CANADA
Bank expands asset range
The Bank of Canada plans to buy for the first time government-backed mortgage bonds in a bid to broaden the range of high-quality assets in its operations to manage its balance sheet. The move — part of a decision of including government-guaranteed debt issued by federal Crown corporations — would allow the Ottawa-based central bank to offset continued growth in bank notes, the central bank said in an statement on Friday. It would also give it flexibility to further reduce its participation in primary Canadian government bond auctions to help boost the tradable float and support liquidity in the secondary market.
ESWATINI
PM tightens travel budget
The newly appointed prime minister on Friday banned first-class air travel for top government officials as part of a slew of measures to control spending. Prime Minister Ambrose Dlamini, who took office a month ago, also announced that he would not buy a new car for himself, but inherit the old one used by his predecessor, as the economy battles slowing growth. All senior officials, including himself and ministers “will no longer travel first class, but in business class when flying on national duties... All other public servants will fly in economy class,” Dlamini said in a statement.
POULTRY
Tyson among BRF bidders
Tyson Foods Inc is among the five firms still in the running for Asian and European chicken plants owned by BRF SA, people with direct knowledge of the matter said, asking not to be named because talks are private. Springdale, Arkansas-based Tyson and Sao Paulo, Brazil-based BRF declined to comment. Binding offers for Thai poultry processor Golden Foods Siam Ltd, as well as assets in Europe are due mid-December. The sale is part of BRF’s 3 billion real (US$783.03 million) divestment plan to ease debt. It received non-binding offers from eight companies, five of which were chosen to remain in the process, BRF chief executive officer Pedro Parente said on Nov. 8.
SOUTH AFRICA
KPMG reports ex-partner
KPMG South Africa has reported a former partner to the police over his alleged role in a corruption scandal in which almost 2 billion rand (US$144.31 million) was stolen from VBS bank, two KPMG employees familiar with the matter said. The KPMG employees said the accounting firm had sent an internal e-mail to staff on Friday that said its board had “assessed information on VBS and support criminal action being taken” against the former partner, Sipho Malaba.
AUTOMAKERS
GM brake probe launched
US highway safety investigators are investigating an alleged defect in 2.7 million pickups and sport utility vehicles (SUVs) built by General Motors Co (GM) that are getting into collisions because drivers are having trouble braking. The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) opened an investigation on Tuesday of trucks and SUVs, including GM’s best-selling Chevrolet Silverado after receiving 111 complaints from consumers. The power brake vacuum pump in the models can degrade and make it difficult to stop, the agency said. There have been nine crashes related to the problem and two injuries, the NHTSA said.
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
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
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure
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