BITCOIN
Mt. Gox to be liquidated
Failed bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox has given up its plan to rebuild under bankruptcy protection and has asked a Tokyo court that it be liquidated, Dow Jones Newswires reported yesterday. Reasons for the decision are the complexity of the procedures involved, including the difficulty of holding meetings with creditors spread around the world, the report said, citing “people familiar with the situation.”
BEVERAGES
Coca-Cola soda sales fall
Coca-Cola Co, the world’s biggest beverage maker, said on Tuesday that the amount of soda it sold globally fell for the first time in 15 years. The drop in the first quarter was offset by stronger sales of its non-carbonated drinks that include Minute Maid, Powerade and Dasani bottled water. Overall volume rose 2 percent, an improvement from the 1 percent increase the previous quarter. However, the 1 percent decline in global soda volume is notable for Coca-Cola: The last time the figure fell was in 1999, according to the company.
MINING
BHP Billiton raises outlook
Global giant BHP Billiton raised its fiscal year iron-ore production outlook for a second time this year yesterday after seeing a better-than-expected jump in output in the first quarter of the year. The world’s biggest mining company increased its guidance for production this year until June to 217 tonnes, up from the 212 tonnes previously forecast. That comes despite concerns about the strength of the economy in China, the No. 1 buyer of ore. It said production in the first quarter rose 23 percent year-on-year to 49.6 million tonnes.
BRAZIL
Minister eyes GDP growth
The nation’s economy is forecast to expand by 3 percent next year, picking up briskly after years of stagnant growth, a top government economist said on Tuesday. Brazilian Minister of Planning Miriam Belchior said in a report presented to the national legislature that inflation for Latin America’s biggest economy was expected to be 5 percent next year. Last year, GDP grew a modest 2.3 percent for a third consecutive year, compared with a torrid pace of 7.5 percent in 2010.
BANKING
Bond woes hit Credit Suisse
Swiss giant Credit Suisse said its net profit fell 34 percent in the first quarter as bond-market woes hurt earnings at its investment banking business. Profit fell to 859 million Swiss francs (US$979 million) from SF1.303 billion in the same quarter a year ago. Group core revenues fell 8 percent to SF6.469 billion. Income before taxes rose 15 percent to SF1.102 billion. The bank said yesterday it saw lower revenues and earnings at its investment banking division, which faced “a challenging market environment.”
LUXURY GOODS
Burberry revenue up 19%
British group Burberry PLC said strong sales in China and South Korea helped it to a 19 percent rise in second-half revenue, but that it expected currency headwinds to hit profits in the next two years. The firm, which sells trench coats and leather goods emblazoned with its distinctive camel, red and black check pattern, said yesterday total revenue for the six months to March 31 was ￡1.3 billion (US$2.2 billion), broadly in line with analysts’ forecasts.
KEEPING UP: The acquisition of a cleanroom in Taiwan would enable Micron to increase production in a market where demand continues to outpace supply, a Micron official said Micron Technology Inc has signed a letter of intent to buy a fabrication site in Taiwan from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion to expand its production of memory chips. Micron would take control of the P5 site in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼) and plans to ramp up DRAM production in phases after the transaction closes in the second quarter, the company said in a statement on Saturday. The acquisition includes an existing 12 inch fab cleanroom of 27,871m2 and would further position Micron to address growing global demand for memory solutions, the company said. Micron expects the transaction to
Nvidia Corp’s GB300 platform is expected to account for 70 to 80 percent of global artificial intelligence (AI) server rack shipments this year, while adoption of its next-generation Vera Rubin 200 platform is to gradually gain momentum after the third quarter of the year, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said. Servers based on Nvidia’s GB300 chips entered mass production last quarter and they are expected to become the mainstay models for Taiwanese server manufacturers this year, Trendforce analyst Frank Kung (龔明德) said in an interview. This year is expected to be a breakout year for AI servers based on a variety of chips, as
Global semiconductor stocks advanced yesterday, as comments by Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) at Davos, Switzerland, helped reinforce investor enthusiasm for artificial intelligence (AI). Samsung Electronics Co gained as much as 5 percent to an all-time high, helping drive South Korea’s benchmark KOSPI above 5,000 for the first time. That came after the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rose more than 3 percent to a fresh record on Wednesday, with a boost from Nvidia. The gains came amid broad risk-on trade after US President Donald Trump withdrew his threat of tariffs on some European nations over backing for Greenland. Huang further
HSBC Bank Taiwan Ltd (匯豐台灣商銀) and the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to enhance cooperation on the suspicious transaction analysis mechanism. This landmark agreement makes HSBC the first foreign bank in Taiwan to establish such a partnership with the High Prosecutors Office, underscoring its commitment to active anti-fraud initiatives, financial inclusion, and the “Treating Customers Fairly” principle. Through this deep public-private collaboration, both parties aim to co-create a secure financial ecosystem via early warning detection and precise fraud prevention technologies. At the signing ceremony, HSBC Taiwan CEO and head of banking Adam Chen (陳志堅)
RSS