UNITED STATES
Trump flip-flops on tax cuts
A day after considering cutting taxes to promote economic growth, President Donald Trump on Wednesday changed course and said he would abandon the idea because the nation already has “a strong economy.” Trump’s flip-flop came after market volatility and economic uncertainty, and amid a debate about whether the nation is heading for a slowdown that would imperil his re-election chances. “I’m not looking at a tax cut now,” he told reporters at the White House. “We don’t need it. We have a strong economy.”
AIRLINES
Air NZ blames fuel, engines
New Zealand’s national carrier yesterday said that increased fuel costs and engine problems were the main reasons why its annual profit dropped by more than 30 percent. Air New Zealand Ltd reported a pre-tax profit of NZ$374 million (US$238.6 million) for the year ending on June 30, compared with NZ$540 million in the same period last year. Annual revenue grew 5.3 percent to NZ$5.8 billion. Meanwhile, chief financial officer Jeff McDowall would become acting CEO after Christopher Luxon leaves on Sept. 25 until a permanent replacement is found, the firm said.
BANKING
HSBC mulling Asia buys
HSBC Holdings PLC, which shook up its senior leadership this month, is considering a bid for Asian operations being sold by Aviva PLC as it seeks ways to diversify its business in the region, people with knowledge of the matter said. London-based HSBC is in the early stages of weighing an offer for at least part of Aviva’s Asian business, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. A deal would help HSBC bolster its insurance presence in Singapore and other parts of Southeast Asia, the people said. Aviva, the UK insurance conglomerate whose shares have dropped 27 percent in the past 12 months, this month confirmed that it is examining options for its Asian business.
AIRLINES
Ryanair strike effects slight
UK flights operated by Ryanair Holdings PLC were taking off yesterday largely as scheduled as pilots in the discount carrier’s biggest market begin a two-day strike ahead of the busiest travel weekend of the year. The action started soon after midnight yesterday, after Ryanair failed to obtain a legal injunction blocking the walkout by members of the British Airline Pilots’ Association. Early morning services from London Stansted Airport, the carrier’s biggest base, appeared to be operating largely as planned, according to data from tracking Web site FlightRadar24. Ryanair and the association did not immediately respond to e-mails and calls seeking comment.
GERMANY
Machine exports slashed
Trade conflicts and a weakening global economy have hit growth in the export-reliant machine-building sector, data showed on Wednesday, adding to signs that Europe’s largest economy could slip into a recession. Exports grew just 0.9 percent to 89.2 billion euros (US$98.83 billion) in the first half of the year, according to Mechanical Engineering Industry Association figures, as growth in the first quarter was all but wiped out by a contraction in the second. Machine exports grew by 3.8 percent in the first quarter and fell by 1.8 percent in the three months that followed.
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
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
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