JAPAN
Trade surplus increases
The nation posted its biggest trade surplus in more than four years last month, thanks to a strengthening in the yen and weak oil prices, though both imports and exports fell, suggesting persisting slack demand both in Japan and overseas. Preliminary data reported yesterday showed exports fell 4 percent from a year earlier to ¥5.7 trillion (US$50.5 billion) last month and imports dropped 14 percent to ¥5.46 trillion. The resulting ¥242.8 billion surplus compares with a deficit of ¥426 billion a year earlier and a deficit of ¥648.8 billion in January.
NEW ZEALAND
Growth beats expectations
Economic growth exceeded expectations in the fourth quarter of last year despite a downturn in the nation’s multibillion-dollar dairy industry, official figures released yesterday showed. Statistics New Zealand said the economy expanded 0.9 percent in the September to December quarter, beating analyst predictions of a 0.7 percent rise. The data took New Zealand’s increase in GDP for last year to 2.3 percent, down from 4.1 percent in 2014.
AUSTRALIA
Jobless rate declines
The jobless rate unexpectedly declined last month as fewer people searched for work, government data showed yesterday. Unemployment fell to 5.8 percent from 6 percent, while employment rose 300 from January, data showed. However, participation rate, a measure of labor force as a share of population, fell to 64.9 percent from a revised 65.1 percent. Australia recorded a surge in jobs in October last year and November last year, though the scale of the increases brought renewed skepticism about the accuracy of the labor force data
AVIATION
Lufthansa to pay dividends
Deutsche Lufthansa AG yesterday said that it is to resume dividend payments to shareholders after profits soared last year, helped by low oil prices, and are set to increase again this year. Net profit soared to 1.7 billion euros (US$1.9 billion), from 55 million euros a year earlier. Underlying or operating profit grew by 55.2 percent to 1.8 billion euros and revenues were up 6.8 percent at 32.1 billion euros. The management board is to propose a dividend payment of 0.5 euros per share for last year after no dividend was paid for 2014.
FINLAND
Public debt exceeds limit
Public debt climbed to 63.1 percent of GDP last year, exceeding for the first time the eurozone limit of 60 percent, Statistics Finland said on Wednesday. From the end of 2014 until the end of last year, public debt swelled by 9 billion euros to 130.7 billion. Ratings agency Fitch on Friday last week stripped the nation of its “AAA” credit rating, predicting its public debt would reach 67.5 percent of GDP in 2020.
ENERGY
Abengoa musters investors
Abengoa SA lined up international investors including Elliott Management Corp, KKR Co LP and Oak Hill Advisors LP to inject as much as 1.8 billion euros of new liquidity to help the renewable energy producer avoid insolvency. The investing companies together with Attestor Capital LLP, Centerbridge Partners LP, D.E. Shaw & Co and Varde Partners LP have been working with Abengoa “with a view to acting as anchor investors for the new money facility,” Abengoa said on Wednesday in a regulatory filing.
Zhang Yazhou was sitting in the passenger seat of her Tesla Model 3 when she said she heard her father’s panicked voice: The brakes do not work. Approaching a red light, her father swerved around two cars before plowing into a sport utility vehicle and a sedan, and crashing into a large concrete barrier. Stunned, Zhang gazed at the deflating airbag in front of her. She could never have imagined what was to come: Tesla Inc sued her for defamation for complaining publicly about the vehicles brakes — and won. A Chinese court ordered Zhang to pay more than US$23,000 in
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday held its first board of directors meeting in the US, at which it did not unveil any new US investments despite mounting tariff threats from US President Donald Trump. Trump has threatened to impose 100 percent tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, prompting market speculation that TSMC might consider boosting its chip capacity in the US or ramping up production of advanced chips such as those using a 2-nanometer technology process at its Arizona fabs ahead of schedule. Speculation also swirled that the chipmaker might consider building its own advanced packaging capacity in the US as part
‘NO DISRUPTION’: A US trade association said that it was ready to work with the US administration to streamline the program’s requirements and achieve shared goals The White House is seeking to renegotiate US CHIPS and Science Act awards and has signaled delays to some upcoming semiconductor disbursements, two sources familiar with the matter told reporters. The people, along with a third source, said that the new US administration is reviewing the projects awarded under the 2022 law, meant to boost US domestic semiconductor output with US$39 billion in subsidies. Washington plans to renegotiate some of the deals after assessing and changing current requirements, the sources said. The extent of the possible changes and how they would affect agreements already finalized was not immediately clear. It was not known
A move by US President Donald Trump to slap a 25 percent tariff on all steel imports is expected to place Taiwan-made steel, which already has a 25 percent tariff, on an equal footing, the Taiwan Steel & Iron Industries Association said yesterday. Speaking with CNA, association chairman Hwang Chien-chih (黃建智) said such an equal footing is expected to boost Taiwan’s competitive edge against other countries in the US market, describing the tariffs as "positive" for Taiwanese steel exporters. On Monday, Trump signed two executive orders imposing the new metal tariffs on imported steel and aluminum with no exceptions and exemptions, effective