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.
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
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
‘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
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