TRADING
Knight keeps up the fight
Knight Capital Group Inc, fighting to stay afloat after a US$440 million loss spurred by a software bug, scrambled with its advisers to find a buyer or investor. The market maker responsible for about 10 percent of US equity volume turned to Goldman Sachs Group Inc on Wednesday to buy the firm out of trading positions acquired by mistake when a computer program malfunctioned, a person with knowledge of the matter said. It has until the close of business today to complete the transaction. “There’s a lot of questions about their liquidity — do they have the money to get through the trade settlement on Monday?” Patrick O’Shaughnessy, an analyst at Raymond James & Associates Inc, said in an interview with Pimm Fox on Bloomberg Television’s Taking Stock. Knight made it to the weekend after receiving short-term financing for market making, according to a person familiar with the matter who requested anonymity.
HONG KONG
Man held for hacking threats
Police said yesterday they had arrested a 21-year-old man after he reportedly said on Facebook that he planned to hack several government Web sites. Police said the man, who was later released on bail, was held on suspicion of “access to a computer with criminal or dishonest intent” after he allegedly threatened to hack seven government Web sites between June and this month. “The Internet is not a virtual world of lawlessness,” a police spokesman said, adding that the man was required to report back to the police in October. The unidentified man was arrested on Friday before being released on bail, the spokesman said, and faces up to five years imprisonment if found guilty.
EGYPT
Government plans bond sale
The government plans to sell 5 billion Egyptian pounds (US$822 million) of Treasury bills today as it prepares to resume loan talks with the IMF later this month. Cairo will seek bids for 4 billion pounds of nine-month notes and 1 billion pounds of three-month bills, according to central bank data on Bloomberg. Yields on both securities declined at every auction last month to 15.65 percent and 14.2 percent respectively. Cairo contacted the IMF to start negotiations for a US$3.2 billion loan after the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, Finance Minister Momtaz El-Saieed said yesterday. Talks have been on and off for more than a year during which national borrowing costs rose to record highs and net international reserves slumped by more than half to US$15.5 billion as of the end of June.
FINANCE
US jobs make rich richer
The 740 richest people on the planet added US$19.4 billion to their collective net worth on Friday after an increase in US jobs and positive earnings reports erased losses sustained last week. The day’s biggest gainer was Spanish retail tycoon Amancio Ortega, who added US$2.8 billion to his fortune as shares of Inditex SA, the world’s largest clothing retailer, jumped 5.4 percent. Bernard Arnault’s fortune increased US$474 million during the week. Shares of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, the world’s largest luxury goods maker, rose 3.1 percent in Paris. Carlos Slim, 72, remains the world’s richest person. Slim’s fortune lost US$569 million. He now has a net worth of US$74.9 billion. Bill Gates, 56, is US$12.2 billion behind Slim. No. 3 on the index is Warren Buffett, 81, worth US$45.9 billion.
Shares of contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) came under pressure yesterday after a report that Apple Inc is looking to shift some orders from the Taiwanese company to Intel Corp. TSMC shares fell NT$55, or 2.4 percent, to close at NT$2,235 on the local main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Despite the losses, TSMC is expected to continue to benefit from sound fundamentals, as it maintains a lead over its peers in high-end process development, analysts said. “The selling was a knee-jerk reaction to an Intel-Apple report over the weekend,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) analyst Alex Huang
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to remain Apple Inc’s primary chip manufacturing partner despite reports that Apple could shift some orders to Intel Corp, industry experts said yesterday. The comments came after The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Apple and Intel had reached a preliminary agreement following more than a year of negotiations for Intel to manufacture some chips for Apple devices. Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台灣經濟研究院) economist Arisa Liu (劉佩真) said TSMC’s advanced packaging technologies, including integrated fan-out and chip-on-wafer-on-substrate, remain critical to the performance of Apple’s A-series and M-series chips. She said Intel and Samsung
TRANSITION: With the closure, the company would reorganize its Taiwanese unit to a sales and service-focused model, Bridgestone said Bridgestone Corp yesterday announced it would cease manufacturing operations at its tire plant in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), affecting more than 500 workers. Bridgestone Taiwan Co (台灣普利司通) said in a statement that the decision was based on the Tokyo-based tire maker’s adjustments to its global operational strategy and long-term market development considerations. The Taiwanese unit would be reorganized as part of the closure, effective yesterday, and all related production activities would be concluded, the statement said. Under the plan, Bridgestone would continue to deepen its presence in the Taiwanese market, while transitioning to a sales and service-focused business model, it added. The Hsinchu
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has approved a capital budget of US$31.28 billion for production expansion to meet long-term development needs during the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. The company’s board meeting yesterday approved the capital appropriation plan for purposes such as the installation of advanced technology capacity and fab construction, the world’s largest contract chipmaker said in a statement. At an earnings conference last month, TSMC forecast that its capital expenditure for this year would be at the higher end of the US$52 billion to US$56 billion range it forecast in January in response to robust demand for 5G, AI and
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