RECYCLING
China limits steel, aluminum
China is from July 1 to restrict imports of scrap steel and aluminum, the Chinese Ministry of Ecology and Environment said yesterday. Scrap steel and aluminum would be moved from an unrestricted import list of solid waste products usable as raw materials to a restricted import list, the ministry said in a statement. Relevant departments were researching the formulation of standards for recycled copper and aluminum, it said. Copper and aluminum raw materials meeting relevant standards would not be considered solid waste and could be imported, it said.
REAL ESTATE
Philippine prices drop in Q3
Philippine home prices declined in the third quarter from the previous three months, reversing a short-lived rebound as interest rates increased. Housing values fell 0.6 percent quarter-on-quarter, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said. The price declines were more profound outside the capital area. Housing values slid 1.3 percent in the provinces, compared with a 0.2 percent drop in Metro Manila, the central bank said. On a year-on-year basis, third-quarter home prices climbed 4.4 percent, slowing from a 4.8 percent increase in the previous quarter, the bank said.
KOSOVO
Tax on Serb goods expanded
The Cabinet on Friday extended a 100 percent tax on Serb imports to all international brand goods produced in Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. It is expected to affect goods including auto products, food, construction materials and computer devices. Kosovo last month set regional tensions soaring when it introduced the 100 percent tax on Serb imports, saying that it would not be lifted until Belgrade recognizes its sovereignty and stops preventing it from joining international organizations.
BANKING
Wells Fargo to settle probe
Wells Fargo & Co is to pay US$575 million in a settlement with attorneys-general from all 50 US states and the District of Columbia, which are investigating fake accounts opened without the knowledge of customers and a string of other dodgy practices. Under the agreement announced on Friday, the bank would also create teams to review and respond to customer complaints about its banking and sales practices.
TECHNOLOGY
Tesla adds board members
Tesla Inc on Friday named two independent board members as part of a settlement with US regulators, who demanded more oversight of CEO Elon Musk. Oracle Corp cofounder Larry Ellison and Kathleen Wilson-Thompson, an executive vice president at Walgreens Boots Alliance, are joining the board as independent directors, effective immediately.
CANNABIS
Aphria rejects hostile bid
Canadian marijuana producer Aphria Inc rejected a planned C$2.8 billion (US$2.05 billion) hostile offer by US cannabis retailer Green Growth Brands Ltd, saying that it significantly undervalues the company. The proposed bid would be about 23 percent below Aphria’s average share price over a 20-day period, the Canadian company said in a statement.
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