NEW ZEALAND
First-quarter growth slows
Economic growth slowed in the first quarter as uncertainty over government policies weighed on business and consumer confidence, damping investment and spending. GDP gained 0.5 percent from the fourth quarter of last year, when it rose 0.6 percent, Statistics New Zealand said in Wellington yesterday. From a year earlier, the economy expanded 2.7 percent, down from 2.9 percent in the previous three-month period. Today’s data matched economists’ median forecasts in a Bloomberg survey.
ARGENTINA
IMF approves US$50bn loan
The IMF on Wednesday formally approved a US$50 billion aid package intended to help the nation confront inflation, budget deficits and a weakening currency. The fund’s executive board approved the agreement that the government struck with IMF staff earlier this month. The nation plans to draw on the first US$15 billion tranche of the aid program, of which half will be used for budget support, while treating the remaining US$35 billion as “precautionary,” the IMF said.
AUSTRALIA
Senate approves tax cuts
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has achieved an important political victory with the Senate passing personal income tax cuts worth A$144 billion (US$106 billion) over a decade. The Senate yesterday endorsed the tax cuts 37 votes to 33. The government holds only 31 of the 76 seats in the Senate. Minor parties provided the majority that the legislation needed, with opposition Labor Party senators voting against it.
RETAIL
Walmart finances India buy
Walmart Inc sold US$16 billion of bonds to help finance its investment in India’s biggest online seller, Flipkart Group, in the second-largest US corporate debt sale of the year. The retailer offered fixed-rate and floating-rate notes in nine parts. The longest bond, a 30-year security, yields 1.05 percentage points above US Treasuries, less than the initial 1.2 percentage points that were being pitched earlier in the day, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Walmart last month said that it would acquire a 77 percent stake in Flipkart for US$16 billion, leaving the remainder to Flipkart cofounder Binny Bansal and other shareholders.
ENTERTAINMENT
AMC launches new pass
AMC Theatres, the world’s largest movie theater chain, on Wednesday unveiled a US$20-a-month subscription service to rival the flagging MoviePass. The theater chain announced a new service to its loyalty program, AMC Stubs, allowing subscribers to see up to three movies a week for a monthly fee of US$19.95. That is more expensive than the US$9.95 monthly fee for MoviePass, but AMC’s plan gives access to premium format screenings like IMAX and 3-D.
HEALTHCARE
US giants team up on care
Amazon.com Inc, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Berkshire Hathaway Inc are turning to well-known author and Harvard professor Atul Gawande to transform the healthcare they offer their employees. The three corporate titans on Wednesday said that Gawande is to lead an independent company that focuses on a mission they announced earlier this year: figuring out ways to provide high-quality, affordable care. Health care researchers have said that the alliance could shake up how Americans shop for care.
Taiwan’s exports soared 56 percent year-on-year to an all-time high of US$64.05 billion last month, propelled by surging global demand for artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance computing and cloud service infrastructure, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) called the figure an unexpected upside surprise, citing a wave of technology orders from overseas customers alongside the usual year-end shopping season for technology products. Growth is likely to remain strong this month, she said, projecting a 40 percent to 45 percent expansion on an annual basis. The outperformance could prompt the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and
The demise of the coal industry left the US’ Appalachian region in tatters, with lost jobs, spoiled water and countless kilometers of abandoned underground mines. Now entrepreneurs are eyeing the rural region with ambitious visions to rebuild its economy by converting old mines into solar power systems and data centers that could help fuel the increasing power demands of the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. One such project is underway by a non-profit team calling itself Energy DELTA (Discovery, Education, Learning and Technology Accelerator) Lab, which is looking to develop energy sources on about 26,305 hectares of old coal land in
Netflix on Friday faced fierce criticism over its blockbuster deal to acquire Warner Bros Discovery. The streaming giant is already viewed as a pariah in some Hollywood circles, largely due to its reluctance to release content in theaters and its disruption of traditional industry practices. As Netflix emerged as the likely winning bidder for Warner Bros — the studio behind Casablanca, the Harry Potter movies and Friends — Hollywood’s elite launched an aggressive campaign against the acquisition. Titanic director James Cameron called the buyout a “disaster,” while a group of prominent producers are lobbying US Congress to oppose the deal,
Two Chinese chipmakers are attracting strong retail investor demand, buoyed by industry peer Moore Threads Technology Co’s (摩爾線程) stellar debut. The retail portion of MetaX Integrated Circuits (Shanghai) Co’s (上海沐曦) upcoming initial public offering (IPO) was 2,986 times oversubscribed on Friday, according to a filing. Meanwhile, Beijing Onmicro Electronics Co (北京昂瑞微), which makes radio frequency chips, was 2,899 times oversubscribed on Friday, its filing showed. The bids coincided with Moore Threads’ trading debut, which surged 425 percent on Friday after raising 8 billion yuan (US$1.13 billion) on bets that the company could emerge as a viable local competitor to Nvidia
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