CHINA
Inflation almost doubles
Inflation almost doubled last month to its highest level in four years, data showed yesterday, as Lunar New Year holiday spending added to growing inflationary pressures in the world’s second-largest economy. The key consumer price index hit 2.9 percent last month, up from 1.5 percent in January. The producer price index — an important barometer of the industrial sector that measures the cost of goods at the factory gate — came in at 3.7 percent year-on-year, down from the 4.3 percent in the previous month.
JAPAN
Stimulus measures remain
The central bank yesterday stayed the course with its monetary stimulus at Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda’s final policy meeting before his new term begins next month. The central bank kept its yield-curve control settings and asset purchases unchanged, a result forecast by all economists surveyed by Bloomberg. In its policy statement, the central bank again said inflation expectations have been “more or less unchanged.” It also repeated its view that domestic demand is likely to follow an uptrend, with inflation rising toward 2 percent.
REAL ESTATE
HNA selling HK plot of land
HNA Group Co (海航集團) is poised to dispose of a plot of land in Hong Kong to local property developer Wheelock & Co (會德豐) for HK$6.36 billion (US$811 million) as the embattled Chinese conglomerate accelerates its selling spree to repay debt. A binding offer for the site, which spans 7,318m2 around the former Kai Tak airport, was made on Thursday and the deal is likely to be completed by May 16, according to a regulatory filing by Wheelock yesterday.
STEELMAKERS
Kobe Steel boss faces axe
Kobe Steel Ltd’s president could have to resign after more fake data were uncovered at the Japanese steelmaker, but as far as the bond market is concerned the scandal is largely over. Yield premiums on the company’s debt have fallen to five-month lows since the firm on Tuesday announced a leadership change and steps to prevent more data falsification. The firm said this week that its data fabrications date back decades and an independent investigation found further instances of misconduct.
CASINOS
Wynn to pay settlement
Wynn Resorts Ltd has agreed to pay US$2.4 billion in a settlement with a Tokyo casino game maker and its US unit over the forced redemption of their shares in the Las Vegas-based casino operating company in 2012. The company on Thursday announced the settlement with Universal Entertainment Corp, which previously held an almost 20 percent stake in Wynn Resorts through its subsidiary Aruze USA Inc. Wynn Resorts agreed to pay the sum by March 31.
MINING
Ghanaians threaten strike
Ghana’s largest mineworkers’ union plans protests and strikes throughout operations in the nation if the government allows Gold Fields Ltd’s local unit to dismiss more than 2,000 staff as it starts the process of hiring a contractor to operate its biggest mine in the West African nation. Gold Fields is committing “acts of corporate greed aimed at amassing huge profits at the expense of Ghanaian mine workers,” Prince William Ankrah, general secretary of the 16,000-member Ghana Mine Workers Union, said in an interview on Thursday.
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
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
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