SOUTH KOREA
Inflation above target range
The country’s inflation exceeded the central bank’s target and all forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey, limiting the scope for an interest-rate cut next month even as threats to growth mount. Consumer prices rose 4.2 percent from a year earlier, matching last month’s gain, Statistics Korea said yesterday in a statement. Prices rose 0.4 percent from the previous month, the biggest gain since August. An increase in electricity prices contributed to this month’s inflation. The government raised charges after the state-owned Korea Electric Power Corp reported a loss for the first nine months of the year. Core prices, which exclude energy and food costs, advanced 3.6 percent this month from a year earlier, compared with a 3.5 percent gain last month, today’s report showed.
REAL ESTATE
Madrid’s Torre Picasso sold
Spanish construction firm FCC sold a landmark Madrid skyscraper to a real-estate firm owned by the owner of the Zara clothing chain for 400 million euros (US$521 million), FCC said on Thursday. The company sold the Torre Picasso to Pontegadea Inmobiliaria, which belongs to Amancia Ortega, Spain’s richest man and the founder of fashion group Inditex, which owns the popular Zara brand, FCC said in a regulatory filing. From its inauguration in 1988 until 2007, the Torre Picasso was the tallest building in the Spanish capital. Designed by Japanese architect Minoru Yamasaki, the creator of the doomed Twin Towers in New York, the 157m high building has 43 floors and a helipad.
MEDIA
Qatar raises Lagardere stake
Qatar Holding has raised its stake in Lagardere to more than 10 percent, making the Gulf state the largest shareholder in the struggling French media-to-aerospace conglomerate. The oil-rich emirate has been a staunch supporter of Lagardere chief executive Arnaud Lagardere even as some shareholders assailed his strategy for the company his father founded, which competes with Pearson PLC and Bertelsmann AG in radio and book publishing. Lagardere, which also is a top shareholder in Airbus parent EADS, has struggled this year as its fledgling sports business has been plagued by integration problems.
HEALTHCARE
GE settles billing claim
GE Healthcare, a branch of General Electric, has paid the US government a settlement of US$30 million plus interest for improper billing by a company it bought in 2004, officials said on Thursday. The case over Amersham Health Inc concerned claims filed under the False Claims Act, according to which the company caused the Medicare program for the elderly to overpay for a drug used to diagnose heart disease. The government alleged Amersham Health provided false or misleading information to Medicare on the number of doses available from vials used in treatment, which meant Medicare paid at artificially inflated rates.
AVIATION
AMR shares delisted
AMR Corp, American Airlines’ parent company, which filed for bankruptcy last month, said on Thursday that its stock would be dropped from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The shares will stop trading on the NYSE before the opening bell on Thursday. The delisting includes AMR common stock and some company-issued notes. AMR said that the NYSE notified the Fort Worth, Texas, company of the move after the average closing price of AMR shares fell below US$1 for 30 straight trading days.
SEMICONDUCTORS: The German laser and plasma generator company will expand its local services as its specialized offerings support Taiwan’s semiconductor industries Trumpf SE + Co KG, a global leader in supplying laser technology and plasma generators used in chip production, is expanding its investments in Taiwan in an effort to deeply integrate into the global semiconductor supply chain in the pursuit of growth. The company, headquartered in Ditzingen, Germany, has invested significantly in a newly inaugurated regional technical center for plasma generators in Taoyuan, its latest expansion in Taiwan after being engaged in various industries for more than 25 years. The center, the first of its kind Trumpf built outside Germany, aims to serve customers from Taiwan, Japan, Southeast Asia and South Korea,
Gasoline and diesel prices at domestic fuel stations are to fall NT$0.2 per liter this week, down for a second consecutive week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to drop to NT$26.4, NT$27.9 and NT$29.9 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to fall to NT$24.8 per liter at CPC stations and NT$24.6 at Formosa pumps, they said. The price adjustments came even as international crude oil prices rose last week, as traders
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which supplies advanced chips to Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc, yesterday reported NT$1.046 trillion (US$33.1 billion) in revenue for last quarter, driven by constantly strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips, falling in the upper end of its forecast. Based on TSMC’s financial guidance, revenue would expand about 22 percent sequentially to the range from US$32.2 billion to US$33.4 billion during the final quarter of 2024, it told investors in October last year. Last year in total, revenue jumped 31.61 percent to NT$3.81 trillion, compared with NT$2.89 trillion generated in the year before, according to
PRECEDENTED TIMES: In news that surely does not shock, AI and tech exports drove a banner for exports last year as Taiwan’s economic growth experienced a flood tide Taiwan’s exports delivered a blockbuster finish to last year with last month’s shipments rising at the second-highest pace on record as demand for artificial intelligence (AI) hardware and advanced computing remained strong, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. Exports surged 43.4 percent from a year earlier to US$62.48 billion last month, extending growth to 26 consecutive months. Imports climbed 14.9 percent to US$43.04 billion, the second-highest monthly level historically, resulting in a trade surplus of US$19.43 billion — more than double that of the year before. Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) described the performance as “surprisingly outstanding,” forecasting export growth
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