GERMANY
Jobless total hits 2.96m
Unemployment rose more than four times as much as economists estimated this months as the euro area sovereign debt crisis and a long winter took their toll on Europe’s largest economy. The number of people out of work climbed a seasonally adjusted 21,000 to 2.96 million, the Nuremberg-based Federal Labor Agency said yesterday. That is the fourth straight monthly gain. The adjusted jobless rate held at 6.9 percent, just above a two- decade low of 6.8 percent.
ENERGY
Russia, Japan sign deal
Japan and Russia yesterday signed a deal that will see them jointly explore and develop a potentially lucrative oil and gas field off the Russian coast. Japanese firm Inpex Corp and Russia’s Rosneft state oil giant agreed to work together on the reserve, estimated to hold around 3.4 billion barrels of oil, according to the Yomiuri Shimbun, off the Russian state of Magadan. That reserve equates to around three years’ worth of oil imports for resource-strapped Japan.
INTERNET
EU pushes Google on search
The EU’s antitrust chief said on Tuesday that Google Inc will have to offer more changes to the way it displays search results to settle a pending case. The period to examine Google’s proposals has been extended by one month and his office will ask Google with “almost 100 percent” certainty next month to do yet more, EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia told the European Parliament. Google’s search engine enjoys a near-monopoly in Europe with a market share of above 90 percent. The EU commission, the 27-nation bloc’s antitrust authority, has been investigating since 2010 whether Google is abusing its dominant market position.
SINGAPORE
DBS offers yuan bonds
DBS Group Holdings Ltd is marketing yuan-denominated bonds in Singapore after HSBC Holdings PLC and Standard Chartered PLC sold the city-state’s first offshore notes in the Chinese currency earlier this week. DBS is considering offering three-year securities to yield about 2.70 percent, a person familiar with the matter said yesterday. HSBC sold 500 million yuan (US$82 million) of two-year debt at 2.25 percent, while Standard Chartered priced 1 billion yuan of three-year notes at 2.625 percent on May 27.
UNITED STATES
Wal-Mart fined US$81.6m
Wal-Mart Stores Inc will pay US$81.6 million after pleading guilty to criminal charges of improperly disposing of fertilizer, pesticides and other hazardous products that were pulled from stores in two states because of damaged packaging and other problems. The world’s largest retailer entered the plea in federal court in California to misdemeanor counts of violating the Clean Water Act and another environmental law regulating pesticides. In Missouri, the company pleaded guilty to improperly handling pesticides.
UNITED STATES
Moody’s upbeat on banking
Moody’s Investors Services has raised its outlook for the US banking industry for the first time in five years, citing the improving economy and banks’ stronger balance sheets. The rating agency said in a report issued on Tuesday that sustained economic growth and a better jobs picture will help banks over the next 12 to 18 months. Moody’s raised its outlook for the industry to “stable” from “negative.” It had been “negative” since 2008, the year the financial crisis struck.
China’s economic planning agency yesterday outlined details of measures aimed at boosting the economy, but refrained from major spending initiatives. The piecemeal nature of the plans announced yesterday appeared to disappoint investors who were hoping for bolder moves, and the Shanghai Composite Index gave up a 10 percent initial gain as markets reopened after a weeklong holiday to end 4.59 percent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dived 9.41 percent. Chinese National Development and Reform Commission Chairman Zheng Shanjie (鄭珊潔) said the government would frontload 100 billion yuan (US$14.2 billion) in spending from the government’s budget for next year in addition
Sales RecORD: Hon Hai’s consolidated sales rose by about 20 percent last quarter, while Largan, another Apple supplier, saw quarterly sales increase by 17 percent IPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) on Saturday reported its highest-ever quarterly sales for the third quarter on the back of solid global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) globally, said it posted NT$1.85 trillion (US$57.93 billion) in consolidated sales in the July-to-September quarter, up 19.46 percent from the previous quarter and up 20.15 percent from a year earlier. The figure beat the previous third-quarter high of NT$1.74 trillion recorded in 2022, company data showed. Due to rising demand for AI, Hon Hai said its cloud and networking division enjoyed strong sales
TECH JUGGERNAUT: TSMC shares have more than doubled since ChatGPT’s launch in late 2022, as demand for cutting-edge artificial intelligence chips remains high Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday posted a better-than-expected 39 percent rise in quarterly revenue, assuaging concerns that artificial intelligence (AI) hardware spending is beginning to taper off. The main chipmaker for Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc reported third-quarter sales of NT$759.69 billion (US$23.6 billion), compared with the average analyst projection of NT$748 billion. For last month alone, TSMC reported revenue jumped 39.6 percent year-on-year to NT$251.87 billion. Taiwan’s largest company is to disclose its full third-quarter earnings on Thursday next week and update its outlook. Hsinchu-based TSMC produces the cutting-edge chips needed to train AI. The company now makes more
Protectionism: US trade chief Katherine Tai said the hikes would help to counter unfair trade practices from China, while boosting domestic clean energy investments US Trade Representative Katherine Tai (戴琪) defended stiff tariff hikes against countries such as China, saying that paired with investment, they were a “legitimate and constructive” tool for reinvigorating domestic industries. Tai’s comments come a week after sharp tariff increases on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs), EV batteries and solar cells took effect — with levies down the line on other products also recently finalized. The latest moves targeting US$18 billion in Chinese goods come weeks before next month’s US presidential election, with Democrats and Republicans pushing a hard line on China as competition between Washington and Beijing intensifies. In an interview on Thursday
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