CURRENCIES
India mulls intervention
India may intervene in the foreign exchange market if capital flows “disrupt” the economy, central bank governor, Duvvuri Subbarao, said after the rupee rallied to be Asia’s best performer of the past month. “If the inflows are lumpy and volatile or if they disrupt the macroeconomic situation, we will do so,” Subbarao said in a panel discussion at the IMF in Washington on Saturday. The rupee gained 4.5 percent against the US dollar over the past month as global funds pumped a record US$21 billion into Indian stocks this year on optimism about the South Asian’s nation’s growth prospects.
AUTOMOBILES
Mercedes models recalled
German luxury car maker Daimler will recall about 85,000 Mercedes-Benz C and E-class vehicles in the US to fix a problem with power steering systems, the US traffic authority NHTSA said yesterday. A problem with the system’s pump could lead to a loss of fluid and “owners may not have sufficient control of the vehicle in areas, such as parking lots, where maximum power steering is required, increasing the risk of a vehicle crash,” the body said on its Web site. Mercedes planned to fix the problem in models for this year and next by re-tightening a faulty fitting free of charge, it added.
AVIATION
EasyJet reaches brand deal
Budget airliner easyJet reached an agreement with its founder and largest shareholder, Stelios Haji-Ioannou, allowing the no-frills carrier to keep using the Stelios-owned brand name, ending a two-year dispute. The deal also ends Haji-Ioannou’s right to appoint himself as chairman of easyJet’s board and will give the company more freedom to use the name and enter co-branding agreements with other companies. “It is definitely a benefit for us to have that clarity and the freedom to develop our ancillary revenues as we choose ... What we’ve got clarity on is the area of air travel and passenger air travel,” easyJet chief executive Carolyn McCall told reporters.
AVIATION
Costly glitch at Virgin Blue
A computer glitch that shut down check-in services for Australia’s Virgin Blue last month, stranding thousands, cost the airline up to A$20 million (US$19.7 million), the company said yesterday. The carrier’s national reservations, check-in and boarding systems crashed on Sept. 26, forcing it to cancel dozens of weekend flights and severely interrupting its business for 11 days. An initial assessment of this interruption shows an estimated pre-tax profit impact of A$15 million to A$20 million, Virgin Blue, Australia’s second-biggest airline, said in a statement. The company said it would be “actively pursuing all avenues” to recover the costs related to the outage.
FINANCE
Russia plans euro bond sale
Russia is planning its first ever sale of bonds in euros to revive corporate borrowing in the currency as yields tumble relative to US dollar debt. The government, which raised US$5.5 billion in its first global bond sale since 1998 in April, may seek a similar amount in euros to set a benchmark rate for companies, Deputy Finance Minister Dmitry Pankin told reporters in Washington on Friday. While emerging-market issuers from Morocco’s government to Mexico City-based America Movil SAB raised a record 30 billion euros (US$42 billion) this year, sales in the European currency from Russia tumbled 99 percent to 50 million euros since 2007, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
TAKING STOCK: A Taiwanese cookware firm in Vietnam urged customers to assess inventory or place orders early so shipments can reach the US while tariffs are paused Taiwanese businesses in Vietnam are exploring alternatives after the White House imposed a 46 percent import duty on Vietnamese goods, following US President Donald Trump’s announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on the US’ trading partners. Lo Shih-liang (羅世良), chairman of Brico Industry Co (裕茂工業), a Taiwanese company that manufactures cast iron cookware and stove components in Vietnam, said that more than 40 percent of his business was tied to the US market, describing the constant US policy shifts as an emotional roller coaster. “I work during the day and stay up all night watching the news. I’ve been following US news until 3am
UNCERTAINTY: Innolux activated a stringent supply chain management mechanism, as it did during the COVID-19 pandemic, to ensure optimal inventory levels for customers Flat-panel display makers AUO Corp (友達) and Innolux Corp (群創) yesterday said that about 12 to 20 percent of their display business is at risk of potential US tariffs and that they would relocate production or shipment destinations to mitigate the levies’ effects. US tariffs would have a direct impact of US$200 million on AUO’s revenue, company chairman Paul Peng (彭雙浪) told reporters on the sidelines of the Touch Taiwan trade show in Taipei yesterday. That would make up about 12 percent of the company’s overall revenue. To cope with the tariff uncertainty, AUO plans to allocate its production to manufacturing facilities in
COLLABORATION: Given Taiwan’s key position in global supply chains, the US firm is discussing strategies with local partners and clients to deal with global uncertainties Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) yesterday said it is meeting with local ecosystem partners, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), to discuss strategies, including long-term manufacturing, to navigate uncertainties such as US tariffs, as Taiwan occupies an important position in global supply chains. AMD chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) told reporters that Taiwan is an important part of the chip designer’s ecosystem and she is discussing with partners and customers in Taiwan to forge strong collaborations on different areas during this critical period. AMD has just become the first artificial-intelligence (AI) server chip customer of TSMC to utilize its advanced
Six years ago, LVMH’s billionaire CEO Bernard Arnault and US President Donald Trump cut the blue ribbon on a factory in rural Texas that would make designer handbags for Louis Vuitton, one of the world’s best-known luxury brands. However, since the high-profile opening, the factory has faced a host of problems limiting production, 11 former Louis Vuitton employees said. The site has consistently ranked among the worst-performing for Louis Vuitton globally, “significantly” underperforming other facilities, said three former Louis Vuitton workers and a senior industry source, who cited internal rankings shared with staff. The plant’s problems — which have not
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