SOUTH KOREA
Current account improves
Strong exports caused a jump in the nation’s current account surplus last month from February, despite rising oil and other raw material prices, the central bank said yesterday. The account surplus, the broadest measure of trade with the rest of the world, was US$1.43 billion last month compared to a revised US$1.13 billion in February. The surplus in March last year stood at US$1.20 billion. The account remained in the black for a 13th consecutive month, boosted by robust exports amid the global economic recovery.
TELECOMS
Nokia to outsource Symbian
Nokia will axe 7,000 jobs and outsource its Symbian software development unit to cut 1 billion euros (US$1.46 billion) in costs as it struggles to compete in the smartphone market. Nokia, the world’s largest phone maker by volume, said on Wednesday the move would include laying off 4,000 staff and transferring another 3,000 to services firm Accenture — a total of 12 percent of its phone unit workforce. Accenture is to take over Nokia’s Symbian software activities and will become a primary software partner for future smartphones running on Microsoft’s Windows platform.
AUTOMOBILES
Q1 net profit down at Honda
Japanese auto giant Honda yesterday said net profit for the first quarter of this year fell 38.3 percent from a year earlier due to costs related to last month’s earthquake as well as the strong yen. Net profit for the quarter totaled ￥44.5 billion (US$536 million), the auto giant said. Net profit doubled year-on-year from last year to this year to ￥534.1 billion, but the automaker gave no forecast for the current year as it continue to gauge the impact of the March 11 disasters on production. Honda said quake-related losses totaled about ￥45.7 billion.
CHEMICALS
Bayer posts profit increase
German chemical and pharmaceutical group Bayer posted an 8.4 percent increase in first quarter net profit yesterday, while signaling improvement in its agricultural products division. Bayer, the maker of pain-killer Aspirin, said that net profit rose to 684 million euros (US$1 billion) and also raised its full-year forecast. First quarter sales gained 13.2 percent to 9.415 billion euros and operating profit rose by 4 percent to 1.148 billion.
OIL
Earnings up 60% at Shell
Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell announced a 60 percent increase in first-quarter earnings yesterday as the company benefited from the steep rise in oil in recent months. Net profit rose to US$8.78 billion, up from US$5.48 billion a year earlier, the company said in a statement. Revenues rose 28 percent to US$110 billion.
INTERNET
EBay Q1 profit up 20%
EBay Inc says its first-quarter profit rose 20 percent on reinvigorated growth at its namesake auction site. Late on Wednesday, the company reported net income of US$475.9 million, or US$0.36 per share, compared with US$397.7 million and US$0.30 per share in the first quarter of last year. Excluding special items, eBay earned US$0.47 per share — US$0.01 more than analysts polled by FactSet expected. Revenue rose 16 percent to US$2.5 billion, essentially in line with analyst’s expectations. The company also predicted that its second-quarter revenue could beat Wall Street estimates.
HORMUZ ISSUE: The US president said he expected crude prices to drop at the end of the war, which he called a ‘minor excursion’ that could continue ‘for a little while’ The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwait started reducing oil production, as the near-closure of the crucial Strait of Hormuz ripples through energy markets and affects global supply. Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) is “managing offshore production levels to address storage requirements,” the company said in a statement, without giving details. Kuwait Petroleum Corp said it was lowering production at its oil fields and refineries after “Iranian threats against safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz.” The war in the Middle East has all but closed Hormuz, the narrow waterway linking the Persian Gulf to the open seas,
Taiwan has enough crude oil reserves for more than 100 days and sufficient natural gas reserves for more than 11 days, both above the regulatory safety requirement, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday, adding that the government would prioritize domestic price stability as conflicts in the Middle East continue. Overall, energy supply for this month is secure, and the government is continuing efforts to ensure sufficient supply for next month, Kung told reporters after meeting with representatives from business groups at the ministry in Taipei. The ministry has been holding daily cross-ministry meetings at the Executive Yuan to ensure
RATIONING: The proposal would give the Trump administration ample leverage to negotiate investments in the US as it decides how many chips to give each country US officials are debating a new regulatory framework for exporting artificial intelligence (AI) chips and are considering requiring foreign nations to invest in US AI data centers or security guarantees as a condition for granting exports of 200,000 chips or more, according to a document seen by Reuters. The rules are not yet final and could change. They would be the first attempt to regulate the flow of AI chips to US allies and partners since US President Donald Trump’s administration said it rescinded its predecessor’s so-called AI diffusion rules. Those rules sought to keep a significant amount of AI
A new worry has been rippling across the stock market lately: Entire businesses, not just their employees, might be thrown out of work. While most economists say fears of an artificial intelligence (AI) job apocalypse are overblown, seismic shifts have happened in the past after big tech breakthroughs. The IT revolution of the 1990s led to a surge in productivity that sped up the US economy for several years. It also rendered companies or even industries largely redundant — from travel agents and stockbrokers to classified advertising and newspapers, or video rental stores. Economists expect AI would deliver higher productivity,
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