GERMANY
Jobless rate remains low
Unemployment remained at historically low levels of 6.4 percent last month as the recovery in Europe’s biggest economy remained on track, data showed yesterday. The number of people registered as unemployed fell by a seasonally adjusted 1,000 to 2.786 million, the lowest level since December 1991, the Federal Labor Office said. That was slightly fewer than expected, as analysts had been penciling in a decline of about 5,000.
ELECTRONICS
Sony shares plunge
Shares in Sony Corp plunged 8.25 percent on Tuesday on dilution fears after the Japanese electronics giant announced plans to raise a total of ¥441 billion (US$3.6 billion) — more than 10 percent of the company’s market capitalization as of yesterday — through stock and bond sales. It is the first new share issuance in 26 years, the company said. The stock closed at ¥3,461.5 on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, down 8.25 percent from the previous day.
ELECTRONICS
Sharp in ‘selective default’
Troubled Japanese electronics maker Sharp Corp is in “selective default,” ratings agency S&P said yesterday, the latest blow to the one-time giant as it struggles to repair a tattered balance sheet. The move comes after Sharp announced that it was issuing preferred securities to its main lenders, instead of repaying loans that were due. However, the classification was expected to be only temporary, S&P said.
PETROLEUM
Petrobras to cut investment
Brazil’s state oil giant Petrobras on Monday slashed its five-year investment plan by US$77 billion — 37 percent — as it tries to recover from a massive corruption scandal. A new, leaner business plan presented by the company was also seen as reflecting today’s lower crude oil prices and other factors that are bad news for Petrobras. The cuts to the 2015-2019 plan are to reduce Petrobras’ investment spending over the period to US$130.3 billion, the company said. Most investment — 86 percent — through 2019 is to go toward exploration and production of oil. The company, mired in debt, plans business restructuring and assets sales to the tune of US$42.6 billion in 2017-2018.
TELECOMS
Colt to exit IT services
Telecoms provider Colt Group SA said it would exit its IT services business to focus on its core network, and voice and data-center services divisions. The company, whose largest shareholder recently offered to take it private, said it would exit the business over the next two to three years, bearing exceptional cash costs of 45 million euros to 55 million euros (US$50.2 million to US$61.3 million) and a non-cash impairment charge of about 90 million euros. Colt said it was targeting revenue this year of between 1.50 billion euros and 1.52 billion from its core business.
EUROPEAN UNION
Google given extension
Brussels has given Google Inc an extension until Aug. 17 to answer an antitrust case alleging that the tech giant abuses its search engine’s market dominance, a company spokesman said on Monday. The announcement of charges followed a five-year investigation into whether Google’s preferential use of its own shopping product in its search engine could be harmful to consumers and competitors. Google accounts for 90 percent of the online search market in Europe.
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he