SOVEREIGN DEBT
Fitch downgrades Belgium
Fitch Ratings on Friday downgraded Belgium’s long-term debt rating one notch to “AA-,” citing growing levels of sovereign debt, but said the European nation’s outlook was stable. The agency said Belgian efforts to stimulate growth through structural reforms have pushed the country’s fiscal targets upward, with gross debt forecast to be 107 percent of GDP this year. However, with tax revenues falling, the agency is now forecasting a 3 percent deficit for the Belgian budget this year, up 0.3 percentage points from a prior estimate. Extraordinary costs associated with the refugee crisis as well as security measures in response to terrorist attacks in France and Belgium also pushed the deficit forecast higher by 0.2 percent of GDP, Fitch said.
UNITED STATES
New home sales grow
A buying spree in the midwest spurred new home sales last month to the fastest pace since July. The Department of Commerce said on Friday that new-home sales last month rose 5.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate 592,000. It was the fastest pace since July’s 622,000. Sales were up 16.5 percent from a year ago. Sales in the midwest shot up 43.8 percent, the region’s biggest monthly increase since October 2012. Sales were up 7.7 percent in the west, flat in the northeast and down 3.1 percent in the south. The median price of new home sold last month was US$305,400.
SOLAR INDUSTRY
China appeals EU tariffs
China is appealing to the EU to drop anti-dumping tariffs on Chinese solar panels after the trade bloc’s executive body recommended extending them for two years. A Ministry of Commerce statement on Friday said Europe was hurting efforts to fight climate change by charging higher import duties on Chinese photovoltaic technology. The EU raised import duties on Chinese solar panels in 2013 after concluding Beijing improperly subsidized manufacturers. The duties are due to expire in March.
CONFECTIONERY
Yildiz sells Ulker stake
Turkish food giant Yildiz Holding AS on Friday said it has sold a US$400 million stake in biscuit maker Ulker to its London-based holding company, to which it has moved its core biscuit, chocolate and confectionery businesses. Outside of Turkey, Yildiz is better known for its international brands, which include Godiva chocolates and McVities’ biscuits. Yildiz eventually plans to list the shares in Pladis, the UK holding company. The sale of 21 percent of Ulker to Pladis for 1.4 billion lira (US$398.07 million) will leave Yildiz with a 28.92 percent stake.
MACROECONOMICS
Canadian GDP shrinks
Canada’s GDP shrank unexpectedly in October as factories suffered their worst month in almost three years, adding to signs the country’s outlook is worsening. Output fell 0.3 percent, Statistics Canada said on Friday. Manufacturing output was particularly disappointing, falling 2 percent in the biggest monthly decline since December 2013 and the second-worst since the recession. The GDP numbers add to recent indicators showing low interest rates and a program of federal government stimulus are so far failing to spur a recovery.
Apple Inc increased iPhone production in India by about 53 percent last year and now makes a quarter of its marquee devices there, reflecting the US company’s efforts to avoid tariffs on China. The company assembled about 55 million iPhones in India last year, up from 36 million a year earlier, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be named because the numbers aren’t public. Apple makes about 220 million to 230 million iPhones a year globally, with India’s share of the total increasing rapidly. Apple has accelerated its expansion in the world’s most populous country in recent years, bolstered
HEADWINDS: The company said it expects its computer business, as well as consumer electronics and communications segments to see revenue declines due to seasonality Pegatron Corp (和碩) yesterday said it aims to grow its artificial intelligence (AI) server revenue more than 10-fold this year from last year, driven by orders from neocloud solutions clients and large cloud service providers. The electronics manufacturing service provider said AI server revenue growth would be driven primarily by the Nvidia Corp GB300 server platform. Server shipments are expected to increase each quarter this year, with the second half likely to outperform the first half, it said. The AI server market is expected to broaden this year as more inference applications emerge, which would drive demand for system-on-chip, application-specific integrated circuits
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) share of the global foundry market rose to almost 70 percent last year amid booming demand for artificial intelligence (AI), market information advisory firm TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said on Thursday. The contract chipmaker posted US$122.54 billion in revenue, up 36.1 percent from a year earlier, accounting for 69.9 percent of the global market, TrendForce said. Its share was up from 64.4 percent in 2024, it said. TSMC’s closest rival, Samsung Electronics, was a distant second, posting US$12.63 billion in sales, down 3.9 percent from a year earlier, for a 7.2 percent share of the global market. In the
At a massive shipyard in North Vancouver, Canadian workers grind metal beams for a powerful new icebreaker crucial to cementing the country’s presence in the increasingly contested arctic. Icebreakers are specialized, expensive vessels able to navigate in the frozen far north. And “this is the crown jewel,” said Eddie Schehr, vice president of production at the Seaspan shipyard. For Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who heads to Norway next Friday to observe arctic defense drills involving troops from 14 NATO states, Canada’s extreme north has emerged as a strategic priority. “Canada is and forever will be an Arctic nation,” he said ahead of
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