BANKING
EU to finalize ‘bank union’
EU finance ministers yesterday agreed to meet again next week to finalize details of a “Banking Union” meant to prevent failing banks from ever again wrecking the economy. Following more than 14 hours of talks, the ministers cited some progress, but not enough, with agreement only on the general principles on one of the bloc’s most ambitious projects. Ministers hope the Banking Union will prevent any repeat of failing banks driving governments into international bailouts.
EMPLOYMENT
S Korea jobless rate falls
The unemployment rate fell slightly to 2.9 percent last month, as healthcare and other service industries added more jobs, official data showed yesterday. The seasonally adjusted jobless rate compared with 3 percent in October and 3 percent in the same period a year earlier, Statistics Korea said. Unadjusted, the figure stood at 2.7 percent last month. The total number of employed stood at 25.53 million, up by 588,000 from a year ago.
MACROECONOMICS
Brazil to see 2.2% growth
The economy is likely to grow 2.2 percent this year and 2 percent next year, an influential industrial group said on Tuesday, calling for less red tape and more competitiveness. “This year was better than last year, but an expansion of around 2 percent is very little for Brazil,” Federation of Industries of the State of Sao Paulo president Paulo Skaf said. “The country needs to grow more.” The group also said Brazil’s industrial sector was set to grow 1.5 percent this year and 2.5 percent next year, from a 0.8 percent contraction last year.
MACROECONOMICS
Italy contraction to end
The economy has emerged from two years of contraction, data showed on Tuesday, but economists warned that recovery would remain elusive as resistance grows to further tax hikes and reforms. The third-biggest economy in the eurozone stagnated in the third quarter, revised data showed, in an update of an earlier estimate of a 0.1 percent contraction. Tuesday’s data said the economy had contracted by 1.8 percent over 12 months, instead of the earlier 1.9 percent.
PHARMACEUTICALS
GSK to invest in UK
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is to invest another ￡200 million (US$330 million) on advanced manufacturing in Britain, the company said yesterday, underlining the draw of a tax break designed to encourage research and development. Britain’s so-called “patent box” scheme, which offers a reduced rate of corporate tax on income derived from patents, has been hailed by GSK, its biggest drugmaker, for transforming the country as a place to invest. However, not all Britain’s European partners are as enthusiastic about such patent box arrangements. In July, Germany called for a ban on these schemes, saying they created unfair competition. Patent boxes also operate in the Netherlands and some other EU member states.
TECHNOLOGY
Twitter updates software
Updated mobile software rolled out on Tuesday by Twitter lets smartphone users send pictures in direct, personal messages seen only by recipients instead of being shared publicly on the social network. The Instagram-style feature is in the latest Twitter applications tailored for Apple or Android smartphones. Twitter users now also have the option to “swipe” from their home screen, the company said.
FALLING BEHIND: Samsung shares have declined more than 20 percent this year, as the world’s largest chipmaker struggles in key markets and plays catch-up to rival SK Hynix Samsung Electronics Co is laying off workers in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand as part of a plan to reduce its global headcount by thousands of jobs, sources familiar with the situation said. The layoffs could affect about 10 percent of its workforces in those markets, although the numbers for each subsidiary might vary, said one of the sources, who asked not to be named because the matter is private. Job cuts are planned for other overseas subsidiaries and could reach 10 percent in certain markets, the source said. The South Korean company has about 147,000 in staff overseas, more than half
Taipei is today suspending its US$2.5 trillion stock market as Super Typhoon Krathon approaches Taiwan with strong winds and heavy rain. The nation is not conducting securities, currency or fixed-income trading, statements from its stock and currency exchanges said. Yesterday, schools and offices were closed in several cities and counties in southern and eastern Taiwan, including in the key industrial port city of Kaohsiung. Taiwan, which started canceling flights, ship sailings and some train services earlier this week, has wind and rain advisories in place for much of the island. It regularly experiences typhoons, and in July shut offices and schools as
An Indian factory producing iPhone components resumed work yesterday after a fire that halted production — the third blaze to disrupt Apple Inc’s local supply chain since the start of last year. Local industrial behemoth Tata Group’s plant in Tamil Nadu, which was shut down by the unexplained fire on Saturday, is a key linchpin of Apple’s nascent supply chain in the country. A spokesperson for subsidiary Tata Electronics Pvt yesterday said that the company would restart work in “many areas of the facility today.” “We’ve been working diligently since Saturday to support our team and to identify the cause of the fire,”
TECH PARTNERSHIP: The deal with Arizona-based Amkor would provide TSMC with advanced packing and test capacities, a requirement to serve US customers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is collaborating with Amkor Technology Inc to provide local advanced packaging and test capacities in Arizona to address customer requirements for geographical flexibility in chip manufacturing. As part of the agreement, TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, would contract turnkey advanced packaging and test services from Amkor at their planned facility in Peoria, Arizona, a joint statement released yesterday said. TSMC would leverage these services to support its customers, particularly those using TSMC’s advanced wafer fabrication facilities in Phoenix, Arizona, it said. The companies would jointly define the specific packaging technologies, such as TSMC’s Integrated
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