JAPAN
Inflation up, but still wanting
Consumer prices rose last month, official data showed yesterday, but inflation was still way below the central bank’s target, as authorities struggle to slay deflation in the world’s third-biggest economy. After stripping out volatile prices for fresh food, inflation was 0.7 percent, the eighth straight month of price rises and in line with market expectations, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said. Excluding fresh food and energy, prices edged up just 0.2 percent compared with a year earlier.
VIETNAM
Growth exceeds 7 percent
Growth accelerated in the third quarter to more than 7 percent, with the economy on track to remain among the world’s fastest. GDP rose 7.46 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, compared with a revised 6.28 percent in the previous three months, the General Statistics Office said yesterday. The economy expanded 6.41 percent in the nine months through this month, compared with the 6.1 percent that economists estimated.
UNITED STATES
Fastest growth in two years
The economy grew at an upgraded annual rate of 3.1 percent in the April-to-June quarter, the fastest pace in more than two years. However, growth is expected to slow sharply this quarter in the wake of a string of devastating hurricanes. The expansion in GDP is up slightly from a 3 percent estimate made last month, the Department of Commerce said on Thursday. It is the strongest performance since the economy grew at a 3.2 percent pace in the first quarter of 2015. The upward revision reflected larger farm stockpiles.
BANKING
Fitch downgrades Deutsche
Deutsche Bank AG had its long-term credit grade cut one level by Fitch Ratings as the lender struggles to through another strategic overhaul. The German bank’s grade was reduced to “BBB+” from “A-,” while its outlook was set at “stable,” Fitch said in a statement on Thursday. The lender will take “some time” to reach its earnings targets, the ratings company said. Deutsche Bank had its weakest quarterly revenue in three-and-a-half years in the second quarter, the lender said.
BROKERAGES
Haitong to add jobs in HK
Haitong International Securities Group Ltd (海通國際證券), a unit of China’s second-largest brokerage, plans to add about 100 jobs in Hong Kong as it seeks to draw more of the nation’s growing ranks of multimillionaires to its wealth management business. The firm said it is focused on strengthening its group of relationship managers specialized in ultra-high net worth clients with at least US$10 million. The new hires will take place over the next 12 months and boost the number of sales staff in private wealth management to 160, it added.
AUTOMAKERS
Investor rips into Tesla
Tesla Motors Inc, a perennial target of short sellers, is “structurally unprofitable” with a “way too leveraged” capital structure, famed investor Jim Chanos said on Thursday. Chanos, who bet early on energy company Enron Corp’s failure, said the electric car maker run by Elon Musk is behind on autonomous driving technology and rushed the Model 3 to market to appease investors. SolarCity Corp, the solar installer Tesla acquired in a controversial deal last year, is about a US$1 billion drain to shareholders annually, he said.
The domestic unit of the Chinese-owned, Dutch-headquartered chipmaker Nexperia BV will soon be able to produce semiconductors locally within China, according to two company sources. Nexperia is at the center of a global tug-of-war over critical semiconductor technology, with a Dutch court in February ordering a probe into alleged mismanagement at the company. The geopolitical tussle has disrupted supply chains, with some carmakers reportedly forced to cut production due to chip shortages. Local production would allow Nexperia’s domestic arm, Nexperia Semiconductors (China) Ltd (安世半導體中國), to bypass restrictions in place since October on the supply of silicon wafers — etched with tiny components to
Singapore-based ride-hailing and delivery giant Grab Holdings Ltd has applied for regulatory approval to acquire the Taiwan operations of Germany-based Delivery Hero SE's Foodpanda in a deal valued at about US$600 million. Grab submitted the filing to the Fair Trade Commission on Friday last week, with the transaction subject to regulatory review and approval, the company said in a statement yesterday. Its independent governance structure would help foster a healthy and competitive market in Taiwan if the deal is approved, Grab said. Grab, which is listed on the NASDAQ, said in the filing that US-based Uber Technologies Inc holds about 13 percent of
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday received government approval to deploy its advanced 3-nanometer (3nm) process at its second fab currently under construction in Japan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a news release. The ministry green-lit the plan for the facility in Kumamoto, which is scheduled to start installing equipment and come online in 2028 with a monthly production capacity of 15,000 12-inch wafers, the ministry said. The Department of Investment Review in June 2024 authorized a US$5.26 billion investment for the facility, slated to manufacture 6- to 12nm chips, significantly less advanced than 3nm process. At a meeting with
Taiwan is open to joining a global liquefied natural gas (LNG) program if one is created, but on the condition that countries provide delivery even in a scenario where there is a conflict with China, an energy department official said yesterday. While Taiwan’s priority is to have enough LNG at home, the nation is open to exploring potential strategic reserves in other countries such as Japan or South Korea, Energy Administration Deputy Director-General Chen Chung-hsien (陳崇憲) said. While the LNG market does not have a global reserve for emergencies like that of oil, the concept has been raised a few times —
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