MACROECONOMICS
UK mulls rate rise
Bank of England Governor Mark Carney has indicated that Britain’s record-low interest rates could start to rise at the turn of the year. Carney on Thursday said that he expected the key rate to climb over the next three years from its current level of 0.5 percent — where it has stood for more than six years to stimulate growth after the worldwide economic downturn of 2008. Carney said that rates would rise slowly before reaching a level that is about half as high as its historical average of 5 percent.
INVESTMENTS
China FDI climbs 8%
China’s foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows rose 8 percent in the first half from the same period last year, a Chinese Ministry of Commerce official said yesterday. Investment into China’s fast-growing services sector jumped 23 percent in the first half from the same period last year, accounting for more than 60 percent of the period’s total FDI, Chinese Assistant Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen (王受文) said at a news conference. The ministry did not announce the exact investment value or the monthly figures for last month. Outbound direct investment soared 29.2 percent to US$56 billion in the first six months from last year, data showed.
MINING
S African wage talks stuck
South African gold-mine workers and bosses are stuck “far apart” in their wage talks as a new offer by companies failed to impress unions, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said. Companies including AngloGold Ashanti Ltd, Sibanye Gold Ltd and Harmony Gold Mining Co offered more compensation for lost jobs, as well as raising medical payments and some workers’ retirement ages, the Chamber of Mines said in a statement on Thursday. The offer is “meaningless” as it does not talk about wages, NUM spokesman Livhuwani Mammburu said. NUM is asking for an 80 percent increase in base pay for entry-level underground workers who now earn about 5,800 rand (US$470) per month. The companies have offered a gain of as much as 13 percent.
TELECOMS
Ericsson’s profits fall
Swedish wireless equipment maker Ericsson AB yesterday said broadband demand in North America has stabilized but remains low, with second-quarter net profit falling 20 percent to 2.1 billion kronor (US$245.3 million). Overall, net sales in the second quarter grew 11 percent to 60.7 billion kronor, driven by strong development in the network segment, Ericsson said. Ericsson CEO Hans Vestberg said that the mobile broadband business in North America stabilized in the April-to-June period, but at a lower level than a year ago. The decline was partly offset by an increased pace of 4G deployments in China, he added.
BANKING
Citi profit beats estimates
Citigroup Inc, the third biggest bank in the US, posted earnings that beat analysts’ estimates, as CEO Michael Corbat cut expenses. Second-quarter net profit jumped to US$4.85 billion, or US$1.51 per share, from US$181 million, or US$0.03 per share, in the same period last year, the New York-based lender said on Thursday. Excluding accounting adjustments and one-time items, profit was US$1.45 per share, beating the US$1.34 average estimate of 27 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Total revenue, excluding accounting adjustments, fell 1.5 percent to US$19.2 billion from a year earlier, in line with analysts’ estimates.
TECH RACE: The Chinese firm showed off its new Mate XT hours after the latest iPhone launch, but its price tag and limited supply could be drawbacks China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為) yesterday unveiled the world’s first tri-foldable phone, as it seeks to expand its lead in the world’s biggest smartphone market and steal the spotlight from Apple Inc hours after it debuted a new iPhone. The Chinese tech giant showed off its new Mate XT, which users can fold three ways like an accordion screen door, during a launch ceremony in Shenzhen. The Mate XT comes in red and black and has a 10.2-inch display screen. At 3.6mm thick, it is the world’s slimmest foldable smartphone, Huawei said. The company’s Web site showed that it has garnered more than
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進) and Episil Technologies Inc (漢磊) yesterday announced plans to jointly build an 8-inch fab to produce silicon carbide (SiC) chips through an equity acquisition deal. SiC chips offer higher efficiency and lower energy loss than pure silicon chips, and they are able to operate at higher temperatures. They have become crucial to the development of electric vehicles, artificial intelligence data centers, green energy storage and industrial devices. Vanguard, a contract chipmaker focused on making power management chips and driver ICs for displays, is to acquire a 13 percent stake in Episil for NT$2.48 billion (US$77.1 million).
RSS