GREECE
Debt extension needed
Athens must negotiate with private bondholders to extend the repayment period of its debt, an economic adviser to German Chancellor Angela Merkel told a Greek newspaper on Saturday. If the nation pursues such talks, it would make it easier for Germany to agree extending the repayment period of the loans the debt-laden country has obtained under a 110 billion euro (US$154 billion) EU-IMF bailout, Real News quoted Lars Feld as saying in an interview. Lowering the interest rate on the country’s bailout loans is not likely to be part of the package, he added. His comments came before euro zone leaders meet on Friday to hammer out a comprehensive package of measures to deal with the debt crisis. EU heads of government are expected to sign off on the deal at a meeting in Brussels on March 24 and March 25.
BANKING
Spanish banks scramble
Spain’s ailing regional savings banks are scrambling to raise billions of euros of fresh funds to meet strict new capital requirements by a Thursday deadline. The country’s 17 savings banks, known as cajas, are weighed down by loans that turned sour after the collapse of a housing bubble in 2008 and are at the heart of fears the country could need an Irish-style international rescue. Last month the government approved stricter rules on the amount of rock-solid core capital that banks must hold on their balance sheets, seeking to shore up confidence in the battered economy. Under the new rules, savings banks must raise the proportion of core capital they hold to 8 percent of total assets from the current 6 percent or 10 percent if they are unlisted.
ENERGY
US gas prices could rise
US natural gas prices may rise as the world’s biggest economy recovers and stricter pollution laws prompt a shift to the fuel, Deutsche Bank AG said. “Tighter US Environmental Protection Agency rules on coal, stronger gross domestic product and the potential for liquefied natural gas [LNG] exports all point to an eventual recovery in gas prices,” said Washington-based analyst Adam Sieminski in a report on Friday. Proposed US anti-pollution laws may boost demand for natural gas by 57m3 a day as gas-fired units replace coal-fired generators, Deutsche Bank said. The US economy may grow by 3.5 percent this year and 4 percent next year, from 2.8 percent last year, it said. Surging crude oil prices and the contractual ties of most international gas prices to oil increases the potential for US LNG exports, it said. Gas prices outside the US and UK are typically linked to crude oil prices.
FINANCE
Singapore-ASX deal touted
Singapore Exchange Ltd, pursuing a takeover of ASX Ltd, said the deal would help companies trading on the Australian stock exchange attract money to expand. “We need to help listed companies’ investors get easier and cheaper transactions,” chief executive Magnus Bocker said yesterday on Australian Broadcasting Corp’s Inside Business program. The Singapore bourse offered on Oct. 25 to buy ASX in a cash-and-share transaction then valued at A$8.4 billion (US$8.5 billion), a 42 percent premium to ASX’s share price at the time. The Singapore exchange, seeking approval for the transaction, expects to file an application to Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board within 10 days, Bocker said.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure
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