FINLAND
Basic income trial fails
The government yesterday announced the first findings from a two-year basic income trial that ended a month ago, with researchers saying it failed to spur the unemployed to work more and earn more as was hoped. During the trial, 2,000 unemployed Finns became the first Europeans to enjoy a guaranteed basic income, a monthly pay check from the state, regardless of whether they found work or sat at home on the couch. The trial was the nation’s test of one alternative to renewing its social security model, a vast task expected to be tackled after parliamentary elections in April.
AUSTRALIA
RBA cuts growth forecasts
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) yesterday cut growth and inflation forecasts in response to weaker consumption as it assesses how slumping property prices could reverberate across the economy. Economic growth in the year ending June was lowered to 2.5 percent from 3.25 percent and by half a percentage point in the following 12 months, according to the Statement on Monetary Policy released in Sydney. Headline inflation is predicted to slump to 1.25 percent in the year through June due to lower oil prices. The RBA estimated that a sustained 15 percent fall in oil prices would cut about half a point from the consumer price index and could “cumulatively” lower core inflation by a quarter point through indirect effects over two to three years.
ENERGY
Total finds ‘significant’ gas
French energy giant Total SA on Thursday announced that it had found “significant” gas in the Outeniqua Basin, 175km off the southern coast of South Africa. Total chief executive officer Patrick Pouyanne said in a statement that the potential quantities “could be around one billion barrels of global resources, gas and condensate light oil.” South African Minister of Mineral Resources Gwede Mantashe welcomed the news of the discovery as “potentially a major boost” for the economy, which grew less than 1 percent last year.
FASHION
Gucci pulls sweater
Gucci on Thursday pulled a black polo neck sweater from its shops after it sparked comparisons with racially offensive golliwog and “blackface” imagery. The “balaclava jumper” can be pulled up to the eyes with the mouth visible through large red lips. “Happy Black History Month y’all,” one black American fashionista tweeted ironically, with others pointing out the resemblance to a golliwog. It is the third Italian brand to be hit in recent months by race rows, after Prada and Dolce & Gabbana. Gucci was quick to pull the jumper, issuing a statement of apology within hours of the first posts questioning it.
BANKING
SG lowers profit target
Societe Generale SA (SG) boosted its bottom line last year, but trimmed its profit target and announced plans to cut back its investment bank as the outlook for global finance remains topsy-turvy. The 3.9 billion euros (US$4.4 billion) in net profits were up 38 percent from 2017, but that was a year when Societe Generale booked considerable restructuring costs and legal settlements. The result beat the expectations of analysts, who were expecting an average of 3.6 billion euros, according to a survey by data firm Factset. Net banking income, the equivalent to revenue for a bank, rose 5.2 percent to 25.2 billion euros, in line with expectations.
AUTOMAKERS
Fiat pays US$77m penalty
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV on Thursday said it paid US$77 million in US civil penalties late last year for failing to meet 2016 model year fuel economy requirements, the first significant sign the industry is facing hurdles meeting rising emissions rules. The Italian-American automaker has been lobbying US President Donald Trump’s administration to revise fuel economy requirements and last year, regulators proposed freezing requirements at next year’s levels through 2026. Shane Karr, head of external affairs for Fiat Chrysler in North America, said in a statement that the fuel economy program should be reformed rather than “requiring companies to make large compliance payments because assumptions made in 2011 turned out to be wrong.”
TELECOMS
No outright ban on Huawei
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government has ruled out an outright ban targeting Chinese equipment supplier Huawei Technologies Co (華為) as the country moves toward building its 5G networks, a government official said. Cabinet members met on Wednesday in Berlin to discuss the prospect of restricting Huawei equipment from the new 5G network. While they continue to work toward a final decision, the ministers concluded that singling out Huawei from a list of suppliers was not legally viable, the official said on Thursday on condition of anonymity. German Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Peter Altmaier has signaled that any restrictions tied to the nation’s shift to the crucial next-generation technology would not involve targeting specific companies, but rather subjecting all potential service providers to stringent security standards. Huawei has come under scrutiny by US allies concerned its equipment could be used by Chinese intelligence.
GERMANY
Foreign trade hits record
Foreign trade hit a record last year, the Federal Statistics Office said. The nation exported 1.3 trillion euros (US$1.47 trillion) in goods and imported 1.1 trillion euros last year, surpassing the records set in 2017. The trade surplus for the year narrowed slightly. Germany, the continent’s economic motor, has boomed for a decade thanks to its role as a supplier of equipment to the world’s industrial nations. That makes it vulnerable to a possible trade war between China and the US. However, the latest monthly figures, showing unexpected month-on-month growth in exports and imports, appeared to snap a long run of gloomy economic indicators, possibly indicating that the economy’s long-expected slowdown might yet be postponed.
RETAIL
Dia to cut 2,100 jobs
Financially troubled Spanish supermarket group Dia yesterday said that it planned to cut up to 2,100 jobs as it reported a massive loss. Dia, the target of a public buyout offer by the Russian oligarch who is already its top shareholder, reported a net loss of 352.5 million euros for last year. The discount supermarket chain, which has had to reduce prices due to competition from Lidl and Mercadona, saw net sales fall nearly 11 percent to 7.3 billion euros. The results were much worse than the 4 million euro loss expected by analysts surveyed by data provider Factset. Dia said the job cuts would be negotiated with trade unions. Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman’s LetterOne investment fund, which became Dia’s top shareholder in 2017 with a 29 percent stake, on Tuesday launched a public share offer to take over the firm given its “serious financial difficulties.”
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”