MACROECONOMY
Global growth to slow
Global growth is expected to lag this year and next, but for the first time in a long time, it is not all Europe’s fault. That is the view of a leading international economic body, which said on Tuesday that a slowdown in emerging economies and the potential for another US budget crisis are the main sources of concern for the global economy. In its half-yearly forecast, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development lowered its forecast for global growth this year to 2.7 percent and 3.6 percent for next.
ARGENTINA
Commerce secretary resigns
Feared Secretary of Commerce Guillermo Moreno has quit. Moreno was a pitbull for President Cristina Fernandez. He tried to jail economists for publishing independent inflation numbers, and broke up board meetings of the opposition Grupo Clarin. Executives have accused him of blocking their imports, freezing their prices and making their corporate lives miserable until they agreed to support the government’s economic policies. Presidential spokesman Alfredo Scoccimarro says Fernandez accepted the resignation on Tuesday.
INTERNET
Yahoo boosts buyback
Yahoo boosted its share buyback plan by US$5 billion, returning more cash to shareholders as chief executive Marissa Mayer seeks to revive growth at the largest US Internet portal. Yahoo is also to raise US$1 billion in convertible debt funding maturing in 2018, the Sunnyvale, California-based company said in a statement on Tuesday. Yahoo has made US$5.3 billion in buybacks since January last year, including US$1.7 billion in the third quarter, the company said on its earnings conference call on Oct. 15.
PHARMACEUTICALS
GSK to sell part of shares
British drugs firm GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) yesterday announced that it would sell one-third of its shareholding in South African company Aspen for ￡425 million (US$685 million). “GSK has agreed to the sale of 28.2 million ordinary shares in Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Ltd” via a placing of shares to institutional investors, it said in a statement. Following settlement of the sale, GSK will hold 56.5 million ordinary shares in Aspen, representing 12.4 percent of the issued share capital.
MEDICAL EQUIPMENT
Johnson & Johnson settles
Johnson & Johnson on Tuesday said that it would pay US$2.5 billion to settle thousands of lawsuits brought by hip replacement patients who accuse the company of selling faulty implants that led to injuries and additional surgeries. The agreement presented in US District Court in Toledo, Ohio, is one of the largest for the medical device industry. It resolves an estimated 8,000 cases of patients who had to have the company’s metal ball-and-socket hip implant removed or replaced. The deal provides about US$250,000 per patient and covers those who had their implants removed or replaced before Aug. 31 this year.
JUSTICE
Trader jailed for scheme
A former trader was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison on Tuesday for an unauthorized purchase of about US$1 billion in Apple Inc stock that eventually led to the demise of financial services firm Rochdale Securities. David Miller, 41, was sentenced by US District Judge Robert Chatigny in Hartford, Connecticut, seven months after pleading guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy.
Shares of contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) came under pressure yesterday after a report that Apple Inc is looking to shift some orders from the Taiwanese company to Intel Corp. TSMC shares fell NT$55, or 2.4 percent, to close at NT$2,235 on the local main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Despite the losses, TSMC is expected to continue to benefit from sound fundamentals, as it maintains a lead over its peers in high-end process development, analysts said. “The selling was a knee-jerk reaction to an Intel-Apple report over the weekend,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) analyst Alex Huang
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to remain Apple Inc’s primary chip manufacturing partner despite reports that Apple could shift some orders to Intel Corp, industry experts said yesterday. The comments came after The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Apple and Intel had reached a preliminary agreement following more than a year of negotiations for Intel to manufacture some chips for Apple devices. Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台灣經濟研究院) economist Arisa Liu (劉佩真) said TSMC’s advanced packaging technologies, including integrated fan-out and chip-on-wafer-on-substrate, remain critical to the performance of Apple’s A-series and M-series chips. She said Intel and Samsung
TRANSITION: With the closure, the company would reorganize its Taiwanese unit to a sales and service-focused model, Bridgestone said Bridgestone Corp yesterday announced it would cease manufacturing operations at its tire plant in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), affecting more than 500 workers. Bridgestone Taiwan Co (台灣普利司通) said in a statement that the decision was based on the Tokyo-based tire maker’s adjustments to its global operational strategy and long-term market development considerations. The Taiwanese unit would be reorganized as part of the closure, effective yesterday, and all related production activities would be concluded, the statement said. Under the plan, Bridgestone would continue to deepen its presence in the Taiwanese market, while transitioning to a sales and service-focused business model, it added. The Hsinchu
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has approved a capital budget of US$31.28 billion for production expansion to meet long-term development needs during the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. The company’s board meeting yesterday approved the capital appropriation plan for purposes such as the installation of advanced technology capacity and fab construction, the world’s largest contract chipmaker said in a statement. At an earnings conference last month, TSMC forecast that its capital expenditure for this year would be at the higher end of the US$52 billion to US$56 billion range it forecast in January in response to robust demand for 5G, AI and
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