BANKING
Brazil central bank rate hike
The Brazilian central bank on Wednesday raised its key interest rate by 50 basis points to 11.75 percent, surprising many analysts who had expected a rise of just 0.25 percentage points. The rise came on the back of a 0.25 percentage point rise just over a month ago, which was the first since April to tackle rising inflation, which moved just above a government target ceiling of 6.5 percent. The government’s official target is 4.5 percent. Bank Chairman Alexandre Tombini last week said that the nation must “maintain especially vigilant” monetary policy to keep inflation in check.
UNITED STATES
Spending boosts economy
The nation’s economy kept expanding in October and last month, helped by solid gains in consumer spending, manufacturing and overall employment, according to the Federal Reserve’s latest survey of business conditions around the country. The Fed survey found many areas of strength — for the first time this year. The central bank said that business executives remain optimistic about the prospects for growth next year. The gains in economic activity came as overall inflation remained subdued, it said. The report, known as the Beige Book for the color of its cover, will form the basis for discussion at the Fed’s final policymaking meeting of the year on Dec. 16 and Dec. 17.
ECONOMY
Australia faces slow growth
Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey said that the nation’s living standards could fall as the economy slows and a hostile Senate continues to block key budget legislation. The Australian parliament was scheduled to sit for the final day this year yesterday. Hockey urged the Senate to endorse a new tax on medical appointments, a higher tax on gasoline and cuts to university funding when it sits again in February. “There is a risk that Australians could face a fall in living standards,” if the government could not implement its economic strategy, Hockey told Australian Broadcasting Corp. Government figures released on Wednesday showed that economic growth slowed to a lower-than-expected 0.3 percent for the September quarter.
SOLAR ENERGY
Oil price impact downplayed
Plunging prices for crude oil will have little impact on the solar industry, SunPower Corp chief executive officer Tom Werner said on Wednesday. Oil would have to drop “a lot more” for the economics of burning oil or diesel to be cheaper than solar power,’’ Werner said at the Credit Suisse Annual Technology Conference in Scottsdale, Arizona. The price of oil has fallen nearly 40 percent since June, amid swelling supplies from US shale and OPEC’s decision last week to maintain production.
ENTERTAINMENT
Disney raises dividend
Walt Disney Co raised its annual cash dividend by 34 percent to US$1.15 a share from US$0.86 previously, the Burbank, California-based company said on Wednesday. The dividend is set to be paid on Jan. 8 to shareholders of record on Dec. 15. The movie, theme park and TV company has increased returns to shareholders in recent years, with faster dividend growth and stock buybacks. Four years ago, the annual payout stood at US$0.40 a share. The company repurchased US$6.5 billion of its stock in the year that ended on Sept. 27.
Meta Platforms Inc offered US$100 million bonuses to OpenAI employees in an unsuccessful bid to poach the ChatGPT maker’s talent and strengthen its own generative artificial intelligence (AI) teams, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has said. Facebook’s parent company — a competitor of OpenAI — also offered “giant” annual salaries exceeding US$100 million to OpenAI staffers, Altman said in an interview on the Uncapped with Jack Altman podcast released on Tuesday. “It is crazy,” Sam Altman told his brother Jack in the interview. “I’m really happy that at least so far none of our best people have decided to take them
BYPASSING CHINA TARIFFS: In the first five months of this year, Foxconn sent US$4.4bn of iPhones to the US from India, compared with US$3.7bn in the whole of last year Nearly all the iPhones exported by Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) from India went to the US between March and last month, customs data showed, far above last year’s average of 50 percent and a clear sign of Apple Inc’s efforts to bypass high US tariffs imposed on China. The numbers, being reported by Reuters for the first time, show that Apple has realigned its India exports to almost exclusively serve the US market, when previously the devices were more widely distributed to nations including the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. During March to last month, Foxconn, known as Hon Hai Precision Industry
PLANS: MSI is also planning to upgrade its service center in the Netherlands Micro-Star International Co (MSI, 微星) yesterday said it plans to set up a server assembly line at its Poland service center this year at the earliest. The computer and peripherals manufacturer expects that the new server assembly line would shorten transportation times in shipments to European countries, a company spokesperson told the Taipei Times by telephone. MSI manufactures motherboards, graphics cards, notebook computers, servers, optical storage devices and communication devices. The company operates plants in Taiwan and China, and runs a global network of service centers. The company is also considering upgrading its service center in the Netherlands into a
Taiwan’s property market is entering a freeze, with mortgage activity across the nation’s six largest cities plummeting in the first quarter, H&B Realty Co (住商不動產) said yesterday, citing mounting pressure on housing demand amid tighter lending rules and regulatory curbs. Mortgage applications in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung totaled 28,078 from January to March, a sharp 36.3 percent decline from 44,082 in the same period last year, the nation’s largest real-estate brokerage by franchise said, citing data from the Joint Credit Information Center (JCIC, 聯徵中心). “The simultaneous decline across all six cities reflects just how drastically the market
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