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☆ After surprise tweak, what now for BOJ's yield curve control?
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-31 | by ( Leika Kihara | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Since 2016, the BOJ has guided short-term interest rates at minus 0.1% and the 10-year government bond yield at around 0% in action known as yield curve control (YCC). It has also set an allowance band of 0.5% above and below the 10-year yield target. The BOJ was criticised by investors last year for distorting market pricing by defending the 0.5% yield cap with unlimited bond buying. The bank has forestalled the risk by deciding to intervene only when the 10-year yield could breach 1.0%. It may wait until the findings become available around May before raising interest rates.

Persons: Kazuo Ueda, Ueda, Leika Kihara, Christopher Cushing Organizations: Bank of Japan, U.S ., Thomson Locations: TOKYO, Japan

☆ Indonesia pauses some Australian cattle imports after cows found with LSD
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SYDNEY, July 31 (Reuters) - Indonesia has paused live cattle imports from four Australian facilities after lumpy skin disease (LSD) was detected in a small number of cattle some time after arrival, the Australian government said. Australia is free of LSD and cattle exports to Indonesia continues from other facilities, Watt said. Given the presence of LSD in Indonesia, positive results in cattle after reaching Indonesia were not unexpected, Australia's Chief Veterinary Officer Mark Schipp said. Indonesia is the largest market for Australian live cattle exports, accounting for about 56% in 2021–22, data showed, worth about A$900 million ($600 million). ($1 = 1.5020 Australian dollars)Reporting by Renju Jose in Sydney; Editing by Christopher CushingOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Murray Watt, Watt, Mark Schipp, Renju Jose, Christopher Cushing Organizations: SYDNEY, Australia, Thomson Locations: Indonesia, Australia, Sydney

☆ Toyota's global sales rise 5.1% to 4.9 mln in first half of 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The company sold some 4.9 million vehicles globally in the six months through June, including of its luxury Lexus brand, compared with about 4.7 million vehicles during the same period in 2022. Toyota's sales in Japan jumped 33.2% to 878,215 units in the period versus a year earlier, while U.S. sales slipped 0.7% to just over 1 million vehicles and those in Asia declined half a percent to about 1.5 million units. Global sales of hybrid electric vehicles grew 37.6% year-on-year to 292,131 units, accounting for just under a third of the total number of vehicles sold worldwide last month. In June, Toyota sold 10,191 battery electric vehicles worldwide, including its Lexus brand, with about 5,000 of those sold in China. That brought the total number of battery-powered vehicles sold in the first half of 2023 to 46,171 units.

Persons: Daniel Leussink, Jacqueline Wong, Christopher Cushing Organizations: Toyota Motor Corp, Toyota Motor, Lexus, Global, Toyota, Thomson Locations: Japan, Asia, United States, Europe, China

Trump now faces 40 charges in the case, after originally being indicted on 37 counts last month. His valet, Walt Nauta, is also facing new charges, and prosecutors have added a third defendant and another Trump employee, Carlos De Oliveira, to the criminal case. Prosecutors have charged Trump, Nauta and De Oliveira with obstruction over the attempt to delete the footage. The indictment also adds De Oliveira to an existing obstruction charge, claiming he conspired with Trump and Nauta to hide sensitive government documents. UNLAWFUL RETENTIONThe new indictment alleges Trump retained one more document containing national defense information than was listed in the original charges.

Persons: Donald Trump, Trump, Walt Nauta, Carlos De Oliveira, Nauta, De Oliveira, Jacqueline Thomsen, Christopher Cushing Organizations: Former U.S, Trump's, Trump, Prosecutors, Nauta, FBI, Thomson Locations: Former, Lago, Palm Beach , Florida, Mar, New Jersey, Washington

☆ French, Spanish economies grow at sustained pace in second quarter
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

PARIS/MADRID, July 28 (Reuters) - The French and Spanish economies grew at a sustained pace in the second quarter on the back of stronger exports and tourism, statistics agencies said on Friday, auguring a possible euro zone rebound. France's gross domestic product expanded in the second quarter a faster-than-expected 0.5% from the preceding quarter, while the Spanish economy grew 0.4%, according to data from INSEE and INE, as the French and Spanish statistics agencies are respectively known. The data from French and Spanish economies, respectively the euro zone's second- and fourth-largest, bode well after the euro zone's growth was 0% in the first quarter of this year. The French economy sped up from a revised 0.1% in the first quarter, INSEE said in its quarterly GDP report. Unlike France and Spain, Austria, a much smaller economy, shrank 0.4% in the second quarter due to a slowdown in construction and industry.

Persons: auguring, Bruno Le Maire, bode, Nadia Calvino, Tassilo Hummel, Inti, Dominique Vidalon, Christopher Cushing, Nick Macfie Organizations: PARIS, Finance, RTL, Thomson Locations: MADRID, Spanish, Spain, France, Austria

☆ Macquarie flags lower quarterly profit as commodities arm flounders
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-27 | by ( Harish Sridharan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Macquarie's Commodities and Global Markets (CGM) unit, its biggest earner, has for several years cashed in on increasing hedging activity amid volatility in oil and gas markets. That had driven the Sydney-based firm's annual earnings to a record A$5.18 billion ($3.53 billion) in fiscal 2023 ended March. While Macquarie did not disclose a profit figure in its quarterly update, Citi Research had expected first-quarter earnings of around A$1 billion ($680.90 million). The analysts noted, however, that Macquarie's earnings may have come in below that. At the end of the quarter, Macquarie's capital surplus stood at A$10.8 billion.

Persons: Shemara Wikramanayake, Macquarie, Harish Sridharan, Navya Mittal, Echha, Subhranshu Sahu, Christopher Cushing Organizations: Macquarie, Citi, Macquarie Group, Macquarie's Commodities, Global Markets, Citi Research, Thomson Locations: Sydney, Bengaluru

The French lender's second-quarter net income fell 4.9% on a reported basis to 2.81 billion euros ($3.12 billion), beating the 2.49 billion euro analyst consensus compiled by the company. Group revenue fell 1.5% to 11.4 billion euros, also above expectations, while the cost of risk - money put aside for failing loans - was lower than expected at 689 million euros. BNP's bottom line also suffered from a set of exceptional items that totalled 723 million euros after tax. These included an 125 million euro provision for unspecified litigation. The group's 5 billion euro share buyback programme will proceed as planned, it confirmed, adding that the second tranche of 2.5 billion euros had been approved and will be launched from early August.

Persons: Italy's, Mathieu Rosemain, Christopher Cushing, Jason Neely, David Goodman Organizations: BNP, Royal Bank of Canada, Bank of, European Central Bank, Spain's Santander, Thomson Locations: PARIS, Bank, France

"Chinese Exim bank rolled over principal amounts totalling $2.4 bln which are due in next 2 fiscal years," he said in a post on messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter. "Pakistan will make interest payments only over the next two years," Dar said, meaning the wavier is only for the principal loan amount. "In principle, China and Pakistan have close cooperation in economic and financial sectors, and we will continue to advance cooperation with Pakistan to support the country in achieving stability and development," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said. The IMF team this month met the leadership of all political parties, including former Prime Minister Imran Khan, to seek a continuation of its bailout objectives irrespective of who comes to power. Reporting by Asif Shahzad; Additional Reporting by Andrew Hayley in Beijing; Editing by Tom Hogue and Christopher CushingOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Ishaq Dar, Dar, Mao Ning, Shehbaz Sharif, Imran Khan, Asif Shahzad, Andrew Hayley, Tom Hogue, Christopher Cushing Organizations: Pakistan Finance, Reuters, Foreign Ministry, Longtime, Beijing, Initiative, International Monetary Fund, United, United Arab Emirates, IMF, Thomson Locations: Islamabad, Pakistan, ISLAMABAD, China, Saudi Arabia, United Arab, Beijing

☆ Walmart Mexico posts slightly higher profit amid June sales uptick
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-27 | by ( Carolina Pulice | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MEXICO CITY, July 27 (Reuters) - Walmart's Mexico and Central America unit on Thursday posted a 5% year-on-year rise in its second-quarter net profit, boosted by slightly higher sales especially in June, though earnings were slightly behind forecasts. Walmart de Mexico (WALMEX.MX), the largest retailer in Mexico, posted a net profit of 11.44 billion pesos ($668 million). The company posted a profit of 0.66 pesos a share, just below the Refinitiv estimate of 0.69 pesos. Same-store sales increased 8.5% in Mexico and 9.5% in Central America, and the firm expanded its physical footprint with 22 new stores in Mexico. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) for the quarter rose 8.5% to 21.9 billion pesos.

Persons: Paulo Garcia, Guilherme Loureiro, Monex, Loureiro, Carolina Pulice, Noe Torres, Kylie Madry, Lincoln, Christopher Cushing Organizations: MEXICO CITY, Central America, Walmart, America, Thomson Locations: MEXICO, Mexico, Central, Central America

In particular, memory chip demand from corporate buyers stocking AI data centres as well as gaming personal computers is expected to increase in the second half of the year, the world's second-biggest memory chip maker said. SK Hynix reported a 2.9 trillion won ($2.28 billion) operating loss in the June quarter, down from 4.2 trillion won profit a year earlier on weak memory chip pricing and demand. AI CHIPSSK Hynix said demand for AI server memory had more than doubled in the second quarter compared to the first quarter. SK Hynix leads the market in high bandwidth memory (HBM) DRAM used in the fast-growing field of generative AI. Samsung, the world's biggest memory chip maker, will report its detailed second-quarter financial results on Thursday.

Persons: SK Hynix, Greg Roh, Nam Dae, 1,274.1300, Joyce Lee, Heekyong Yang, Christopher Cushing, Jamie Freed Organizations: Korea's SK Hynix, Microsoft, SK Hynix's, SK, SK Hynix, Revenue, Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motor Securities, eBEST Investment, Securities, Samsung, Thomson Locations: SEOUL, KS, HBM

☆ China state banks seen selling US dollars to prop up yuan -sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

China's state banks usually trade on behalf of the central bank in the country's foreign exchange market, but they could also trade on their own behalf. Policymakers also said China will keep the yuan exchange rate basically stable at reasonable and balanced levels, and vowed to invigorate the capital market and restore investor confidence. This is in line with the People's Bank of China's (PBOC) further tightening of FX policy recently." The onshore yuan strengthened more than 0.6% to a high of 7.1411 per dollar and was fetching 7.1541 as of 0314 GMT. Its offshore counterpart followed the strengthening trend and surged to a week high of 7.1475 before being last traded at 7.1542.

Persons: Christopher Cushing Organizations: HSBC, People's Bank of China's, greenback, Thomson Locations: SHANGHAI, BEIJING, China, Shanghai, Beijing

SEOUL, July 26 (Reuters) - South Korea's SK Hynix (000660.KS) on Wednesday posted a worse-than-expected quarterly operating loss on weak memory chip pricing and demand, but said the market was beginning to recover from a deep downturn. In particular, memory chip demand from corporate buyers and gaming personal computers is expected to increase in the second half of the year versus the first, the world's second-biggest memory chip maker said in a statement. This compared with expectations for a 2.7 trillion won operating loss, according to 22 analyst views compiled by Refinitiv SmartEstimate, weighted toward analysts that are more consistently accurate. SK Hynix has reported losses each quarter since the fourth quarter of 2022, although the June quarter loss narrowed from a record of 3.4 trillion won loss in the March quarter. A boom in artificial intelligence, however, helped SK Hynix boost sales of high-end DRAM chips in the second quarter and narrow losses from the previous quarter.

Persons: Refinitiv SmartEstimate, 1,274.1300, Joyce Lee, Heekyong Yang, Christopher Cushing, Jamie Freed Organizations: Korea's SK Hynix, SK Hynix, Revenue, Thomson Locations: SEOUL

☆ Stellantis, Samsung SDI set plan to build second US battery plant
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Stellantis said the second U.S. battery plant will be the sixth to support the company's goals. "The second plant will accelerate our market penetration into the U.S.," Samsung SDI CEO Yoon-ho Choi said in the statement. In May 2022, Stellantis and Samsung SDI said they would invest more than $2.5 billion to build their first joint battery plant, to open in the first quarter of 2025 in Kokomo, Indiana. Stellantis is also building a joint-venture battery plant in Windsor, Ontario, in Canada with South Korea's LG Energy Solution (373220.KS). Samsung SDI shares extended gains after Monday's announcement, rising to as much as 4.1% versus a 0.8% increase in the benchmark KOSPI (.KS11).

Persons: Carlos Tavares, Stellantis, Ram, Alfa Romeo, Yoon, Choi, Ben Klayman, Heekyong Yang, Christopher Cushing Organizations: Samsung SDI, North, Peugeot, Jeep, Citroen, Opel, Samsung, South Korea's LG Energy, General Motors, United Auto Workers union, Stellantis, GM, Ford, Thomson Locations: Korean, U.S, Europe, Kokomo , Indiana, Indiana, Windsor , Ontario, Canada, Detroit, Seoul

☆ Asia shares brace for trio of rate meetings, China steps
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-24 | by ( Wayne Cole | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

China's Politburo meeting this week could see more stimulus announced, though investors have so far been underwhelmed by Beijing's actions. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures were little changed ahead of a wave of earnings this week. The U.S. dollar eased a touch to 141.37 yen , having jumped 1.3% on Friday following the report on the BOJ. The rise in the dollar pulled gold back to $1,961 an ounce and away from last week's peak of $1,987. Oil prices ran into profit-taking early on Monday having climbed for four straight weeks amid tightening supplies.

Persons: Jerome Powell, Christine Lagarde, Powell, John Briggs, Goldman Sachs, Brent, Wayne Cole, Shri Navaratnam, Christopher Cushing Organizations: Nikkei, Fed, ECB, SYDNEY, U.S . Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, NatWest Markets, Bank of Japan, Reuters, Japan's Nikkei, HK, Nasdaq, Intel, Microsoft, GE, Boeing, Exxon Mobil, Coca Cola, Ford, Google, U.S, Thomson Locations: Europe, United States, Asia, Pacific, Japan, Coca, Spain

July 23 (Reuters) - Lawyers for FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried rejected prosecutors' claims that his discussions with a New York Times reporter amounted to witness tampering but agreed to accept a gag order, they said in a letter to the judge in the criminal fraud case. The letter, released on Sunday, came after prosecutors sought to bar Bankman-Fried and allies from making public statements that could interfere with the case. Cryptocurrency exchange FTX, once valued at $32 billion, filed for bankruptcy protection in November as it was unable to repay depositors. Ellison led Bankman-Fried's Alameda Research hedge fund and has pleaded guilty to defrauding investors and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. In December, Bankman-Fried said he and Ellison had been in a relationship but gave no further details.

Persons: Sam Bankman, Fried, Caroline Ellison, Mark Cohen, Ellison, Mrinmay Dey, Christopher Cushing Organizations: New York Times, U.S ., Star, Alameda Research, Thomson Locations: Bankman, Alameda

"Is there going to be a challenge to Royal Enfield? It sold fewer than 30,000 motorcycles - less than the number of bikes Royal Enfield sells each month. Triumph said it has received orders for over 14,000 Speed 400 bikes, exceeding its total India sales of the past decade. Still, the frenzy over the new models is reflected in the surge in Google searches about Harley-Davidson and Triumph in India. Improved financing options is also encouraging lower-income buyers to consider premium bikes, said HDFC Securities analyst Aniket Mhatre.

Persons: Davidson, Rishi Vora, brokerages, Harley, Kotak, Royal Enfield's, Eicher, Royal, Shubhabrata Marmar, Enfield, Varun Painter, MotoCorp, Sathish Rao, Aniket Mhatre, Priyanka Kochhar, Indranil Sarkar, Aby Jose Koilparambil, Nandan Mandayam, Saumya Singh, Navamya Ganesh Acharya, Varun, Dhanya Skariachan, Euan Rocha, Christopher Cushing Organizations: Reuters, Bajaj Auto Ltd, Handout, REUTERS, Royal Enfield, Securities, Harley, Royal, Eicher Motors, Reuters Graphics Reuters, ROYAL, Enfield, Mahindra, Mahindra's, TVS, Bajaj Auto, Bajaj, Triumph, HDFC Securities, Thomson Locations: REUTERS BENGALURU, India, Royal Enfield, Bengaluru

☆ Meta takes aim at Twitter with Threads app, millions join
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-06 | by ( Katie Paul | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Welcome to Threads," Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote in his first post on the app, along with a fire emoji. Others saw the launch of Threads as an opportunity to create a less toxic version of Twitter. Much like Twitter, the app features short text posts that users can like, re-post and reply to, although it does not include any direct message capabilities. Instagram users who sign up for Threads automatically have a badge affixed to their Instagram profile, but can opt to hide it. Zuckerberg, responding to a user who predicted Twitter's demise about an hour after the Threads launch, cautioned patience.

Persons: Elon Musk, Kim Kardashian, Jennifer Lopez, Representative Alexandria Ocasio, Mark Zuckerberg, Meta, Danni Hewson, AJ Bell, Cortez, Zuckerberg, Musk, hasn't, Instagram, Ryan Detert, Jack Dorsey, Dorsey, Katie Paul, Sheila Dang, Jamie Freed, Josh Ye, Brenda Goh, Chavi Mehta, Bansari, David Gregorio, Christopher Cushing, Edwina Gibbs Organizations: YORK, Wednesday, Democratic U.S, Representative, Twitter, Spiderman, Meta, TWITTER, Brands, Billboard, HBO, NPR, Netflix, Thomson Locations: Cortez, Las Vegas, Instagram

☆ Zuckerberg-Musk fight's first round: Meta launches 'Twitter Killer' Threads app
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-06 | by ( Katie Paul | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

[1/2] Meta's Threads app and Twitter logos are seen in this illustration taken July 4, 2023. Welcome to Threads," Zuckerberg wrote in his first post on the app, along with a fire emoji. Instagram users who sign up for Threads automatically have a badge affixed to their Instagram profile, but can opt to hide it. "The reality is that Meta doesn't need to convert Twitter power users into Threads users" to succeed, she said. Zuckerberg, responding to a user who predicted Twitter's demise about an hour after the Threads launch, cautioned patience.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, ramping, Zuckerberg, Meta, Danni Hewson, AJ Bell, Musk, hasn't, Instagram, Shakira, Sheryl Sandberg, Ryan Detert, Jack Dorsey, Dorsey, Jasmine Enberg, Katie Paul, Sheila Dang, Chavi Mehta, Bansari, David Gregorio, Christopher Cushing Organizations: REUTERS, Twitter, Brands, Billboard, HBO, NPR, Netflix, Meta, Insider Intelligence, Thomson Locations: Las Vegas, Instagram

☆ Argentina to push July IMF debt payments to month-end -source
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BUENOS AIRES, July 5 (Reuters) - Argentina will push loan repayments due to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in July to the end of the month, a person familiar with the matter at the Ministry of Economy said on Wednesday. The payments total $2.6 billion for the month and include $1.3 billion due on Friday. Argentina struck a $44 billion loan deal with the IMF last year to replace a failed 2018 program. The IMF did not respond to a request for comment outside of business hours. Reporting by Eliana Raszewski; Writing by Carolina Pulice; Editing by Christopher CushingOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Eliana Raszewski, Carolina Pulice, Christopher Cushing Organizations: International Monetary Fund, Ministry, Economy, IMF, Thomson Locations: BUENOS AIRES, Argentina

☆ Zuckerberg-Musk fight is on: Meta launches 'Twitter Killer' Threads app
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-06 | by ( Katie Paul | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/2] Meta's Threads app and Twitter logos are seen in this illustration taken July 4, 2023. Welcome to Threads," Zuckerberg posted on the app, along with a fire emoji. "I find it hard to imagine that the most avid loyal Twitter users who go to Twitter for that type of culture will defect and go immediately to Threads." Still, she said, Meta only needs to convince a quarter of Instagram's users to join Threads in order to rival Twitter's size. "The reality is that Meta doesn't need to convert Twitter power users into Threads users."

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Zuckerberg, Meta, Danni Hewson, AJ Bell, Musk, Matt Navarra, Shakira, Sheryl Sandberg, Ryan Detert, Jack Dorsey, Dorsey, Jasmine Enberg, Katie Paul, Sheila Dang, Chavi Mehta, Bansari, David Gregorio, Christopher Cushing Organizations: REUTERS, Twitter, Meta, Google, Brands, Billboard, HBO, Variety, Insider Intelligence, Thomson Locations: Las Vegas, Instagram

☆ Russian state TV attacks mutiny leader Prigozhin, says investigation still live
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-06 | by ( Andrew Osborn | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

July 5 (Reuters) - Russian state TV on Wednesday launched a fierce attack on Yevgeny Prigozhin, the exiled mercenary leader of an aborted armed mutiny last month, and said an investigation into what had happened was still being vigorously pursued. Under the agreement which ended the mutiny, Prigozhin, whose aim had been to topple the defence minister and chief of the General Staff for what he cast as their incompetent prosecution of the war, was meant to relocate to neighbouring Belarus. Images of armed Russian law enforcement agents entering Prigozhin's office were shown. "I consider that the creation of Yevgeny Prigozhin's image as a people's hero was all done by media fed by Yevgeny Prigozhin," said Petrov, referring to media outlets financed by Prigozhin. The programme showed what it said were multiple passports which Prigozhin had used and which carried different names.

Persons: Yevgeny Prigozhin, Prigozhin, Wagner, Vladimir Putin, Yevgeny Popov, Eduard Petrov, Petrov, Yevgeny, Putin, Andrew Osborn, Christopher Cushing Organizations: Wednesday, Kremlin, General Staff, Prigozhin, Thomson Locations: Russian, Rostov, Russia, Ukraine, Moscow, Belarus, St Petersburg

☆ China adviser warns chipmaking export curbs are 'just a start', as Yellen visit looms
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Shares in some Chinese metals companies rallied for a second session, with investors betting that higher prices on gallium and germanium, which Beijing's export restrictions target, could boost revenues. Germanium is used in high-speed computer chips, plastics, and in military applications such as night-vision devices as well as satellite imagery sensors. China is the world's biggest producer of rare earths, a group of metals used in EVs and military equipment. CURBS ON EXPORTS TO CHINAWashington is considering new restrictions on the shipment of high-tech microchips to China, following a series of curbs over the past few years. China's germanium ingot was priced at 9,150 yuan per kg on Tuesday, also flat on the day and on the week, Refinitiv data showed.

Persons: Janet Yellen, Yellen's, Biden, China's, Wei Jianguo, Wei, Xi Jinping, Eikon, Brenda Goh, Amy Lv, Christopher Cushing, Muralikumar Organizations: Independence, Analysts, Micron, Commerce, China Daily, China Center for International Economic Exchanges, Global Times, Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Shanghai Metal Exchange, Beijing, Thomson Locations: BEIJING, SHANGHAI, Beijing, Japan, Netherlands, China, CHINA Washington, United States, Yunnan

☆ SBI Holdings to help Taiwan's Powerchip build a plant in Japan
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

TOKYO, July 5 (Reuters) - Financial firm SBI Holdings (8473.T) said on Wednesday it would help Taiwan's Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (6770.TW) establish a factory in Japan as the country looks to revive its chip industry. "This is the best possible time to enter chip manufacturing," Kitao said at a joint press conference with the Taiwanese company's chairman, Frank Huang. Powerchip is currently looking at three or four potential sites and manufacturing could begin two years after construction starts, Kitao added. Japan is also funding a homegrown venture, Rapidus, which says it plans to produce advanced logic chips from the middle of the decade with help from IBM Corp (IBM.N). Powerchip provides contract manufacturing services for logic and memory chips for power management to customers including MediaTek Inc (2454.TW), Taiwan's largest designer of mobile phone chips.

Persons: Yoshitaka Kitao, Kitao, Frank Huang, Powerchip, Miho Uranaka, Tim Kelly, Christopher Cushing, Jamie Freed, Louise Heavens Organizations: Financial, SBI Holdings, Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp, SBI, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, Sony Group, Denso Corp, Kioxia Corp, Western Digital Corp, chipmaker Micron Technology, IBM Corp, MediaTek Inc, Thomson Locations: TOKYO, Japan, Kumamoto prefecture, Hiroshima

[1/2] A Tesla logo is seen outside a showroom of the carmaker in Beijing, China May 31, 2023. REUTERS/Thomas Peter/File PhotoBEIJING/SHANGHAI, July 4 (Reuters) - U.S. automaker Tesla (TSLA.O) and its chief Chinese rival BYD (002594.SZ) achieved record deliveries of their China-made vehicles in the second-quarter, China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) data showed, as a fight for market share heats up. Tesla reported record deliveries of 466,140 globally for the second quarter. This was also the first time BYD's monthly sales surpassed 250,000 units and meant that between April to June, BYD delivered 700,244 vehicles, the data showed. In June, Beijing announced 520 billion yuan ($71.67 billion) worth of purchase tax breaks on new-energy vehicles through the end of 2027.

Persons: Thomas Peter, Tesla, BYD, Qiaoyi Li, Zhang Yan, Brenda Goh, Christopher Cushing, Himani Sarkar, Conor Humphries Organizations: REUTERS, U.S, China Passenger Car Association, EV, Thomson Locations: Beijing, China, BEIJING, SHANGHAI, Shanghai

☆ Taiwan says 8 Chinese aircraft crossed Taiwan Strait median line
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

TAIPEI, July 4 (Reuters) - Eight Chinese aircraft crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait on Tuesday morning, Taiwan's defence ministry said, as China ramps up military pressure on the democratic island. Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory despite the island's strong objections, has faced in recent years almost daily missions by Chinese military aircraft, often in the southwestern part of the island's air defence identification zone. A total of 24 Chinese warplanes, including fighter jets and bombers, were spotted near Taiwan on Tuesday morning starting at about 8 a.m. (0000 GMT), the defence ministry said, adding four Chinese warships also joined a "joint combat readiness patrol". Taiwan sent aircraft and ships to warn away the Chinese, while missile systems monitored them, the ministry said, using standard wording for its response. In a statement, the ministry said it is the joint responsibility for all parties in the region to maintain safety and stability.

Persons: Tsai Ing, Taiwan's, Yimou Lee, Christopher Cushing, Gerry Doyle Organizations: Tuesday, U.S . House, Representatives, Thomson Locations: TAIPEI, Taiwan Strait, China, Taiwan

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