EUROPE
EU formally bans Russian oil
The EU yesterday approved an embargo on Russian oil and other sanctions targeting major banks and broadcasters over Moscow’s war on Ukraine. The bloc said Russian crude oil would be phased out over six months and other refined petroleum products over eight months. It said that “a temporary exception is foreseen” for landlocked countries — such as Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia —that “suffer from a specific dependence on Russian supplies and have no viable alternative options.” Bulgaria and Croatia would also get “temporary derogations” for certain kinds of oil. EU leaders said the move means that about 90 percent of Russia’s oil exports to Europe would be blocked by the end of this year. The EU imports around 25 percent of its oil from Russia.
AUTOMAKERS
City allows driverless taxis
General Motors Co’s Cruise on Thursday became the first company to secure a permit to charge for self-driving vehicle rides in San Francisco, after it overcame objections by city officials. Self-driving test vehicles with human safety drivers have become a constant sight in San Francisco, and completely driverless ones are also increasingly common. Turning them into a fledgling business in a major US city would mark a milestone in efforts toward driverless taxi service. The permit was Cruise’s final hurdle in California. Cruise said it would launch paid services within the next two weeks using up to 30 driverless Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicles. They would be limited to a geographic area that avoids downtown and operating hours of 10pm to 6am, it said.
TURKEY
Inflation highest since 1998
Inflation last month soared to the fastest since 1998 as the country came under more pressure from the rising cost of food and energy, while ultra-loose monetary policy contributed to currency weakness. Consumer prices rose an annual 73.5 percent, up from 70 percent in April, data released by the state statistics agency showed yesterday. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of 20 economists was 74.7 percent. Monthly inflation was almost 3 percent, compared with the median estimate of 4 percent in a separate survey. A core index that strips out the effects of volatile items such as food and energy reached 56 percent. The biggest drivers of the latest surge in inflation were food and energy, exacerbated by the global rally in commodities and the war in Ukraine. Turkey is a major importer of oil.
UNITED STATES
Rate hikes ‘reasonable’: Fed
Federal Reserve Vice Chair Lael Brainard said expectations for 0.5 percentage point increases in interest rates this month and next were reasonable, and saw no case for pausing the central bank’s tightening campaign afterward. “From where I sit today, market pricing for 50 basis points, potentially in June and July, from the data we have in hand today, seems like a reasonable path,” Brainard said on Thursday. “It’s very hard to see the case for a pause. We’ve still got a lot of work to do to get inflation down to our 2 percent target.” Her remarks were the latest from officials to reinforce the message that they are staying the course on raising rates, with Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester later saying that the pace of increases could speed up or slow down in September, depending on what happens with inflation. The Fed last month suggested that the rapid pace of policy tightening would position officials to slow the cycle later this year.
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
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
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,”
Sales RecORD: Hon Hai’s consolidated sales rose by about 20 percent last quarter, while Largan, another Apple supplier, saw quarterly sales increase by 17 percent IPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) on Saturday reported its highest-ever quarterly sales for the third quarter on the back of solid global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) globally, said it posted NT$1.85 trillion (US$57.93 billion) in consolidated sales in the July-to-September quarter, up 19.46 percent from the previous quarter and up 20.15 percent from a year earlier. The figure beat the previous third-quarter high of NT$1.74 trillion recorded in 2022, company data showed. Due to rising demand for AI, Hon Hai said its cloud and networking division enjoyed strong sales
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