CYPRUS
No time to lose: Juncker
Cyprus needs to speed up negotiations with its potential creditors on a deal that would enable the cash-strapped country to receive international financial aid, the president of the 17-nation eurozone said on Friday. Jean-Claude Juncker said there is “no time to lose” on reaching a bailout deal with the European Central Bank, IMF and the European Commission — collectively known as the troika. Cyprus in June joined fellow eurozone members Greece, Ireland and Portugal in seeking an international bailout to recapitalize its banks which have taken huge losses due to their heavy exposure to debt-crushed Greece.
retail
Walmart fails to reach deal
Walmart Stores Inc said on Friday it had failed to reach a deal with a developer to have a store in Brooklyn’s East New York neighborhood, dealing the company a setback in its attempt to open its first location in the largest US City. Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, had been in talks with Related Companies to open a store that would have anchored the Gateway Two Plaza development in Brooklyn. A Shop Rite supermarket will instead occupy that space. In a statement, Walmart said it would continue to look for a site, adding that most New Yorkers want the discount giant to open a store in their city. Walmart has faced opposition from some groups in New York that say it does not pay its workers adequately and would drive out small local businesses.
insurance
Insurer in healthcare index
UnitedHealth Group Inc will replace Kraft Foods Inc in the Dow Jones industrial average, putting the US’ largest health insurer in the storied 30-stock index at a time when an aging population is making healthcare one of the strongest-growing segments of the economy. UnitedHealth joins pharmaceutical companies Pfizer Inc and Merck & Co among the Dow’s healthcare stocks. Insurance is already represented by Travelers Companies Inc, though UnitedHealth will be the only insurance stock with a healthcare focus. The group has been volatile in recent years because of US President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform law, and because of aging US population demographics, which could increase demand for long-term healthcare options.
United kingdom
VAT plans to affect poultry
UK plans to include fresh roasted chickens sold in supermarkets among hot takeaway foods subject to value-added tax (VAT) would cost farmers and shoppers millions of pounds, the British Poultry Council said. New rules on sales tax will increase the cost to shoppers of whole rotisserie chickens by 20 percent as of Oct. 1, the council wrote in an e-mailed statement. That could prompt consumers to cut purchases by 9 percent, or 73,000 birds a week, the council said, citing an in-store trial by William Morrison Supermarkets PLC. British shoppers buy about 810,000 rotisserie chickens a week in supermarkets, with a value of about ￡185 million (US$300 million) a year, according to Peter Bradnock, chief executive officer of the council. The tax would bring in ￡34 million for the government, while sales of rotisserie chicken in the UK might fall by as much as 4 million birds, or ￡17 million, the council wrote.
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
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
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
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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