BRAZIL
Growth forecast trimmed
Growth is expected to slip below 0.5 percent this year, Brazil’s central bank said on Monday. Latin America’s largest economy fell into recession last month and the bank has revised its annual growth expectation down to 0.48 percent, down from 0.81 percent a month ago. About 100 analysts canvassed by the bank over the past week forecast only 1.1 percent growth next year — a far cry from recent boom years such as 2010, which saw GDP race ahead by 7.5 percent.
BANKING
RBS eyes US$4bn boost
State-backed Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) aims to raise up to US$4 billion from the share flotation of its US bank Citizens Financial Group this month, it was announced on Monday. RBS, which is 81 percent owned by the UK government after being rescued in 2008, said on Monday it would sell 140 million shares in Citizens at between US$23 and US$25 each in the initial public offer in New York. The bank could sell a further 21 million shares in an over-allotment option granted to the underwriters of the offer.
SMARTPHONES
Amazon widens Fire sales
US online giant Amazon.com Inc said on Monday it was selling its “Fire” 3D smartphone in Germany and Britain as it cut the price of the handset for US customers. The price was cut from US$199 to less than US$1 for US customers opting for a two-year contract with AT&T Inc. Similar options are to be available in Germany for one euro through Deutsche Telekom AG and in Britain for no upfront cost in partnership with the carrier O2 PLC. Amazon also trimmed the cost of the smartphone without a contract to US$449, from US$649 at the launch.
TELECOMS
E-Plus bid spurs share sale
Telefonica Deutschland, the German subsidiary of Spanish telecoms group Telefonica, said yesterrday it was planning a capital increase to pay for the acquisition of rival operator E-Plus. Telefonica Deutschland said in a statement it aims to issue 1.117 billion new shares at a price of 3.24 euros apiece, raising a total 3.62 billion euros in all. The EU Commission gave the go-ahead to the acquisition in July in a deal estimated at a total 8.5 billion euros (US$10.96 billion).
RETAIL
Coconut milk Frappuccino?
Starbucks Corp is testing coconut milk in stores in Los Angeles, Cleveland and Oregon as alternatives to traditional dairy products grow more popular. A Starbucks spokeswoman declined to say how many stores were offering coconut milk. The Seattle, Washington-based coffee chain — which has nearly 11,800 cafes in the US — regularly tests new products.
MANUFACTURING
Siemens to exit bourses
German engineering and electronics conglomerate Siemens AG yesterday said that it would de-list its shares from the London Stock Exchange early next month and from the SIX Swiss Exchange in Zurich in January next year, given low trading volumes. Siemens already exited from the New York Stock Exchange in mid-May. Last year, the trading volume in London for the Munich and Berlin-based firm was less than 3 percent, while the trading volume on SIX was less than 1 percent of the worldwide trading volume of Siemens shares.
JITTERS: Nexperia has a 20 percent market share for chips powering simpler features such as window controls, and changing supply chains could take years European carmakers are looking into ways to scratch components made with parts from China, spooked by deepening geopolitical spats playing out through chipmaker Nexperia BV and Beijing’s export controls on rare earths. To protect operations from trade ructions, several automakers are pushing major suppliers to find permanent alternatives to Chinese semiconductors, people familiar with the matter said. The industry is considering broader changes to its supply chain to adapt to shifting geopolitics, Europe’s main suppliers lobby CLEPA head Matthias Zink said. “We had some indications already — questions like: ‘How can you supply me without this dependency on China?’” Zink, who also
At least US$50 million for the freedom of an Emirati sheikh: That is the king’s ransom paid two weeks ago to militants linked to al-Qaeda who are pushing to topple the Malian government and impose Islamic law. Alongside a crippling fuel blockade, the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) has made kidnapping wealthy foreigners for a ransom a pillar of its strategy of “economic jihad.” Its goal: Oust the junta, which has struggled to contain Mali’s decade-long insurgency since taking power following back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021, by scaring away investors and paralyzing the west African country’s economy.
Tax revenue from securities transactions last month increased 41.9 percent from a year earlier to NT$30.3 billion (US$975.8 million), rising on an annual basis for the third consecutive month and marking the highest for the month of October as Taiwanese stocks continued to perform strongly, data released by the Ministry of Finance showed yesterday. Last month, the TAIEX surged 2,412.81 points, or 9.34 percent, marking its largest-ever monthly rise for October as market sentiment was buoyed by a nearly 15 percent gain in contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which accounts for more than 40 percent of the
BUST FEARS: While a KMT legislator asked if an AI bubble could affect Taiwan, the DGBAS minister said the sector appears on track to continue growing The local property market has cooled down moderately following a series of credit control measures designed to contain speculation, the central bank said yesterday, while remaining tight-lipped about potential rule relaxations. Lawmakers in a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee voiced concerns to central bank officials that the credit control measures have adversely affected the government’s tax income and small and medium-sized property developers, with limited positive effects. Housing prices have been climbing since 2016, even when the central bank imposed its first set of control measures in 2020, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Ting-wei (羅廷瑋) said. “Since the second half of
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