FINANCE
Private sector mulls Greece
Changing the terms of voluntary private sector participation in the bailout for Greece agreed to in July could cost the support of private investors, Deutsche Bank chief executive officer Josef Ackermann said in an interview published on Saturday. “If we reopen the voluntary accord of July 21, we will not only lose precious time, but quite possibly also private investor support,” Ackermann told the Greek newspaper Kathimerini. “The impact of such a move would be incalculable. This is why I am warning in the most forceful way against any material revision.” Ackermann is also head of the International Institute of Finance, which has been leading bond swap talks on behalf of banks. Holders of Greek bonds agreed to accept a 21 percent “haircut” on the value of their debt on July 21 as part of an EU-IMF bailout.
AUTOMOBILES
Renault-Nissan eyes Brazil
French-Japanese alliance -Renault-Nissan plans to double its share of the Brazilian auto market by 2016, group president Carlos Ghosn said on Saturday. In order to meet his goals, Ghosn will announce two major investments on Wednesday and Thursday for the two brands in Brazil, but he declined to provide those figures in advance. Brazilian Science and Technology Minister Aloizio Mercadante said the funding would help expand the Renault-Nissan plant in southern Parana State and create a new one in Rezende City, in Rio de Janeiro State. Announcements on manufacturing electric cars were also expected. “We have set a goal to double our market share by 2016, to exceed 13 percent. Renault aims to exceed 8 percent, and Nissan 5 percent,” Ghosn said after talks with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff.
BANKING
Citigroup looks to sell EMI
Citigroup Inc could sell EMI Music Publishing Ltd after seeking final offers by Wednesday, the Sunday Times reported, without saying where it got the information. The most likely buyer is Warner Music Group Corp, according to the newspaper. Citigroup must raise ￡3 billion (US$4.7 billion) to break even on EMI, the label of artists including Coldplay and Kate Perry, according to the report. Citigroup seized EMI from Guy Hands’s Terra Firma Capital Partners Ltd in February after the firm was declared insolvent.
UNITED STATES
Job market to stay weak
Gains in payrolls last month were probably too small to reduce joblessness and manufacturing almost stalled as concern mounted that the global recovery was losing momentum, economists said before reports last week. Employment climbed by 50,000 workers after no change in August, according to the median forecast of 67 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News before Labor Department data scheduled to be released on Friday. Factories grew at the slowest pace since July 2009, a survey of purchasing managers could show today. The European debt crisis, political haggling in the US and a plunge in stock prices have led to a drop in consumer and business confidence that could continue to hurt spending and hiring. The risk that the world’s largest economy could fall back into a recession has prompted the Federal Reserve and President Barack Obama to announce further measures to spur the expansion. Private payrolls, which exclude government jobs, rose 90,000 after a gain of 17,000 in the previous month, economists forecast the employment report would also show.
The EU and US are nearing an agreement to coordinate on producing and securing critical minerals, part of a push to break reliance on Chinese supplies. The potential deal would create incentives, such as minimum prices, that could advantage non-Chinese suppliers, according to a draft of an “action plan” seen by Bloomberg. The EU and US would also cooperate on standards, investments and joint projects, as well as coordinate on any supply disruptions by countries like China. The two sides are additionally seeking other “like-minded partners” to join a multicountry accord to help create these new critical mineral supply chains, which feed into
For weeks now, the global tech industry has been waiting for a major artificial intelligence (AI) launch from DeepSeek (深度求索), seen as a benchmark for China’s progress in the fast-moving field. More than a year has passed since the start-up put Chinese AI on the map in early last year with a low-cost chatbot that performed at a similar level to US rivals. However, despite reports and rumors about its imminent release, DeepSeek’s next-generation “V4” model is nowhere in sight. Speculation is also swirling over the geopolitical implications of which computer chips were chosen to train and power the new
Elon Musk’s lieutenants have reached out to chip industry suppliers, including Applied Materials Inc, Tokyo Electron Ltd and Lam Research Corp, for his envisioned Terafab, early steps in an audacious and likely arduous attempt to break into the production of cutting-edge chips. Staff working for the joint venture between Tesla Inc and Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) have sought price quotes and delivery times for an array of chipmaking gear, people familiar with the matter said. In past weeks, they’ve contacted makers of photomasks, substrates, etchers, depositors, cleaning devices, testers and other tools, according to the people, who asked not to
Japan approved ￥631.5 billion (US$3.97 billion) in additional subsidies to hasten Rapidus Corp’s entry into the high-stakes artificial intelligence (AI) chipmaking arena, ramping up support for a project widely regarded as a long shot. The capital is intended to bankroll Rapidus’ work for information technology firm Fujitsu Ltd, one of the initial customers that Tokyo hopes would get the signature endeavor off the ground. The new money raises the fees and investments that the government is injecting into the start-up to ￥2.6 trillion by the end of the current fiscal year to March next year, the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and
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