AUSTRALIA
Spending drop stalls growth
Economic growth stalled in the third-quarter of the year with consumer spending running out of steam as house prices fell further, official data showed yesterday. The economy grew a meager 0.3 percent between July and September, the slowest rate in two years and far below market expectations. The Australian dollar — buoyed by 27-years of straight growth — slid against the US dollar on the news. JP Morgan economist Tom Kennedy said the data came with “ominous” signs from consumers. “The consumer has outperformed relative to fundamentals for the past almost two years,” he said. “Now a combination of weak wages, slowing housing, limited wealth effect and high debt are really starting to culminate in a pretty ominous backdrop for household spending.”
AUSTRALIA
Encryption bill likely to pass
Police and intelligence agencies look set to be given the power to access encrypted messages on platforms such as WhatsApp, as the nation becomes the latest to face down privacy concerns in the name of public safety. Amid protests from companies such as Facebook Inc and Google, the government and main opposition on Tuesday struck a deal that should see the legislation passed this week. Under the proposed powers, technology companies could be forced to help decrypt communications on popular messaging apps, or even build new functionality to help police access data. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said the legislation is needed to help foil terrorist attacks and organized crime. Critics say it is flawed and could undermine security across the Internet, jeopardizing activities from online voting to market trading and data storage.
EUROZONE
Growth pace floundering
The euro area is showing no signs of a meaningful economic rebound, with Italy on the verge of recession after the populist government picked a fight with European authorities over spending plans. IHS Markit’s purchasing manager’s index for manufacturing and services in the 19-nation bloc fell last month to 52.7 from 53.1 in October. While the reading exceeded an earlier estimate, it was the worst since September 2016 and suggests only a marginal pickup in the pace of growth to 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter, the report said. “The region remains stuck in a soft-patch,” IHS Markit economist Chris Williamson said. “The survey responses highlighted intensifying headwinds of Brexit and trade-war worries, a struggling autos sector and rising uncertainty regarding the economic and political outlook.” The slowdown is starting to affect the labor market. Employment expanded at its weakest pace in nearly two years last month, with Germany, France and Ireland faring particularly poorly.
SHIPPING
Maersk to go carbon-neutral
Maersk, the world’s biggest container shipper, aims to be carbon neutral by 2050, in a challenge to the rest of the world’s fossil fuel-dependent fleet. The Danish company yesterday said it aims to have carbon-neutral vessels commercially viable by 2030 by using energy sources such as biofuels and would cut its net carbon emissions to zero by 2050. The shipping industry, which carries about 80 percent of global trade, accounts for 2.2 percent of carbon dioxide emissions, the UN’s International Maritime Organization says.
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
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
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
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