GERMANY
Union, employers reach deal
The country’s biggest industrial union and employers yesterday reached a deal that would give workers a one-time “corona bonus” and envisions an extra annual payment starting next year. The deal between employers and the IG Metall union was reached in North Rhine-Westphalia State, the country’s most populous. The agreement features a 500 euro (US$587) “corona bonus” for each employee to be paid out in June, with apprentices getting a 300 euro payment. Workers would then get what IG Metall said amounts to a 2.3 percent pay rise, which technically takes effect in July, but would not be paid out until February next year.
Photo: AP
FRANCE
Consumer confidence rises
Consumer confidence rose unexpectedly this month, despite new COVID-19 restrictions on large parts of the country, official data showed yesterday. The INSEE stats agency said its monthly consumer sentiment index rose to its highest level since December last year to 94 points from 91 in February. Households were their least pessimistic about prospects for the general economic situation since March last year. Concerns about unemployment were at their lowest since April last year, while households said they were more inclined to save extra cash than spend it. The measure of savings intentions was at its highest since the survey began in 1972.
EUROPEAN UNION
Moody’s fined over breaches
The bloc’s markets watchdog yesterday said it has fined credit ratings firm Moody’s Investors Service 3.7 million euros for breaching rules including the failure to disclose conflicts of interests. All the breaches resulted from negligence on the part of the company, the European Securities and Markets Authority said, adding that the fine was for five Moody’s entities based in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK. The authority said Moody’s had inadequate internal policies and procedures to manage shareholder conflicts of interest. The breaches took place between 2013 and 2017, it said.
INDEX COMPILERS
China weighting announced
Chinese sovereign bonds are to hold a 5.25 percent weighting in FTSE Russell’s flagship World Government Bond Index after a phased inclusion over a period of 36 months. The index compiler said in a statement that it would begin adding the debt in October, after affirming the inclusion at its review this month. The bonds would comprise 5.25 percent of the index on a market value-weighted basis when fully included, based on prices as of Thursday, it said. FTSE Russell, owned by the London Stock Exchange Group, adjusted its inclusion threshold for Chinese government bonds this month following feedback from market participants.
AUTOmakers
BYD profit skyrockets
BYD Co (比亞迪), the Chinese electric-vehicle maker in which Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc holds a stake, said profit more than doubled last year thanks to a recovery in demand in the world’s biggest vehicle market. Shenzhen-based BYD’s net income surged 162 percent to 4.2 billion yuan (US$644 million) last year, with operating revenue climbing to 153.5 billion yuan, according to its annual report. The company also estimated that first-quarter profit would rise as much as 166 percent. The profit guidance was lower than market expectations, Citigroup Inc said.
Three experts in the high technology industry have said that US President Donald Trump’s pledge to impose higher tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors is part of an effort to force Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to the negotiating table. In a speech to Republicans on Jan. 27, Trump said he intends to impose tariffs on Taiwan to bring chip production to the US. “The incentive is going to be they’re not going to want to pay a 25, 50 or even a 100 percent tax,” he said. Darson Chiu (邱達生), an economics professor at Taichung-based Tunghai University and director-general of
‘LEGACY CHIPS’: Chinese companies have dramatically increased mature chip production capacity, but the West’s drive for secure supply chains offers a lifeline for Taiwan When Powerchip Technology Corp (力晶科技) entered a deal with the eastern Chinese city of Hefei in 2015 to set up a new chip foundry, it hoped the move would help provide better access to the promising Chinese market. However, nine years later, that Chinese foundry, Nexchip Semiconductor Corp (合晶集成), has become one of its biggest rivals in the legacy chip space, leveraging steep discounts after Beijing’s localization call forced Powerchip to give up the once-lucrative business making integrated circuits for Chinese flat panels. Nexchip is among Chinese foundries quickly winning market share in the crucial US$56.3 billion industry of so-called legacy
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday held its first board of directors meeting in the US, at which it did not unveil any new US investments despite mounting tariff threats from US President Donald Trump. Trump has threatened to impose 100 percent tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, prompting market speculation that TSMC might consider boosting its chip capacity in the US or ramping up production of advanced chips such as those using a 2-nanometer technology process at its Arizona fabs ahead of schedule. Speculation also swirled that the chipmaker might consider building its own advanced packaging capacity in the US as part
A move by US President Donald Trump to slap a 25 percent tariff on all steel imports is expected to place Taiwan-made steel, which already has a 25 percent tariff, on an equal footing, the Taiwan Steel & Iron Industries Association said yesterday. Speaking with CNA, association chairman Hwang Chien-chih (黃建智) said such an equal footing is expected to boost Taiwan’s competitive edge against other countries in the US market, describing the tariffs as "positive" for Taiwanese steel exporters. On Monday, Trump signed two executive orders imposing the new metal tariffs on imported steel and aluminum with no exceptions and exemptions, effective
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