SHIPPING
FedEx, UPS up on tax hopes
FedEx Corp and United Parcel Service Inc (UPS) yesterday surged the most in more than a year on expectations that they will reap particularly big gains from the tax overhaul package making its way through the US Congress. Shipping companies like FedEx and UPS, as well as airlines and railroads, are especially well-positioned to benefit from a provision allowing them to expense capital equipment immediately, instead of over time. FedEx jumped 4.7 percent to US$241.63 at 1:31pm in New York after soaring as much as 5.3 percent, its biggest intraday gain since September last year. UPS gained as much as 4 percent, the most intraday gain since July 2015.
UNITED KINGDOM
New car registrations down
New car registrations dropped 5 percent in the year to date, putting them on track for the first annual fall since 2011, hit by weaker consumer confidence and uncertainty over the future of diesel, an industry body said yesterday. Sales slumped 11.2 percent last month to 163,541 cars, according to data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, with demand falling among business, fleet and individual buyers. Diesel has been particularly hit this year, with registrations declining 16.1 percent between January and last month, while gasoline rose 3.1 percent in the same period.
RETAIL
FamilyMart mulls HK sale
FamilyMart Uny Holdings Co, Japan’s second-largest convenience store operator, is considering a sale of its Hong Kong retail business, people with knowledge of the matter said. It is seeking to fetch close to US$100 million from any sale, one of the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. Deliberations are at an early stage, and Tokyo-based FamilyMart Uny could decide to keep the business, the people said. In Hong Kong, FamilyMart Uny runs department stores targeting the territory’s affluent middle class. Sales in Hong Kong’s supermarket industry fell 0.1 percent in the first 10 months of the year, lagging the 1.2 percent gain in the territory’s overall retail industry, government statistics show.
TECHNOLOGY
Tencent shares decline
Shares of Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings Ltd (騰訊) yesterday fell for the fourth time in five sessions as angst over US technology stocks returned, widening the spread between its share price and analysts’ price targets to an unprecedented 19 percent. This is after US$55 billion in value was wiped out from its Nov. 21 high through Friday with global investors cashing in some of this year’s best equity performers. However, of the 40 stock watchers surveyed by Bloomberg, 98 percent maintain a “buy” rating on Tencent — that is the highest proportion ever.
AUSTRALIA
Interest rates unchanged
The central bank yesterday left interest rates at a record low, sparing the country a rude shock ahead of Christmas, as wage growth stagnates and household debt rises. The Reserve Bank slashed rates by 300 basis points to 1.5 percent between November 2011 and August last year. The decision to stand pat came a day before the release of July-to-September economic growth data, with economists forecasting 0.8 percent expansion quarter-on-quarter, lifting the annual rate to 3.1 percent. The Australian dollar edged up to 76.40 US cents after the announcement,from 76.30 US cents before.
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).
RSS