■Unemployment
Rate in Hong Kong rises
Hong Kong's unemployment rate rose to 7.2 percent in the three months to December, with the contruction sector the hardest hit, the government said yesterday. The under-employment rate -- those with jobs not paying enough to cover their basic needs also edged up, from 3 percent to 3.1 percent over the same period, the Census and Statistics Department said. The rise in the unemployment rate in December followed four successive monthly falls to 7.1 percent in November, after reaching a record 7.8 percent in July. An official said reductions in jobs were seen mostly in the decoration and maintenance, communications, real estate and business services sectors.
■ Semiconductors
Infineon loss narrows
Infineon Technologies AG, Europe's second-largest semiconductor maker, said its fiscal first- quarter net loss narrowed as revenue rose on higher prices for memory chips. The loss for the three months through December narrowed to 40 million euros (US$42.6 million) from 331 million euros a year earlier, the company said in a statement on Business Wire. Revenue rose to 1.5 billion euros from 1.03 billion a year ago. Analysts had expected the loss to narrow to 47.8 million euros, according to a Bloomberg News survey.
■ Economy
Pakistan gets encouraged
The IMF praised Pakistan's progress toward macro-economic stability and urged the new government to stick to austerity measures imposed by the previous military regime. IMF Middle East Director George Abed told Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali and finance adviser Shaukat Aziz that sticking to the plan would "generate economic activity and help reduce poverty," the government said in a statement. The IMF team arrived Friday for talks with top officials in Islamabad in the first visit since elections in October ended three years of military rule. The IMF agreed to lend Pakistan US$1.3 billion last year, enabling it to reschedule a third of its US$36 billion debt with other lenders.
■ US retailers
Kmart gets a new CEO
Julian Day left grocery retailer Safeway Inc. in June 1998 after five years as chief financial officer with the goal of becoming the chief executive officer of a publicly traded company. Day accomplished that objective yesterday, when he was named to replace James Adamson as CEO of Kmart Corp. Day, 50, may face a similar long haul when trying to right the retailer, analysts said. "Kmart is a very troubled company," said Kurt Barnard, president of Barnard's Retail Consulting Group. "It will take a lot of doing to finally get it out of bankruptcy if that is at all possible and put it on track to re-emerge as a viable, going concern. That is not going to be easy."
■ Steel
Japan to limit production
Japanese steel processors will keep a tight rein on production this year to support prices amid an expected fall in exports, an industry group said yesterday. "The domestic demand situation, excluding for automobile use, is still severe, and exports are expected to drop," the Japan Iron and Steel Federation said in a report. It said steel companies will set production at levels to maintain current levels of steel stockpiles and allow for prices to be adjusted, it said.
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