TRADE
Japan’s surplus shrinks
Japan’s trade surplus last year declined 25.1 percent as higher energy bills eclipsed some of the revenue from robust exports of electronics-related goods and automobiles, government data showed yesterday. The world’s third-largest economy logged a surplus of ¥2.99 trillion (US$27.2 billion), the Ministry of Finance said. However, it still marked a second straight year of surplus. The decline was driven by a 14 percent increase in imports, although exports also jumped 11.8 percent, the ministry said.
AGRICULTURE
US adds duties on olives
The US on Tuesday imposed additional import duties of up to 20 percent on ripe Spanish olives, saying that they were being sold at below fair value and harmed growers in California. The preliminary ruling is on top of duties imposed in November to offset Spanish exporters benefiting from 2 to 7 percent. The US Department of Commerce is set to announce its final decision on the anti-dumping case against Spanish olives on June 5, while the final ruling on the earlier countervailing duties decision is due in May.
INTERNET
Facebook acquires Confirm
Facebook Inc acquired a company that digitally authenticates government identification, a move that might help it verify profiles on its social network. Facebook did not disclose terms of the acquisition of Confirm Inc, a three-year-old company based in Boston. The start-up is shutting down its technology while it transitions to Facebook, according to its Web site. “Their technology and expertise will support our ongoing efforts to keep our community safe,” a Facebook spokeswoman said, without elaborating.
ELECTRONICS
Apple to launch HomePod
Apple Inc is finally ready to launch its attempt to compete with Internet-connected speakers made by Amazon.com Inc and Google with the release of its long-awaited HomePod. Preorders for the HomePod are to begin tomorrow in the US, the UK and Australia, two weeks before the speaker goes on sale in stores for US$349. Apple had intended to release the HomePod last month during the holiday shopping season, but delayed its debut to refine the product.
HEALTHCARE
J&J posts US$10.71bn loss
Johnson & Johnson (J&J) on Tuesday posted a rare quarterly loss of US$10.71 billion, due to a US$13.6 billion charge related to last month’s US tax overhaul. While the loss was expected and the company’s adjusted results beat analysts’ expectations, shares fell more than 4 percent, an unusually big swing for the healthcare giant. The company reported a big jump in sales, but that was offset by sharply higher spending on production, marketing, administration and research, partly due to one-time charges.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Novartis net profit up 15%
Swiss pharmaceuticals giant Novartis AG yesterday said that strong sales of two of its main blockbuster drugs enabled it to turn in a “good operating performance” last year. Novartis said in a statement that net profit climbed 15 percent to US$7.7 billion on a 1 percent increase in sales to US$49.1 billion. The group’s psoriasis drug, Cosentyx, “reached multi-blockbuster status,” heart treatment Entresto delivered more than US$500 million in sales and eye care unit Alcon Inc “returned to growth,” the statement said.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
Apple Inc has been developing a homegrown chip to run artificial intelligence (AI) tools in data centers, although it is unclear if the semiconductor would ever be deployed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The effort would build on Apple’s previous efforts to make in-house chips, which run in its iPhones, Macs and other devices, according to the Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. The server project is code-named ACDC (Apple Chips in Data Center) within the company, aiming to utilize Apple’s expertise in chip design for the company’s server infrastructure, the newspaper said. While this initiative has been
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that revenue would rise moderately in the second half of this year, driven primarily by robust demand for advanced wafers used in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. “The first quarter is the lowest point of this cycle. The second half will be better than the first for the whole semiconductor industry and for GlobalWafers,” chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) said during an online investors’ conference. “HBM would definitely be the key growth driver in the second half,” Hsu said. “That is our big hope
The consumer price index (CPI) last month eased to 1.95 percent, below the central bank’s 2 percent target, as food and entertainment cost increases decelerated, helped by stable egg prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. The slowdown bucked predictions by policymakers and academics that inflationary pressures would build up following double-digit electricity rate hikes on April 1. “The latest CPI data came after the cost of eating out and rent grew moderately amid mixed international raw material prices,” DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) told a news conference in Taipei. The central bank in March raised interest rates by