GERMANY
Confidence hits record high
Business confidence has soared to a fresh record high this month, a closely watched survey released on Friday showed, as companies shrugged off political uncertainty. The Ifo Institute for Economic Research’s business climate index jumped from last month’s high of 116.7 points to a historic 117.5 points, beating analysts’ expectations. Businesses were slightly more pessimistic about their current economic situation than in the past month, the survey showed, but they expressed greater optimism about the future.
INTERNET
Yandex to merge with Uber
Yandex NV, Russia’s largest technology company, received local anti-trust approval to merge its ride-hailing business with Uber Technologies Inc’s in the country, the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service said on Friday. However, the Yandex-Uber joint venture is required not to prevent its passengers, drivers and partners from working with other ride-hailing services, the service said. The merger is expected to be completed in January.
CHEMICALS
France suspends licenses
A French court on Friday suspended the license for two pesticides made by Dow Chemical Co, citing potential environmental risks, including harmful effects on bees. The summary ruling by an administrative court in the southern city of Nice overturned the decision in September by French health and environment agency ANSES to grant a permit for the Closer and Transform crop chemicals, which contain the insecticide sulfoxaflor. Dow Chemical in September completed a merger with E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co to become DowDuPont Inc.
FINANCE
WeLab eyeing IPO: sources
An online lender backed by Credit Suisse Group AG is working on a listing just weeks after closing a private funding round. WeLab Ltd has picked banks to advise on a Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO) that could raise about US$500 million, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The China-focused lender, whose backers also include billionaire Li Ka-shing (李嘉誠), aims to list as soon as next year, the people said. No final decisions on an IPO have been made, and there was no certainty that the deliberations would result in a transaction, the people said.
BANKING
BNP to cut tobacco firm ties
BNP Paribas SA is to cease funding and advising tobacco companies, the latest financial firm to distance itself from the industry over health concerns. The French bank is to halt transactions and investments related to the sector and “progressively disengage” from relationships with tobacco clients, BNP global head of corporate social responsibility Laurence Pessez said in an interview. The decision applies to all types of products and services, although the bank would honor all contractual commitments, she said. France’s largest insurer, AXA SA, last year said that it would stop investing in tobacco and divest of its assets in the industry.
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
Minister of Finance Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) yesterday told lawmakers that she “would not speculate,” but a “response plan” has been prepared in case Taiwan is targeted by US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, which are to be announced on Wednesday next week. The Trump administration, including US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, has said that much of the proposed reciprocal tariffs would focus on the 15 countries that have the highest trade surpluses with the US. Bessent has referred to those countries as the “dirty 15,” but has not named them. Last year, Taiwan’s US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US
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