SPAIN
Economic output accelerates
The government yesterday announced the fastest economic growth in six years in the first quarter of the year, even as it failed to dent a 26 percent unemployment rate. Economic output rose at the quickest pace since a 2008 property crash tipped the nation into a double-dip recession, the National Statistics Institute said in an initial estimate. The economy grew at a quarterly rate of 0.4 percent, it said, the latest sign of a gathering, yet modest recovery since the nation emerged from a two-year downturn last year.
PORTUGAL
Bailout exit being mulled
The nation will decide on how it will exit its 78 billion euro (US$108 billion) bailout program before a meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Brussels on Monday next week, the government said on Tuesday. Lisbon could opt for a precautionary line of credit when the bailout program, extended three years ago, ends on May 17. Alternatively, it could take the route risked by Ireland four months ago — a return to the debt market without a standby loan.
UNITED STATES
Warning sounded on loans
Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Sarah Bloom Raskin sounded the alarm on Tuesday on student loans, as the number of people defaulting is on the rise. At least 40 million people have taken out a student loan, Raskin said, and by the time students graduate the average amount of loans is US$30,000 and they spend 10 years or more repaying. Many never manage to repay them at all, Raskin said in a speech at the University of Maryland.
UNITED KINGDOM
Campaign suffers setback
The government’s campaign against a proposed EU tax on financial transactions suffered a blow yesterday after a court ruled the legal action taken against the tax was premature. The European Court of Justice in Strasbourg found London’s opposition to the EU’s Financial Transactions Tax should not prevent a group of 11 EU members from proceeding with plans to implement the tax.
GERMANY
Unemployment rate falls
The unemployment rate fell to 6.8 percent last month thanks to a better-than-expected springtime boost in jobs. The drop of 0.3 percentage points compared with the previous month is equivalent to 111,000 fewer jobless. The Federal Labor Agency reported yesterday that 2.94 million people were registered as unemployed last month. Adjusted for seasonal factors, the unemployment rate remained at 6.7 percent.
ENGINEERING
Siemens eyes energy deal
German giant Siemens AG is in talks to purchase Rolls-Royce’s energy production arm, the British aircraft engine maker said yesterday. “Following media reports, Rolls-Royce confirms it is in talks with Siemens regarding the sale of its energy gas turbine and compressor business,” the London-listed group said in a statement.
WINE
NZ exports hit record levels
New Zealand’s wine exports reached record levels in the 12 months to March amid surging demand from key markets, an industry body said yesterday. Official data showed exports were up 9.2 percent to NZ$1.32 billion (US$1.13 billion), making wine the country’s eighth-most valuable goods export, New Zealand Winegrowers said. Australia and Britain remain New Zealand’s largest wine exports markets.
SEMICONDUCTORS: The German laser and plasma generator company will expand its local services as its specialized offerings support Taiwan’s semiconductor industries Trumpf SE + Co KG, a global leader in supplying laser technology and plasma generators used in chip production, is expanding its investments in Taiwan in an effort to deeply integrate into the global semiconductor supply chain in the pursuit of growth. The company, headquartered in Ditzingen, Germany, has invested significantly in a newly inaugurated regional technical center for plasma generators in Taoyuan, its latest expansion in Taiwan after being engaged in various industries for more than 25 years. The center, the first of its kind Trumpf built outside Germany, aims to serve customers from Taiwan, Japan, Southeast Asia and South Korea,
Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday introduced the company’s latest supercomputer platform, featuring six new chips made by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), saying that it is now “in full production.” “If Vera Rubin is going to be in time for this year, it must be in production by now, and so, today I can tell you that Vera Rubin is in full production,” Huang said during his keynote speech at CES in Las Vegas. The rollout of six concurrent chips for Vera Rubin — the company’s next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) computing platform — marks a strategic
Gasoline and diesel prices at domestic fuel stations are to fall NT$0.2 per liter this week, down for a second consecutive week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to drop to NT$26.4, NT$27.9 and NT$29.9 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to fall to NT$24.8 per liter at CPC stations and NT$24.6 at Formosa pumps, they said. The price adjustments came even as international crude oil prices rose last week, as traders
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which supplies advanced chips to Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc, yesterday reported NT$1.046 trillion (US$33.1 billion) in revenue for last quarter, driven by constantly strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips, falling in the upper end of its forecast. Based on TSMC’s financial guidance, revenue would expand about 22 percent sequentially to the range from US$32.2 billion to US$33.4 billion during the final quarter of 2024, it told investors in October last year. Last year in total, revenue jumped 31.61 percent to NT$3.81 trillion, compared with NT$2.89 trillion generated in the year before, according to
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