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.
FALLING BEHIND: Samsung shares have declined more than 20 percent this year, as the world’s largest chipmaker struggles in key markets and plays catch-up to rival SK Hynix Samsung Electronics Co is laying off workers in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand as part of a plan to reduce its global headcount by thousands of jobs, sources familiar with the situation said. The layoffs could affect about 10 percent of its workforces in those markets, although the numbers for each subsidiary might vary, said one of the sources, who asked not to be named because the matter is private. Job cuts are planned for other overseas subsidiaries and could reach 10 percent in certain markets, the source said. The South Korean company has about 147,000 in staff overseas, more than half
Taipei is today suspending its US$2.5 trillion stock market as Super Typhoon Krathon approaches Taiwan with strong winds and heavy rain. The nation is not conducting securities, currency or fixed-income trading, statements from its stock and currency exchanges said. Yesterday, schools and offices were closed in several cities and counties in southern and eastern Taiwan, including in the key industrial port city of Kaohsiung. Taiwan, which started canceling flights, ship sailings and some train services earlier this week, has wind and rain advisories in place for much of the island. It regularly experiences typhoons, and in July shut offices and schools as
An Indian factory producing iPhone components resumed work yesterday after a fire that halted production — the third blaze to disrupt Apple Inc’s local supply chain since the start of last year. Local industrial behemoth Tata Group’s plant in Tamil Nadu, which was shut down by the unexplained fire on Saturday, is a key linchpin of Apple’s nascent supply chain in the country. A spokesperson for subsidiary Tata Electronics Pvt yesterday said that the company would restart work in “many areas of the facility today.” “We’ve been working diligently since Saturday to support our team and to identify the cause of the fire,”
TECH PARTNERSHIP: The deal with Arizona-based Amkor would provide TSMC with advanced packing and test capacities, a requirement to serve US customers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is collaborating with Amkor Technology Inc to provide local advanced packaging and test capacities in Arizona to address customer requirements for geographical flexibility in chip manufacturing. As part of the agreement, TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, would contract turnkey advanced packaging and test services from Amkor at their planned facility in Peoria, Arizona, a joint statement released yesterday said. TSMC would leverage these services to support its customers, particularly those using TSMC’s advanced wafer fabrication facilities in Phoenix, Arizona, it said. The companies would jointly define the specific packaging technologies, such as TSMC’s Integrated
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