UNITED KINGDOM
Jobless rate tops forecast
The unemployment rate rose by more than expected to 4.5 percent in the three months to August, the highest in more than three years, even before the end of the government’s broad COVID-19 pandemic job protection plan. Economists polled by Reuters had expected the unemployment rate to rise more slowly, to 4.3 percent from 4.1 percent in the three months to July. The number of people in employment fell by 153,000, much higher than a median forecast for a fall of 30,000 in the poll, and the Office for National Statistics revised up sharply its estimate for employment losses in previous months. “Since the start of the pandemic, there has been a sharp increase in those out of work and job hunting, but more people telling us they are not actively looking for work,” Deputy National Statistician Jonathan Athow said.
LOGISTICS
Maersk lifts earnings outlook
The world’s biggest container shipping line, Maersk A/S, yesterday said that demand was recovering faster than expected and lifted its earnings outlook, while also announcing plans to cut 2,000 jobs as it streamlines to reduce costs. Maersk, which handles about one in five containers shipped worldwide, said that although cargo volumes were still down from last year, they had picked up more than forecast after falling sharply at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic a few months ago. “A.P. Moller — Maersk is on track to deliver a strong Q3 with solid earnings growth across all our businesses, in particular in Ocean and Logistics & Services,” chief executive Soren Skou said in a statement. “Volumes have rebounded faster than expected, our costs have remained well under control, freight rates have increased due to strong demand,” Skou said.
PORTUGAL
Economy to shrink 8.5%
The country expects its economy to shrink a record 8.5 percent this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, worse than its previous estimate of 6.9 percent, according to the government’s latest spending plans. “Gross domestic product will see its biggest fall since the war,” the Ministry of Finance said in a statement late on Monday. However, the economy should bounce back strongly next year with growth of 5.4 percent, up from the previous estimate of 4.3 percent. The country also expects to do better on the public finances, with a budget deficit — the shortfall between spending and revenue — equal to 4.3 percent of GDP next year, compared with 7.3 percent this year. Unemployment should fall from 8.7 percent this year to 8.2 percent next year, according to the government’s plans.
COMPUTERS
PC shipments surge
Personal computer shipments rose in the third quarter of this year, with the US market having its best performance in a decade, on demand from consumers working and studying remotely. PC makers shipped 3.6 percent more devices in the three-month period compared with a year earlier, for a total of 71.4 million units, preliminary data released on Monday by researcher Gartner Inc showed. Shipments of Chromebooks, cheaper Web-based laptops that run Google’s Chrome operating system, soared about 90 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier. That lifted overall market growth to 9 percent, Gartner said. The firm usually excludes these machines from its reports, but Chromebooks now represent about 11 percent of the overall market.
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
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
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the