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.
ENERGY ISSUES: The TSIA urged the government to increase natural gas and helium reserves to reduce the impact of the Middle East war on semiconductor supply stability Chip testing and packaging service provider ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控) yesterday said it planned to invest more than NT$100 billion (US$3.15 billion) in building a new advanced chip testing facility in Kaohsiung to keep up with customer demand driven by the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. That would be included in the company’s capital expenditure budget next year, ASE said. There is also room to raise this year’s capital spending budget from a record-high US$7 billion estimated three months ago, it added. ASE would have six factories under construction this year, another record-breaking number, ASE chief operating officer Tien Wu
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
For weeks now, the global tech industry has been waiting for a major artificial intelligence (AI) launch from DeepSeek (深度求索), seen as a benchmark for China’s progress in the fast-moving field. More than a year has passed since the start-up put Chinese AI on the map in early last year with a low-cost chatbot that performed at a similar level to US rivals. However, despite reports and rumors about its imminent release, DeepSeek’s next-generation “V4” model is nowhere in sight. Speculation is also swirling over the geopolitical implications of which computer chips were chosen to train and power the new
TECH WINNERS: Taiwan and South Korea reported robust trade, which suggests that they have critical advantages in the rapidly expanding AI supply chain, an official said Exports last month surged to a new high, as booming demand tied to artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure fueled shipments of advanced technology components, underscoring the nation’s pivotal role in the global semiconductor supply chain. Outbound shipments climbed to US$80.18 billion, the highest ever for a single month, rising 61.8 percent from a year earlier and marking the 29th consecutive month of growth, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. “The surge was driven primarily by global investment in AI infrastructure,” Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) said. The mass production of next-generation AI computing systems has accelerated procurement across the semiconductor supply
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