MEXICO
Employment market shrinks
The employment market had its worst March in a quarter of a century as the COVID-19 pandemic took its toll on Latin America’s second-largest economy. The country lost more than 130,500 jobs in the month from February after the employment market shrank 0.6 percent, a statement from the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) said. The net job losses were the first for the month of March since 2002 and the most since 1995. Despite net job losses, base salaries grew by an annual nominal rate of 7.1 percent to 399.3 pesos, (US$17.02) IMSS said.
EUROZONE
Official warns of takeovers
EU Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager told the Financial Times that member countries should buy stakes in companies to counter the threat of Chinese takeovers, with her comments coming as the EU formulates plans to protect its businesses amid the COVID-19 outbreak. “We don’t have any issues of states acting as market participants if need be, if they provide shares in a company, if they want to prevent a takeover of this kind,” Vestager said. “It’s very important that one is aware that there is a real risk that businesses that are vulnerable can be the object of a takeover,” she added. “The situation now really underlines the need so we work really intensively.”
HONG KONG
Officials face pay cut
Senior government officials face a 20 percent reduction in their annual salaries, through a combination of voluntary income cuts and previously announced donations, Financial Secretary Paul Chan (陳茂波) said on Sunday. A portion of the income has been donated to the Community Chest of Hong Kong and the remainder would go to government coffers, Chan told reporters. He said that he has no plans to lift the property measures introduced years ago aimed at cooling the real-estate market, adding that the government expects land sales and tax revenue in the territory to decline.
TRADE
China upholding US pact
China is still implementing the first phase of a US-China trade pact, Chinese Ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai (崔天凱) said, adding that he hoped the two could work together to assess the changing situation and coordinate their response, the Global Times reported on Sunday. The world’s two biggest economies signed the tentative deal to pause a damaging tariff war in January, before the coronavirus pandemic spread, threatening a global economic depression. Cui said China was still buying US agricultural products, and was lifting some curbs faced by foreign companies entering its financial market, the newspaper said.
SECURITIES
Chinese start-ups punished
The China Securities Regulatory Commission has punished two thriving start-ups for misleading shareholders, barring them access to public markets for new funding. Shares of Ningbo Ronbay New Energy Technology Co (寧波容百新能源科技) and Zhejiang HangKe Technology Inc (浙江杭可科技) closed down at least 10 percent in Shanghai yesterday after the companies were told they would not be allowed to sell stocks or bonds publicly for a year. The punishment — for not fully disclosing links to a customer who then failed to pay its bills — is the first of its kind for a company trading on the city’s Star board.
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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