MINING
Wesfarmers to sell mines
Wesfarmers Ltd, the Australian retail-to-fertilizer conglomerate, has started a sale process for its two coal mines in the country after prices for the commodity soared this year, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The Perth-based company has sent preliminary information on the Curragh and Bengalla mines to potential buyers ahead of calling for bids, the people said, asking not to be identified, as the details are not public. Wesfarmers is working with UBS Group AG on the potential divestments, which might fetch as much as A$2 billion (US$1.5 billion), two of the people said.
UNITED STATES
Retail sales rise
Retail sales last month rose more than expected as households bought motor vehicles and a range of other goods, pointing to sustained economic strength that could allow the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates next month. The Department of Commerce on Tuesday said retail sales increased 0.8 percent last month, also boosted by demand for building materials, likely as households cleaned up and made repairs in the wake of Hurricane Matthew. “This is just the kind of data the Fed doves need to see to convince them to hike rates in December. The economy is doing pretty well, this data is bullish for the economic outlook in the months ahead,” said Chris Rupkey, chief economist at MUFG Union Bank in New York.
FOREIGN EXCHANGE
Yen weakest performer
The yen’s swoon after US president-elect Donald Trump’s shock election victory has turned the developed world’s strongest currency into its weakest performer. Macro Currency Group said it has also opened up an enticing buying opportunity. Mark Farrington, who oversees US$2.2 billion as managing director at the London-based fund manager, said Japan’s currency is poised to rally, because Trump’s policies will spur political risk, reviving demand for the yen as a haven. The recent rout in US Treasuries might also drive Japanese investors back to local bonds.
UNITED KINGDOM
Inflation to rebound
Bank of England Governor Mark Carney on Tuesday said that inflation would rebound in the coming months as the Brexit-fueled slump in the British pound sparks price hikes. Carney, addressing British lawmakers on the influential Treasury Select Committee, said that “inflation is going up [and] that’s a consequence of a very large move” in the exchange rate. However, his comments came as official data showed that British annual inflation had experienced an unexpected slowdown last month from a two-year high. The 12-month inflation rate declined to 0.9 percent compared with 1 percent in September, Britain’s Office for National Statistics said in a statement.
INTERNET
WhatsApp halts ad targeting
WhatsApp has temporarily suspended giving parent company Facebook information about users in Europe for ad targeting, responding to concerns there over privacy, a source close to the matter said on Tuesday. Conversations with officials in Europe over the past few months resulted in the social network deciding to only tap WhatsApp user data there for purposes such as fighting spam, according to the source. The break was described as an effort to give regulators time to share privacy concerns and for Facebook to consider ways to address them.
PERSISTENT RUMORS: Nvidia’s CEO said the firm is not in talks to sell AI chips to China, but he would welcome a change in US policy barring the activity Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said his company is not in discussions to sell its Blackwell artificial intelligence (AI) chips to Chinese firms, waving off speculation it is trying to engineer a return to the world’s largest semiconductor market. Huang, who arrived in Taiwan yesterday ahead of meetings with longtime partner Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), took the opportunity to clarify recent comments about the US-China AI race. The Nvidia head caused a stir in an interview this week with the Financial Times, in which he was quoted as saying “China will win” the AI race. Huang yesterday said
Nissan Motor Co has agreed to sell its global headquarters in Yokohama for ￥97 billion (US$630 million) to a group sponsored by Taiwanese autoparts maker Minth Group (敏實集團), as the struggling automaker seeks to shore up its financial position. The acquisition is led by a special purchase company managed by KJR Management Ltd, a Japanese real-estate unit of private equity giant KKR & Co, people familiar with the matter said. KJR said it would act as asset manager together with Mizuho Real Estate Management Co. Nissan is undergoing a broad cost-cutting campaign by eliminating jobs and shuttering plants as it grapples
The Chinese government has issued guidance requiring new data center projects that have received any state funds to only use domestically made artificial intelligence (AI) chips, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. In recent weeks, Chinese regulatory authorities have ordered such data centers that are less than 30 percent complete to remove all installed foreign chips, or cancel plans to purchase them, while projects in a more advanced stage would be decided on a case-by-case basis, the sources said. The move could represent one of China’s most aggressive steps yet to eliminate foreign technology from its critical infrastructure amid a
MORE WEIGHT: The national weighting was raised in one index while holding steady in two others, while several companies rose or fell in prominence MSCI Inc, a global index provider, has raised Taiwan’s weighting in one of its major indices and left the country’s weighting unchanged in two other indices after a regular index review. In a statement released on Thursday, MSCI said it has upgraded Taiwan’s weighting in the MSCI All-Country World Index by 0.02 percentage points to 2.25 percent, while maintaining the weighting in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, the most closely watched by foreign institutional investors, at 20.46 percent. Additionally, the index provider has left Taiwan’s weighting in the MSCI All-Country Asia ex-Japan Index unchanged at 23.15 percent. The latest index adjustments are to
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