AVIATION
Boeing sells 110 planes
Vietnam’s Bamboo Airways and VietJet Aviation JSC have signed deals to buy 110 aircraft from Boeing Co during US President Donald Trump’s visit to Hanoi for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Bamboo agreed to purchase 10 787-9 Dreamliners for about US$3 billion, while VietJet’s order is for 100 737 Max planes valued at US$12.7 billion, Boeing said yesterday. However, VietJet’s 100-plane commitment was announced at the Farnborough Air Show in England last year. The agreements were signed in the presence of Trump and Vietnamese President Nguyen Phu Trong. Vietnam’s airlines are expanding their fleets as the region’s growing economies are spurring many to fly for the first time. Demand is also expected to climb after US regulators last month approved the nation’s air-safety system, making its airlines eligible to begin direct flights to the US.
RESTAURANTS
Papa John’s sales decline
Papa John’s closed out a tough year on a weak note, but says it expects improvement this year. The Louisville, Kentucky-based pizza chain on Tuesday said that sales at established locations in North America dropped 8 percent in the fourth quarter last year compared with the same period the previous year. International same-store sales were down 3 percent. Papa John’s lost US$14 million, or US$0.44 per share, in the fourth quarter. Excluding one-time items, the company earned US$0.15 per share. Analysts had expected US$0.17. Papa John’s said its fourth-quarter revenue fell 20 percent to US$374 million.
EQUITIES
Emerging markets riskier
Investors who put their money in emerging-market equities back in 1900 have failed to match the returns of their counterparts in advanced economies, according to a Credit Suisse-backed study by London Business School. One US dollar invested in developed markets in 1900 was worth US$11,821 by last year, compared with just US$3,745 in emerging markets. Investors can blame World War II and the Chinese revolution. From 1945 to 1949 equities lost 98 percent of their value in Japan, which was not classified as a developed market until 1967, while their counterparts in China were all but wiped out financially by the Chinese Communist Party’s victory in 1949. It is a different story since 1950, though, as emerging markets have generated annual returns of 11.7 percent, compared with 10.5 percent for advanced economies.
AUTOMAKERS
Hyundai to invest US$40bn
Hyundai Motor Co joined automakers pledging massive spending in the years ahead to address the industry’s transformation and fend off new competition from the likes of Tesla Inc. The South Korean maker of Sonata sedans and Tucson SUVs plans to invest 45.3 trillion won (US$40 billion) in the next five years in development of electric and autonomous vehicles, as well as transportation services. The average annual spending would be 58 percent more than over the past five years, the firm said.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Mylan shares fall 9.2%
Shares of Mylan NV, one of the world’s biggest makers of generic drugs, fell in late trading on Tuesday after it forecast declining earnings this year and said that its North American sales slowed in the fourth quarter last year. The company sees adjusted earnings per share for the year of US$3.80 to US$4.80, below the US$5.02 average of Wall Street estimates. Mylan shares fell 9.2 percent.
SEEKING CLARITY: Washington should not adopt measures that create uncertainties for ‘existing semiconductor investments,’ TSMC said referring to its US$165 billion in the US Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) told the US that any future tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors could reduce demand for chips and derail its pledge to increase its investment in Arizona. “New import restrictions could jeopardize current US leadership in the competitive technology industry and create uncertainties for many committed semiconductor capital projects in the US, including TSMC Arizona’s significant investment plan in Phoenix,” the chipmaker wrote in a letter to the US Department of Commerce. TSMC issued the warning in response to a solicitation for comments by the department on a possible tariff on semiconductor imports by US President Donald Trump’s
The government has launched a three-pronged strategy to attract local and international talent, aiming to position Taiwan as a new global hub following Nvidia Corp’s announcement that it has chosen Taipei as the site of its Taiwan headquarters. Nvidia cofounder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday last week announced during his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei that the Nvidia Constellation, the company’s planned Taiwan headquarters, would be located in the Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei. Huang’s decision to establish a base in Taiwan is “primarily due to Taiwan’s talent pool and its strength in the semiconductor
Industrial production expanded 22.31 percent annually last month to 107.51, as increases in demand for high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) applications drove demand for locally-made chips and components. The manufacturing production index climbed 23.68 percent year-on-year to 108.37, marking the 14th consecutive month of increase, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said. In the first four months of this year, industrial and manufacturing production indices expanded 14.31 percent and 15.22 percent year-on-year, ministry data showed. The growth momentum is to extend into this month, with the manufacturing production index expected to rise between 11 percent and 15.1 percent annually, Department of Statistics
An earnings report from semiconductor giant and artificial intelligence (AI) bellwether Nvidia Corp takes center stage for Wall Street this week, as stocks hit a speed bump of worries over US federal deficits driving up Treasury yields. US equities pulled back last week after a torrid rally, as investors turned their attention to tax and spending legislation poised to swell the US government’s US$36 trillion in debt. Long-dated US Treasury yields rose amid the fiscal worries, with the 30-year yield topping 5 percent and hitting its highest level since late 2023. Stocks were dealt another blow on Friday when US President Donald