SWEDEN
GDP could retreat by 4%
GDP is seen shrinking 4 percent this year as the economy slumps due to the COVID-19 outbreak, a plunge rivaling that experienced during the global financial crisis more than a decade ago, Minister of Finance Magdalena Andersson said yesterday. “We have a very serious economic situation, both in Sweden and globally,” she told reporters. “This is both a demand and supply shock that is spreading between countries.” The economy shrank 4.2 percent in 2009 from the previous year, the biggest decline in more than 50 years.
PUBLISHING
Gannett plans furloughs
Gannett Co, the largest US newspaper publisher, on Monday said that it was making unspecified furloughs and pay cuts for its staff in the latest sign of media turmoil from the coronavirus pandemic. A memo from Gannett chief executive officer Paul Bascobert said that he would forgo his salary and the executive team would take a 25 percent pay cut as part of the belt-tightening at the group, which includes the daily USA Today. The company declined to offer specifics on the cuts.
MARKETING
US firms halt salaries
On Monday, three days after US President Donald Trump signed a US$2 trillion stimulus into law, Kohl’s Corp, Macy’s Inc and Gap Inc joined a growing number of retailers in halting pay for much of their workforce, while preserving some benefits. With these furloughs, that brings the total number of employees who are out of a paycheck at major US chains to more than 500,000, data compiled by Bloomberg showed. The coronavirus outbreak caused initial jobless benefit claims to hit 3.3 million last week.
MARKETING
WPP pulls dividend, buyback
WPP PLC, the world’s biggest advertising company, said that it was pulling its dividend and share buyback, and withdrawing its guidance for this year after it saw an increasing number of cancellations from clients due to the coronavirus crisis. The group, which has sold multiple assets as part of a program to simplify the business, said that it had cash of ￡3 billion (US$3.7 billion) and total liquidity, including undrawn credit facilities, of ￡4.8 billion. It has also launched a review of its costs to protect profitability from a fall in revenue.
ENERGY
BP not retrenching staff
Oil major BP PLC would not cut jobs over the next three months, chief executive officer Bernard Looney said, even as the company seeks to reduce spending following an oil price crash. Looney on Friday wrote in a LinkedIn post that while there has been reduced demand for the industry’s products, the company’s response to the crisis “will not include making any BP staff redundant over the next three months.” London-based BP employs 73,000 people across several countries.
AUTOMAKERS
Hyundai plans trial center
Hyundai Motor Co is setting up an innovation center in Singapore to develop and test technology across the automotive supply chain, including trialing the manufacturing process for electric vehicles. Construction of the facility in Jurong Innovation District would be completed in the second half of 2022, the Seoul-based automaker said in a statement yesterday. The center would focus on future concepts that could be used globally, said Hyundai Motor, which is spending 20 trillion won (US$16 billion) by 2025 on new technology.
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
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