PORTUGAL
S&P upgrades debt rating
The country’s improved economic performance and falling budget deficit prompted Standard and Poor’s (S&P) to raise the grade on the country’s foreign debt by one notch to “BBB-” on Friday. “The upgrade reflects our improved forecast for Portugal’s GDP growth during 2017-2020, as well as the solid progress it has made in reducing its budget deficit,” S&P said in a statement. The agency forecast the economy will grow by more than 2 percent on average through 2020, up from the previous forecast of 1.5 percent. Lisbon is expected to meet its budget deficit target of 1.5 percent of GDP this year, it said.
INDIA
Forex reserves hit record
The country’s foreign-exchange reserves rose past US$400 billion for the first time, strengthening policymakers’ buffers ahead of an expected reduction in US stimulus. The stockpile stood at US$400.7 billion as of Sept. 8, the Reserve Bank of India said in a release on Friday. With the US Federal Reserve set to shrink its balance sheet, the holdings might help the rupee withstand any volatility even if global funds turn away from India’s slowing economy. India’s holdings are about US$376 billion if stripped of gold, enough to pay for about a year of imports.
AVIATION
Ryanair canceling flights
Ryanair Holdings PLC is canceling 40 to 50 flights a day for the next six weeks as it seeks to reduce a backlog of crew vacation required by Irish regulators before the end of the year. The Dublin-based carrier will offer refunds or alternative flights to affected customers over the period, it said in a statement on Friday, adding that the cancelations, which amount to about 2 percent of its network, will not have an impact on earnings this month and next. From 308,000 to 385,000 passengers could be impacted over the period, according to data compiled by Bloomberg based on the airline’s passenger statistics.
INTERNET
Pinterest users top 200m
Pinterest Inc on Thursday announced that it has topped 200 million monthly users as growth at the online bulletin board picks up speed, especially outside the US. “When we launched Pinterest in 2010, we were floored by how many people flocked to the site to find new ideas for their lives,” cofounder and head of design Evan Sharp said. “As it turns out, curiosity and the desire to try new things are universal.” The San Francisco-based company has grown nearly 40 percent in the past year, and more than half of all “pinners” live outside the US, Sharp said. “In this time of fake news and nasty anonymous comments online, Pinterest is about the future, dreaming and possibilities.”
AUCTIONS
Album fetches US$1m
An auction by disgraced pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli for his unique copy of a Wu-Tang Clan album has ended with a bid of more than US$1 million. The brash mogul, who bought the celebrated rap ensemble’s sole edition of Once Upon a Time in Shaolin in 2015, last week put it up for sale. However, he was sent to jail on Wednesday, with a judge revoking his bail after he threatened former US secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton. The auction ended on Friday night on eBay with a winning bid of US$1,025,100 — little moved since hitting US$1 million on Sept. 7, despite a series of competing bids.
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).
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