■UNITED STATES
Trade deficit surges
The trade deficit surged to a larger-than-expected US$40.18 billion in December, the biggest imbalance in 12 months. The wider deficit reflected a rebounding economy that is pushing up demand for oil and other imports. The Commerce Department said the December deficit was 10.4 percent higher than the November imbalance. It was much larger than the US$36 billion deficit that economists had expected with much of the increase coming from a big jump in oil imports. For all of last year, the deficit totaled US$380.66 billion, the smallest imbalance in eight years, as a deep recession cut into imports.
■BEVERAGES
Diageo earnings increase
Diageo, the world’s biggest spirits group, said it was in the early stages of recovery when reporting a 5 percent rise in half-year earnings and keeping its profit growth target for the year. The London-based maker of Smirnoff vodka, Johnnie Walker whisky and Guinness beer posted underlying earnings for the second half of last year of £0.442 (US$0.69) a share, below a consensus of £0.462. The interim dividend was raised 5 percent to £0.146. The British group’s annual underlying sales were down 2 percent, while operating profit was off 3 percent.
■AVIATION
KLM losses continue
Franco-Dutch airline Air France-KLM posted a fifth straight quarterly net loss on Wednesday and forecast more heavy losses this quarter under a tough economic environment. “There were some signs of recovery in activity during the third quarter, but in an economic environment which remains difficult,” the airline said in a results statement. The group recorded a net loss of 295 million euros (US$405 million) in the third quarter, which ended on Dec. 31, but it was an improvement from a loss of 508 million euros during the same period in 2008.
■INTERNET
Alcatel-Lucent sees profit
Alcatel-Lucent SA yesterday reported a small net profit in the fourth quarter as one-off gains helped offset a nearly 20 percent drop in revenue during the period. Paris-based Alcatel-Lucent made net profit of 46 million euros in the fourth quarter, compared to a 3.9 billion euro net loss a year earlier. In a statement yesterday, Alcatel-Lucent said the economic environment “appears to be stabilizing” and that it expects its markets to recover next year.
■AUTOMOBILES
Renault predicts hard year
Renault SA says that it lost 3.07 billion euros last year, mostly in the first half, and predicts another difficult year this year. The full-year net loss is greater than the 2.59 billion euros forecast by analysts and compares with 599 million euros in net profit for 2008. Revenue fell 10.8 percent to 33.71 billion euros last year. Renault said the European car market could contract by 10 percent this year.
■UNITED STATES
Dow Jones sells stake
Dow Jones & Co is selling a 90 percent stake in its stock-market index unit to CME Group for US$607.5 million. The joint venture, announced by the companies on Wednesday, will allow the Dow Jones Industrial Average to keep its famous name. Dow Jones will retain a 10 percent stake in the business, which offers more than 130,000 stock indexes that are used as benchmarks by investors and licensed for use by mutual funds and other investment products.
Authorities have detained three former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TMSC, 台積電) employees on suspicion of compromising classified technology used in making 2-nanometer chips, the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday. Prosecutors are holding a former TSMC engineer surnamed Chen (陳) and two recently sacked TSMC engineers, including one person surnamed Wu (吳) in detention with restricted communication, following an investigation launched on July 25, a statement said. The announcement came a day after Nikkei Asia reported on the technology theft in an exclusive story, saying TSMC had fired two workers for contravening data rules on advanced chipmaking technology. Two-nanometer wafers are the most
Tsunami waves were possible in three areas of Kamchatka in Russia’s Far East, the Russian Ministry for Emergency Services said yesterday after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit the nearby Kuril Islands. “The expected wave heights are low, but you must still move away from the shore,” the ministry said on the Telegram messaging app, after the latest seismic activity in the area. However, the Pacific Tsunami Warning System in Hawaii said there was no tsunami warning after the quake. The Russian tsunami alert was later canceled. Overnight, the Krasheninnikov volcano in Kamchatka erupted for the first time in 600 years, Russia’s RIA
CHINA’s BULLYING: The former British prime minister said that he believes ‘Taiwan can and will’ protect its freedom and democracy, as its people are lovers of liberty Former British prime minister Boris Johnson yesterday said Western nations should have the courage to stand with and deepen their economic partnerships with Taiwan in the face of China’s intensified pressure. He made the remarks at the ninth Ketagalan Forum: 2025 Indo-Pacific Security Dialogue hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Prospect Foundation in Taipei. Johnson, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time, said he had seen Taiwan’s coastline on a screen on his indoor bicycle, but wanted to learn more about the nation, including its artificial intelligence (AI) development, the key technology of the 21st century. Calling himself an
South Korea yesterday said that it was removing loudspeakers used to blare K-pop and news reports to North Korea, as the new administration in Seoul tries to ease tensions with its bellicose neighbor. The nations, still technically at war, had already halted propaganda broadcasts along the demilitarized zone, Seoul’s military said in June after the election of South Korean President Lee Jae-myung. It said in June that Pyongyang stopped transmitting bizarre, unsettling noises along the border that had become a major nuisance for South Korean residents, a day after South Korea’s loudspeakers fell silent. “Starting today, the military has begun removing the loudspeakers,”
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