■ Interest Rates
Japan to slowly hike rates
The Bank of Japan will raise interest rates gradually while carefully looking at economic growth and price fluctuations, the central bank's deputy governor said yesterday. "The market's focus now seems to be the timing of the next rate hike, but I can only say that we will conduct monetary policy by carefully examining economic and price moves," deputy governor Toshiro Muto told economists and business executives at a seminar. Last Friday, the Bank of Japan raised interest rates for the first time in six years, lifting a key overnight rate from zero to 0.25 percent.
■ Semiconductors
AMD posts sharp profit rise
Advanced Micro Devices Inc reported a massive increase in second quarter profits on Thursday as it continued to make inroads into the world's leading computer chip maker, Intel Corp, which a day earlier posted its biggest profit drop in four years. Sunnyvale, California-based AMD said profits jumped to US$88.8 million, from US$11.3 million in the second quarter of last year. But revenue was stagnant for the quarter, dipping slightly to US$1.21 billion from US$1.26 billion a year earlier. Recent market share gains by AMD prompted Intel to shake up its management on Thursday, announcing a series of division head changes.
■ Semiconductors
Infineon's losses shrink
German memory chip maker Infineon said yesterday it had narrowed its net loss in the three months to the end of June to 23 million euros (US$29 million) compared with a US$302.6 million loss a year ago, but the company's results still fell short of analyst expectations. The company cited costs associated with the spin-off of its Qimonda AG computer chip business and with what it called valuation allowances of tax assets. Sales rose to US$2.48 billion from US$2.03 billion a year ago. Computer memory maker Qimonda, which is being readied for a separate listing, made US$126 million, compared with a loss of US$171.5 million a year ago, the company said.
■ Automobiles
Ford's earnings disappoint
Ford Motor Co dashed Wall Street's hopes for a profitable second quarter on Thursday, blaming its dependence on high-margin sports utility vehicles for a US$123 million loss as consumers shifted toward gas-sipping cars. The company's loss of US$0.07 per share for the April-June period contrasted with a profit of US$946 million, or US$0.47 per share, in the second quarter of last year. Revenue fell 6 percent to US$41.97 billion from US$44.55 billion. For the first half of the year, Ford lost US$1.3 billion, or US$0.70 a share, in contrast to a profit of US$2.16 billion, or US$1.05 a share, a year ago. Six-month revenue fell to US$83 billion from US$89.7 billion a year ago.
■ Automobiles
Ghosn downplays GM talks
The chief executive of Renault and Nissan said yesterday that the initial 90-day talks with General Motors about a possible partnership will be about advantages in working together, but won't address the possibility of holding capital stakes. "We are not making the capital investment inside General Motors as the first element or condition," Carlos Ghosn told reporters at Nissan Motor Co's headquarters in Tokyo. The initial talks are merely looking at whether the idea of a tie-up with GM makes sense, he said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique