ECONOMY
Singapore returns to growth
Singapore’s economy returned to growth in July-to-September, reversing contraction in the previous three months, owing to a pick-up in the city-state’s key manufacturing sector, the government said yesterday. Compared with the second quarter, GDP expanded 1.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted annualized basis, advance estimates by the trade ministry showed. GDP shrank 0.1 percent in the three months to June. However, officials estimate the economy grew 2.4 percent year on year, which is below analysts’ forecasts of 2.8 percent.
INDIA
Consumer inflation falls
Consumer price inflation slid unexpectedly last month to its lowest in nearly three years, data showed on Monday, giving greater scope for an interest rate cut that could spur a stuttering economy. Consumer inflation tumbled to 6.46 percent last month, down from August’s revised 7.73 percent, and far better than a consensus market forecast of 7.1 percent.
INVESTMENT
Fidelity names new CEO
Fidelity Investments named Abigail Johnson chief executive of the financial services company, the third chief executive officer of the company founded by her grandfather. Johnson, 52, is replacing her father, 84-year-old Edward Johnson, who has been head of Fidelity since 1977. He plans to stay on as chairman of the company’s board. The changes were announced on Monday in a memo to Fidelity shareholders. The company is one of the world’s biggest investors, managing 401(k)s and other retirement and investment accounts for 23 million people.
ENTERTAINMENT
Taj Mahal casino could close
The parent company of Atlantic City’s Trump Taj Mahal is asking a bankruptcy court judge to let it terminate its union contract. Trump Entertainment Resorts says it needs relief from pension and health insurance costs in order to keep the casino open past mid-November. A judge in Delaware was scheduled to hear the request yesterday morning. However, it was not clear whether a decision would be made yesterday. If the judge rules against the company, it could decide fairly quickly to shut down the Taj Mahal, its lone remaining casino.
BANKING
UBS ex-CEO trial to begin
Jury selection has begun for the trial of a former top executive at Swiss bank UBS AG on charges of helping thousands of wealthy Americans conceal some US$20 billion in assets from the Internal Revenue Service. Former UBS global wealth management chief executive officer Raoul Weil faces up to five years in prison if convicted of fraud conspiracy. Jury selection began yesterday morning in Fort Lauderdale federal court for a trial expected to last several weeks. Weil was originally indicted in 2008 and was a fugitive until his arrest in Italy last year. He pleaded not guilty after his extradition to the US.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Steris to take over Synergy
US pharmaceuticals firm Steris Corp on Monday said it has agreed a US$1.9 billion takeover of Britain’s Synergy Health, in a deal which plans to cut its tax bill. The new company is set to establish its joint tax headquarters in Britain under the terms of the cash-and-shares offer, which values the sterilization services group at ￡19.50 per share. That is 39 percent higher than Synergy’s closing share price on Friday.
NEW IDENTITY: Known for its software, India has expanded into hardware, with its semiconductor industry growing from US$38bn in 2023 to US$45bn to US$50bn India on Saturday inaugurated its first semiconductor assembly and test facility, a milestone in the government’s push to reduce dependence on foreign chipmakers and stake a claim in a sector dominated by China. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened US firm Micron Technology Inc’s semiconductor assembly, test and packaging unit in his home state of Gujarat, hailing the “dawn of a new era” for India’s technology ambitions. “When young Indians look back in the future, they will see this decade as the turning point in our tech future,” Modi told the event, which was broadcast on his YouTube channel. The plant would convert
Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) yesterday said the DRAM supply crunch could extend through 2028, as the artificial intelligence (AI) boom has led the world’s major memory makers to dramatically reduce production of standard DRAM and allocate a significant portion of their capacity for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips. The most severe supply constraints would stretch to the first half of next year due to “very limited” increases in new DRAM capacity worldwide, Nanya Technology president Lee Pei-ing (李培瑛) told a news briefing. The company plans to increase monthly 12-inch wafer capacity to 20,000 in the first half of 2028 after a
Property transactions in the nation’s six special municipalities plunged last month, as a lengthy Lunar New Year holiday combined with ongoing credit tightening dampened housing market activity, data compiled by local land administration offices released on Monday showed. The six cities recorded a total of 10,480 property transfers last month, down 42.5 percent from January and marking the second-lowest monthly level on record, the data showed. “The sharp drop largely reflected seasonal factors and tighter credit conditions,” Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房屋) deputy research manager Chen Chin-ping (陳金萍) said. The nine-day Lunar New Year holiday fell in February this year, reducing
Zimbabwe’s ban on raw lithium exports is forcing Chinese miners to rethink their strategy, speeding up plans to process the metal locally instead of shipping it to China’s vast rechargeable battery industry. The country is Africa’s largest lithium producer and has one of the world’s largest reserves, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS). Zimbabwe already banned the export of lithium ore in 2022 and last year announced it would halt exports of lithium concentrates from January next year. However, on Wednesday it imposed the ban with immediate effect, leaving unclear what the lithium mining sector would do in the
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