■JAPAN
New stimulus planned
The government is considering more steps to fire up the economy on top of a planned ¥12 trillion (US$131 billion) in new spending and tax cuts as the economy probably shrank an annualized 10 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, the Nikkei Shimbun reported. Economics Minister Kaoru Yosano has instructed ministries to informally craft policies aimed at reviving the economy, the Nikkei said yesterday without citing sources. Parliament is now debating the government’s record ¥88.5 trillion budget for the next fiscal year starting in April.
■AIRLINES
SIA drops Vancouver route
Singapore Airlines (SIA) said yesterday it would suspend its thrice weekly service to Vancouver, which has been “badly affected” by the global economic crisis. The last flight will be on April 25, the airline said in a statement. The Singapore-Vancouver service passes through Seoul. SIA said it would continue to serve Canada through its 42 weekly flights between Singapore and its gateways in the US. The airline also offers codeshare services on Air Canada to Toronto and Montreal from its European gateways.
■JEWELRY
Buffett buys Tiffany debt
Tiffany & Co says it sold US$250 million in debt to billionaire Warren Buffett’s company, and the jeweler plans to use the proceeds to refinance existing debt. New York-based Tiffany disclosed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday that it had sold the debt to Berkshire Hathaway Inc a day earlier. Omaha-based Berkshire will receive 10 percent interest on the new senior notes. Half of the debt will be due in 2017, and the other half will be due in 2019.
■FOOD
Peanut Corp bankrupt
The peanut processing company at the heart of a national salmonella outbreak is going out of business. The Peanut Corp of America, which is headquartered in Lynchburg, Virginia, filed for bankruptcy in the US Bankruptcy Court in Virginia on Friday. It was the latest bad news for the company that has been accused of producing tainted peanut products that may have been sent to everyone from poor schoolchildren to disaster victims.
■AUTOMOBILES
Suppliers ask for aid
Two groups representing US auto suppliers have asked the Treasury Department for up to US$25.5 billion in emergency aid, the associations said on Friday. The request came days before General Motors and Chrysler are required to present long-term viability plans to the Treasury to prove they will be able to repay US$13.4 billion in loans. The supplier organizations warned in their submission that as many as 1 million jobs could be lost should the supplier base not be supported.
■REAL ESTATE
Trump resigns from board
Real estate tycoon Donald Trump and his daughter Ivanka are resigning from the board of directors of Trump Entertainment Resorts, the troubled casino company he once controlled. The company won a fourth extension on Wednesday on restructuring US$1.25 billion in debt, and some analysts have predicted it will file for bankruptcy protection if it doesn’t work out a deal with its bond holders. Trump said in a statement released late on Friday that he is quitting because it is controlled by the company’s bond holders and he disagrees with their actions.
Semiconductor business between Taiwan and the US is a “win-win” model for both sides given the high level of complementarity, the government said yesterday responding to tariff threats from US President Donald Trump. Home to the world’s largest contract chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), Taiwan is a key link in the global technology supply chain for companies such as Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp. Trump said on Monday he plans to impose tariffs on imported chips, pharmaceuticals and steel in an effort to get the producers to make them in the US. “Taiwan and the US semiconductor and other technology industries
SMALL AND EFFICIENT: The Chinese AI app’s initial success has spurred worries in the US that its tech giants’ massive AI spending needs re-evaluation, a market strategist said Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) start-up DeepSeek’s (深度求索) eponymous AI assistant rocketed to the top of Apple Inc’s iPhone download charts, stirring doubts in Silicon Valley about the strength of the US’ technological dominance. The app’s underlying AI model is widely seen as competitive with OpenAI and Meta Platforms Inc’s latest. Its claim that it cost much less to train and develop triggered share moves across Asia’s supply chain. Chinese tech firms linked to DeepSeek, such as Iflytek Co (科大訊飛), surged yesterday, while chipmaking tool makers like Advantest Corp slumped on the potential threat to demand for Nvidia Corp’s AI accelerators. US stock
The US Federal Reserve is expected to announce a pause in rate cuts on Wednesday, as policymakers look to continue tackling inflation under close and vocal scrutiny from US President Donald Trump. The Fed cut its key lending rate by a full percentage point in the final four months of last year and indicated it would move more cautiously going forward amid an uptick in inflation away from its long-term target of 2 percent. “I think they will do nothing, and I think they should do nothing,” Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis former president Jim Bullard said. “I think the
Cryptocurrencies gave a lukewarm reception to US President Donald Trump’s first policy moves on digital assets, notching small gains after he commissioned a report on regulation and a crypto reserve. Bitcoin has been broadly steady since Trump took office on Monday and was trading at about US$105,000 yesterday as some of the euphoria around a hoped-for revolution in cryptocurrency regulation ebbed. Smaller cryptocurrency ether has likewise had a fairly steady week, although was up 5 percent in the Asia day to US$3,420. Bitcoin had been one of the most spectacular “Trump trades” in financial markets, gaining 50 percent to break above US$100,000 and
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