AUTOMAKERS
Investors want GM payout
An investor group demand that General Motors Co (GM) give back more of its US$25 billion cash hoard confronts GM chief executive officer Mary Barra with a challenge to her plans for building the company and rewarding shareholders.
Barra and GM chief financial officer Chuck Stevens have signaled they plan to recommend returning more of the cash once the automaker knows how much it will have to spend to resolve legal issues related to the company’s recalls of millions of cars equipped with defective ignition switches. That includes a US Department of Justice criminal investigation. Former US Auto Industry Task Force member Harry Wilson is pressing GM to buyback US$8 billion in stock over the 12 months following its June annual meeting.
GOLD
India beats China to top spot
China lost its place to India as the world’s biggest gold consumer last year, data released on Thursday show, hit by collapsing jewelery demand after one year in the top spot. Indian gold demand sank 14 percent to 842.7 tonnes last year from 2013, but Chinese demand slumped 38 percent to 814 tonnes, the World Gold Council said in a report. Overall Chinese gold demand dropped four percent last year to 3,924 tonnes compared with a record amount in 2013, pushed lower as jewelery demand tumbled by a third. That marked the lowest overall level in five years and was also the third successive annual decline for the precious metal, whose two main drivers are jewelery and investment buying. World jewelery demand sank 10 percent to 2,153 tonnes last year, while China registered a 33 percent slump to 814 tonnes, according to the council.
TRADE
Canada ramps up China row
Canada asked the WTO on Thursday to arbitrate an ongoing trade row with China over its imposition of punitive tariffs on bleached wood pulp. Canadian Minister of Trade Ed Fast said an investigation China carried out that found Canada was selling pulp at slashed prices was flawed. “Canada’s position is that China’s investigation was not conducted in accordance with WTO rules and, as a result, the conclusions were flawed,” he said in a statement. The two sides tried but failed to find a negotiated solution to the dispute. “Canada is requesting the establishment of a WTO panel on China’s imposition of discriminatory anti-dumping measures on Canadian dissolving pulp,” Fast said. China imposed duties of up to 23.7 percent on Canadian exports of dissolving pulp entering the Chinese market in April last year.
MACROECONOMICS
Italy still in the doldrums
The Italian economy stagnated in the three months through December last year, failing to rebound from its longest recession on record and increasing pressure on Italiand Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. GDP in the fourth quarter was unchanged from the previous quarter when it dropped 0.1 percent, Italian statistics agency ISTAT said in a preliminary report in Rome yesterday. The median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of 19 economists predicted a drop of 0.1 percent. From a year earlier, GDP fell 0.3 percent. The eurozone’s third-biggest economy might halt its slump this year as both domestic and foreign demands rise, employers’ lobby Confindustria said this week. Its report was released after industrial output data showed a 0.4 percent increase in December that Confindustria said was probably followed by a further rise last month.
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
China yesterday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from Taiwan, the US, the EU and Japan. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s findings conclude a probe launched in May last year, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc, and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the Chinese ministry has said. In January, it said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary
Intel Corp yesterday reinforced its determination to strengthen its partnerships with Taiwan’s ecosystem partners including original-electronic-manufacturing (OEM) companies such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電). “Tonight marks a new beginning. We renew our new partnership with Taiwan ecosystem,” Intel new chief executive officer Tan Lip-bu (陳立武) said at a dinner with representatives from the company’s local partners, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the US chip giant’s presence in Taiwan. Tan took the reins at Intel six weeks ago aiming to reform the chipmaker and revive its past glory. This is the first time Tan
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