UNITED STATES
US output, home sales weak
Manufacturing output barely rose last month and contracts to buy previously owned homes recorded their largest drop in nearly three-and-a-half years, the latest signs the economy’s momentum ebbed as the third quarter ended. Manufacturing production edged up 0.1 percent last month after advancing 0.5 percent in August, the Federal Reserve said on Monday. Separately, the National Association of Realtors said its pending home sales index, based on contracts signed last month, plunged 5.6 percent to the lowest level since December last year.
SOUTH KOREA
Current account surplus up
The current account surplus expanded last month from the previous month on trade gains and stronger service industry earnings, the Bank of Korea said yesterday. The current account, the broadest measure of the country’s trade with the rest of the world, showed a surplus of US$6.57 billion last month, up from a revised US$5.68 billion in August. Earlier this month, the central bank said the nation’s current account surplus was likely to hit a record-high of US$63 billion for the full year.
TECHNOLOGY
Infosys faces visa fines
The US government plans to punish Indian outsourcing giant Infosys Ltd with the largest immigration fine ever for seeking visas fraudulently for workers at big clients in the US, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. Infosys is accused of putting workers on visitor visas rather than work visas. The former are much easier and cheaper to obtain than the latter. The fine is expected to be about US$35 million, the paper said, quoting people close to the matter.
BANKING
UBS posts profit in Q3
Swiss banking giant UBS AG reported a third-quarter net profit of 577 million Swiss francs (US$644 million), compared with losses of SF2.1 billion in the same period last year. However, Switzerland’s largest bank says it may not be able to reach its profit goals for 2015 because of Swiss regulatory demands that it hold more capital for risks from litigation. UBS said in a statement yesterday it had third-quarter charges of SF586 million for litigation, regulatory and other related matters, and sees more regulatory challenges ahead.
BANKING
Lawsuits hurt Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank yesterday said that its third-quarter bottom line was hit by “substantial litigation charges” and falling profits in investment banking. Germany’s biggest lender said in a statement that its net profit tumbled 94 percent to 41 million euros (US$56.5 million) in the period from July to September, way below analysts’ expectations. Group net revenues were down 10 percent at 7.74 billion euros. The group put the litigation charges in the third quarter at 1.2 billion euros.
PETROLEUM
BP profit plunges 34%
British energy giant BP yesterday said that its net profit slid 34 percent to US$3.5 billion in the third quarter compared with the same period a year ago. The group’s replacement cost profit — which excludes changes in the value of oil inventories — dropped to US$3.18 billion. Production fell 2.3 percent, while BP was also hit by lower refining margins. The company said that charges as a result of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster in 2010 currently stood at US$42.5 billion.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday said that its research institute has launched its first advanced artificial intelligence (AI) large language model (LLM) using traditional Chinese, with technology assistance from Nvidia Corp. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), said the LLM, FoxBrain, is expected to improve its data analysis capabilities for smart manufacturing, and electric vehicle and smart city development. An LLM is a type of AI trained on vast amounts of text data and uses deep learning techniques, particularly neural networks, to process and generate language. They are essential for building and improving AI-powered servers. Nvidia provided assistance
DOMESTIC SUPPLY: The probe comes as Donald Trump has called for the repeal of the US$52.7 billion CHIPS and Science Act, which the US Congress passed in 2022 The Office of the US Trade Representative is to hold a hearing tomorrow into older Chinese-made “legacy” semiconductors that could heap more US tariffs on chips from China that power everyday goods from cars to washing machines to telecoms equipment. The probe, which began during former US president Joe Biden’s tenure in December last year, aims to protect US and other semiconductor producers from China’s massive state-driven buildup of domestic chip supply. A 50 percent US tariff on Chinese semiconductors began on Jan. 1. Legacy chips use older manufacturing processes introduced more than a decade ago and are often far simpler than
STILL HOPEFUL: Delayed payment of NT$5.35 billion from an Indian server client sent its earnings plunging last year, but the firm expects a gradual pickup ahead Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), the world’s No. 5 PC vendor, yesterday reported an 87 percent slump in net profit for last year, dragged by a massive overdue payment from an Indian cloud service provider. The Indian customer has delayed payment totaling NT$5.35 billion (US$162.7 million), Asustek chief financial officer Nick Wu (吳長榮) told an online earnings conference. Asustek shipped servers to India between April and June last year. The customer told Asustek that it is launching multiple fundraising projects and expected to repay the debt in the short term, Wu said. The Indian customer accounted for less than 10 percent to Asustek’s
Gasoline and diesel prices this week are to decrease NT$0.5 and NT$1 per liter respectively as international crude prices continued to fall last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to decrease to NT$29.2, NT$30.7 and NT$32.7 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, while premium diesel is to cost NT$27.9 per liter at CPC stations and NT$27.7 at Formosa pumps, the companies said in separate statements. Global crude oil prices dropped last week after the eight OPEC+ members said they would
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