REAL ESTATE
US home construction rises
New US home construction and new building permits both jumped last month, demonstrating rising strength in the housing market, the US Department of Commerce reported on Friday. New construction was up 9.8 percent from May to an annual pace of 1.17 million units, while permitting rose 7.4 percent to an annual pace of 1.34 million units. For the first six months of the year, housing starts were 10.9 percent higher than the year-before period, while permits, an indicator of future construction, were up 16.2 percent.
ECONOMY
Canada consumer prices up
Consumer prices in Canada rose 1 percent on an annual basis last month, up from 0.9 percent the previous month, official data showed on Friday. Statistics Canada said the modest inflation rate was due, in large part, to lower energy prices. The Consumer Price Index rose 2.1 percent during the same period when energy prices are taken out of the equation, officials said. The core inflation rate rose a notch last month to 2.3 percent, compared with 2.2 percent in May, remaining above the central bank’s 2 percent target.
AUTOMAKERS
Ferrari to recall 800 cars
Italian luxury automaker Ferrari is recalling about 800 cars in North America after discovering it had improperly installed Takata Corp airbags. According to the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Ferrari North America is recalling 814 certain model-year 2015 458 Italia, 458 Spider, 458 Speciale, 458 Speciale A, California T, FF, F12 Berlinetta and LaFerrari vehicles.
FINANCE
GE reports quarterly losses
General Electric Co (GE) on Friday reported a second-quarter loss due to restructuring costs. The company saw a loss of US$1.36 billion for the quarter ending June 30, compared with a profit of US$3.54 billion a year ago. However, operating profits from GE’s industrial segment rose 4.6 percent to US$4.36 billion. The company also said it would press on to complete the US$12 billion purchase of French company Alstom SA’s energy business and the US$3.3 billion sale of its appliances business to Sweden’s Electrolux AB.
STEEL
POSCO India project on hold
South Korea’s POSCO Co Ltd, the world’s fifth-largest steelmaker, on Friday said it was placing a US$12 billion steel project in India on hold, as part of the restructuring of its bloated business structure at home and abroad. POSCO, which has 48 subsidiaries under its wing, said the project was launched in 2005, but has made little progress due to delays in getting clearances and acquiring land from local residents.
MERGERS
CF eyes OCI agreement
CF Industries Holdings Inc, the largest US nitrogen-based fertilizer producer, is in talks with Dutch rival OCI NV about a merger, a person with knowledge of the matter said. The discussions are at a very early stage and could still fall apart, the person said, adding that there is no certainty that an agreement will be reached. In October lats year, CF terminated talks with Norway’s Yara International ASA over creating the world’s bigger maker of nitrogen fertilizer.
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
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
‘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
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