series
Canadian aircraft manufacturer Bombardier Inc on Friday announced the sale of 12 C Series aircraft to EgyptAir in a deal worth US$1.1 billion. The company said that last month it signed a letter of intent for the sale of the 160-seat CS300 planes, with an option for another 12, which was converted into a firm purchase agreement. The deal would be worth nearly US$2.2 billion if EgyptAir buys the additional 12 planes, a statement from Bombardier Commercial Aircraft said. The order came after another for 31 aircraft from an unidentified European company early last month.
AUTOMAKERS
Court backs VW probe
The German Federal Constitutional Court has rejected a bid by Volkswagen AG (VW) for an injunction blocking the deployment of a special auditor sought by DSW, the German shareholders’ association, in its diesel emissions scandal. Last month, a court in Celle backed an independent check on events surrounding the scandal that pushed down VW shares when it erupted in 2015. Volkswagen sought an injunction blocking the new probe, but the court said in a ruling on Friday that VW had not sufficiently proven the urgency of such a decision.
CHINA
Probe recoups US$112m
Chinese authorities have recouped 730 million yuan (US$112.2 million) in misappropriated funds as part of an investigation into the national poverty-reduction scheme, Xinhua news agency reported yesterday. Nearly 450 people have been charged for offenses relating to the misused funds in an inspection of 28 provinces, agency said, citing the Ministry of Finance and the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development. The report gave no details on how the funds were misused. China has spent 196.1 billion yuan on poverty relief over the past four years, Xinhua said.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
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
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last