SPAIN
More Spaniards employed
Spain’s jobless rate eased slightly to 25.98 percent in the third quarter, official data showed yesterday, as the EU’s fourth-largest economy battled its way out of a long recession. The number of people out of work dipped by 72,800 to 5.9 million, lowering the unemployment rate from the previous quarter’s 26.26 percent, a National Statistics Institute report showed. It was the second straight quarter showing a drop in the unemployment rate, which peaked at a record of more than 27 percent early this year.
CAMERAS
Canon sees first sales drop
Canon Inc, the world’s largest camera maker, cut its annual profit forecast and predicted its first drop in sales of models with an interchangeable lens, as consumers switch to smartphones to take photos. Net income will likely total ￥240 billion (US$2.5 billion) for the year ending Dec. 31, the Tokyo-based company said in a statement yesterday, cutting its earlier forecast of ￥260 billion. The value of worldwide camera shipments dropped 19 percent in August from a year earlier, a ninth consecutive monthly decline, according to the Camera & Imaging Products Association in Tokyo.
TEXTILES
Brazilians rally over job loss
Brazilian textile workers held a demonstration on Wednesday over the loss of manufacturing jobs to China, in a protest at a trade fair showcasing mainly Chinese goods. Reporters witnessed about 200 demonstrators who converged on the Anhembi convention center in the north of Sao Paulo, where 340 mostly Chinese firms were displaying their wares. Unions and textile associations say they want to call attention to the loss of factory work to China.
TECHNOLOGY
Ericsson warns of pressure
Swedish wireless equipment company Ericsson AB warned yesterday that its sales are under pressure as big projects in the US and Japan come onstream. The warning came as Ericsson reported a 34 percent increase in third-quarter net profit to 2.92 billion Swedish kronor (US$458 million), compared with 2.18 billion kronor a year earlier. Sales in the quarter dropped 3 percent to 52.98 billion kronor amid negative currency effects and lower sales in North East Asia and India.
BANKING
Credit Suisse profit rises
Credit Suisse Group posted a 79 percent increase in third-quarter profit compared with last year, backed by strong results from private banking and wealth management. Switzerland’s second-largest bank, which has shed employees and cut other costs to boost profitability, reported a third-quarter profit of 454 million Swiss francs (US$509 million), up from SF254 million a year ago. The Zurich-based bank said in a statement yesterday it had net revenue of SF3.32 billion from private banking and wealth management, roughly in line with the comparable quarter a year earlier.
TELECOMS
LG phone biz falls into red
LG Electronics Inc said its handset business sank into the red for the first time in a year as it cut prices and spent more on marketing to carve out a share of the high-end smartphone market. The South Korean firm reported yesterday that its mobile communications business lost 79.7 billion won (US$75.5 million) in the July-to-September period, even after selling 12 million smartphones. It was the first red ink since the third quarter last year.
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
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
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
The founder of Chinese property giant Evergrande Group (恆大集團) has pleaded guilty to charges of fraud and bribery, a court said yesterday, the latest blow for what was once the country’s leading developer. Evergrande’s rise was propelled by decades of rapid urbanization and rising living standards, but in 2020, its access to credit dramatically narrowed when the government introduced curbs on excessive borrowing and speculation. The company defaulted in 2021 after struggling to repay creditors. Founder Xu Jiayin (許家印), 67, known as Hui Ka Yan in Cantonese, was reportedly held by police in 2023, with Evergrande saying he had been subjected to
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