Avoid high-yield, emerging-market bonds, expert says

An ongoing market correction provides a good opportunity for retail investors, but as the default rate for investment-grade bonds is expected to rise amid the COVID-19 pandemic, they should avoid high-yield and emerging-market bonds, Standard Chartered Bank Taiwan Ltd (渣打台灣銀行) said. “It is difficult to give an overall piece of investing advice amid the outbreak, as everyone has different risk appetite. Some investors turned conservative from fear of the virus, whereas others improved their appetite with an aim to buy on dips,” director of wealth management Terry Chen (陳太齡) said by telephone on Wednesday. Those who want to take advantage of the market correction and increase their investment at a lower cost should consider buying US corporate bonds with good ratings and corporate bonds issued by companies in net oil-importing countries, as well as US medical, healthcare and technology stocks, or any stocks with good cash dividends, Chen said. As the price of crude oil is expected to remain at less than US$40 per barrel for several months due to weak demand worldwide, companies in net oil-importing countries might benefit, he said. Investors should stay away from high-yield and emerging-market bonds, as well as bonds issued by energy and tourism companies, he added. The bank expects the 10-year US Treasury yield, a gauge of market interest rates, to slowly climb from about 0.6 percent this week to 0.85 percent in the second quarter, Chen said. Although the 10-year Treasury’s yield has been falling since February due to a global flight to the safety of government debt, it is likely to rise late next month or in June due to lower demand if the pandemic is contained, he said. In the meantime, investors should increase their holdings of cash and gold to hedge against market volatility, Chen said, adding that the bank has forecast that the spot price

By Kao Shih-ching

Beijing releases US$56bn to banks in virus response

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) yesterday said it would cut the reserve requirements for smaller banks to release about 400 billion yuan (US$56.3 billion) in liquidity, a move to counter the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on enterprises. The PBOC said in a statement it would also slash the interest it pays on financial institutions’ excess reserves for the first time in 12 years to encourage them to use the cash rather than store it with the central bank. The moves are the latest in a series of fund injections to help the world’s second-largest economy through the fallout from the pandemic. The reserve requirement ratio for small and medium-sized banks would be cut by 100 basis points over two tranches, on April 15 and May 15. This would reduce the amount of cash the banks must hold and is aimed at boosting support for small, medium and micro enterprises, it added. The cuts target rural financial institutions and city commercial banks that operate only at the provincial level. While China’s larger enterprises have mostly resumed near-regular operations as the nation eased restrictions aimed at curbing the coronavirus spread, smaller firms have been lagging behind. The aim is to “effectively increase stable funding sources” and help reduce the interest rates that enterprises are subject to, a PBOC spokesman said. The measure is also expected to benefit about 4,000 smaller banks, which make up the vast majority of institutions in the banking system. The PBOC would also reduce the interest rate on banks’ excess reserves from Tuesday, from 0.72 percent to 0.35 percent.

Chailease credit outlook lowered

Fitch Ratings has downgraded the credit outlook for Chailease Finance Co (中租), the nation’s top leasing services provider, from “stable” to “negative,” as disruptions caused by the COVID-19 outbreak could affect its asset quality and profitability, while sapping its access to capital. The revision would not affect the company’s long-term issuer default rating of “BBB,” as it has adequate capital and liquidity buffers to withstand the challenges from the pandemic, Fitch said. The weakening environment would significantly affect the firm’s asset quality and profitability given its focus on financing small and medium-sized enterprises, whose credit profiles are more susceptible to a sharp economic downturn, Fitch said. The mounting uncertainty from COVID-19 would heighten operational challenges from its increasingly complex cross-border businesses in a notably weakened global economic environment, leading to higher credit costs, lower profitability and greater difficulty in accessing funding, Fitch said. The ratings for Chailese are based on its credit profile across the region, Fitch said, adding that loans from Taiwan accounted for half of its leasing portfolio last year, while China made up 34 percent and Southeast Asia 15 percent. Chailease Finance’s credit rating would be downgraded if the economic conditions result in a material deterioration in its asset quality and profitability, reducing Fitch’s tolerance for leverage, the agency said. Signs of deteriorating sentiment toward the company’s ability to access funding — possibly caused by uncertainty and contagion effect from its overseas businesses — or a retreat in the company’s competitive position or financial strength could also lead to a negative rating action, Fitch said.

By Crystal Hsu

Virus Outbreak: US jobless rate to jump past 10%: CBO

CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE: About 10 million Americans lost their jobs over the past two weeks, which means unemployment might already be near 10 percent

The US unemployment rate would shoot past 10 percent in the second quarter and GDP growth rate would decline by more than 7 percent as the COVID-19 crisis grips the US economy, according to projections released by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) on Thursday. Interest rates on 10-year US Treasuries are forecast to be below 1 percent during the quarter, said the office, which provides nonpartisan economic analysis to the US Congress. On Thursday the yield on the benchmark US 10-year Treasury note hovered at 0.62 percent. The CBO said that its projections were based on information available through Friday last week and that it is working on new estimates factoring in more recent information on the crisis, which “has been more negative than anticipated.” It said it included the possibility of later coronavirus outbreaks and a slow drop-off of social distancing in its projections, and expected an unemployment rate of 9 percent at the end of next year. In recent weeks US lawmakers have raced to pass bills that would quell the public health emergency and economic turmoil unleashed by the coronavirus epidemic. They are negotiating with US President Donald Trump’s administration to draft a fourth legislative package aimed at boosting the economy. US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday said that she would form a bipartisan select committee to oversee the spending of the more than US$2 trillion Congress has already approved to respond to the pandemic. The CBO said it would incorporate the effects of the legislation in projections to be published later this year. US Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester said that US unemployment could rise as high as 15 percent as the nation forcibly shuts down important parts of its economy to help contain the pandemic. About 10 million Americans lost their jobs over the past two weeks,

Virus Outbreak: ADB warns global cost of virus could top US$4tn

The COVID-19 pandemic could cost the global economy US$4.1 trillion as it ravages the US, Europe and other major economies, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said yesterday. The estimated impact is equivalent to nearly 5 percent of worldwide output based on a range of scenarios, but the lender said losses from “the worst pandemic in a century” could be higher. “The estimated impact could be an underestimate, as additional channels such as ... possible social and financial crises, and long-term effects on health care and education are excluded from the analysis,” the ADB said. The Manila-based bank said a shorter containment period could pare the losses to US$2 trillion. The crisis has sent equity markets spinning as traders fret over the long-term impact on the world economy, though governments and central banks have stepped in to ease the pain, pledging more than US$5 trillion in stimulus and easing monetary policy. Officially reported COVID-19 cases worldwide topped the 1 million mark on Thursday, with tens of thousands dead, while there are warnings the numbers would continue to balloon as the disease rapidly spreads. With billions of people in lockdown and economies at a standstill, the ADB said Asia is forecast to grow 2.2 percent this year, its slowest pace since a 1.7 percent expansion during the Asian financial crisis in 1998. “No one can say how widely the COVID-19 pandemic may spread, and containment may take longer than currently projected,” ADB chief economist Yasuyuki Sawada said. “The possibility of severe financial turmoil and financial crises cannot be discounted,” he added. The forecasts assume the coronavirus outbreak would be contained this year and a return to normality next year. However, there is still the potential for additional outbreaks and the severity of the pandemic remains uncertain. “Outcomes can be worse than forecast and growth may not recover

Virus Outbreak: Google releases location data to show if lockdowns working in 131 countries

Alphabet Inc’s Google on Thursday published reports for 131 countries showing whether visits to shops, parks and workplaces dropped last month, when many governments issued stay-at-home orders to rein in the spread of COVID-19. Google’s analysis of location data from billions of users’ phones is the largest public dataset available to help health authorities assess if people are abiding with shelter-in-place and similar orders issued across the world. Its reports show charts that compare traffic from Feb. 16 to Sunday at subway, train and bus stations, grocery stores and other broad categories of places with a five-week period earlier this year. In Italy, one of the countries hardest hit by the virus, visits to retail and recreation locations, including restaurants and movie theaters, plunged 94 percent, while visits to workplaces slid 63 percent. Reflecting the severity of the crisis there, grocery and pharmacy visits in Italy dropped 85 percent and park visits were down 90 percent. In the US, California, which was the first to impose a statewide lockdown, cut visits to retail and recreation locations by half. By contrast, Arkansas, one of the few states without a sweeping lockdown, has seen such visits fall 29 percent, the lowest for a US state. The data also underscore some challenges authorities have faced in keeping people apart. Grocery store visits surged in Singapore, the UK and elsewhere, as travel restrictions were set to go into place. Visits to parks spiked last month in some San Francisco Bay Area counties, forcing them to later put the sites off limits. By contrast, in Japan, where authorities have been relatively relaxed in urging social distancing measures, but where calls have been growing daily for a state of emergency, visits to retail and recreational places fell 26 percent. Visits to workplaces dropped a mere 9 percent. The novel coronavirus has infected more

Tesla shares rally as deliveries fell less than expected

Tesla Inc’s early-year deliveries fell less than expected from record levels reached late last year, winning support from investors who pushed the shares 14 percent higher in pre-market trading yesterday. Tesla handed over 88,400 vehicles worldwide in the first quarter, down 21 percent from the final three months of last year, but the total beat analysts’ average estimate for about 78,100. The automaker’s stock was priced at US$516.21 in premarket trading, up from a close of US$454.47 in New York. “I’m shocked they did so well,” Gene Munster, managing partner of venture capital firm Loup Ventures, said by phone. “I don’t know how they did it. They had every excuse in the world to put out a bad number.” Musk, 48, tried to salvage as much business as possible last month by introducing “touchless” deliveries at a time when authorities around the globe are urging would-be car buyers to shelter in place. While Tesla managed to deliver more vehicles than same quarter last year, the improvement was small considering the company added a new product — the Model Y — and opened an assembly plant in China. Tesla did not give an update on whether it still expects to deliver at least 500,000 vehicles this year. Analysts anticipate Tesla would sustain a significant blow along with all other automakers from the spread of COVID-19. With a global recession increasingly likely, consumers are expected to be less interested in making big-ticket purchases like new vehicles even once they are able to leave their homes. The vehicles delivered in the quarter include the first Model Y crossovers that started reaching customers in the middle of last month. Musk has predicted it would be a big seller, potentially eclipsing the combined volume of all other vehicles in Tesla’s lineup: the Model 3, S and X. Tesla did not say how

Luckin Coffee shares plummet on accounting probe

STARBUCKS’ RIVAL: The Chinese coffee chain is investigating reports that its chief operating officer and employees had fabricated about US$310 million in transactions

Luckin Coffee Inc (瑞幸咖啡), the fast-growing Chinese coffee chain, on Thursday plunged as much as 81 percent after the company said its board is investigating reports that senior executives and employees fabricated transactions. The company’s announcement that chief operating officer Liu Jian (劉劍) and employees reporting to him engaged in misconduct casts doubt on the foundations of the Chinese coffee chain’s meteoric rise and its emergence as a key competitor to Starbucks Corp. The chain is aiming to reach 10,000 locations by the end of next year — a goal that might now be unattainable. Thursday’s share decline erased what had been a 54 percent gain since the company went public last year. Liu and others have been suspended and investors should not rely on previous financial statements for the nine months ended Sept. 30, the company said. The transactions in question occurred last year and totaled about 2.2 billion yuan (US$310 million), according to the filing. Keybanc Capital Markets analyst Eric Gonzalez said that earnings visibility might be limited “for the foreseeable future.” “It will take several years for management to repair its credibility,” he said in a note to clients. If true, the fabricated sales figure could represent a significant portion of the company’s total revenue. Luckin, which has only reported financial data for the second and third quarter of last year after its May public offering, was seen reporting 5.15 billion yuan of revenue for the full year, according to an average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg. “Certain costs and expenses were also substantially inflated by fabricated transactions during this period,” Luckin said, adding that the special board committee investigating the matter has not independently verified the fabricated sales figure. The coffee chain, founded in 2017, operated about 4,500 stores by the end of last year in China. Chairman Lu Zhengyao (陸正耀) and CEO

World Business Quick Take

OIL OPEC mulls coordinated cuts The OPEC+ coalition is rushing to pull together a meeting of its members — and possibly other oil producing nations — after US President Donald Trump called for a coordinated production cut to stem the historic rout in crude prices. A virtual meeting is to be held on Monday, a delegate said. It will be open to all producers — not just OPEC members and allies — but it is not yet clear which will attend, the delegates said. The US so far has given no indication it is prepared to join. The guest list is crucial as Saudi Arabia has made clear it would only cut production if others, including the US, shoulder some of the burden. Saudi Arabia called for the meeting, saying it should aim for a “fair agreement.” JAPAN Households to get ￥300,000 The government is planning to distribute ￥300,000 (US$2,766) to virus-hit households as part of its biggest-ever stimulus package, but will not lower its sales tax, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) said yesterday. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe approved the value of the handouts ahead of the announcement of the package next week, LDP policy head Fumio Kishida said after meeting Abe and Minister of Finance Taro Aso. The details emerged three days after the party unveiled a ￥60 trillion package of measures aimed at supporting households and businesses battered by the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.The party also approved emergency tax changes to be part of the package, LDP tax policy head Akira Amari said. NORWAY Jobless rate jumps to 14.7% The unemployment rate rose sixfold last month to a record 14.7 percent, the Labor and Welfare Agency (NAV) said yesterday, as the economy ground to a halt amid efforts to curb the COVID-19 pandemic. As many as 10.7 percent were fully unemployed,

Commercial property deals retreat 60%

HOLDING OUT: Sellers struggling to stay afloat and buyers waiting for price corrections remain on the sidelines to see how the COVID-19 crisis turns out for the property market

Commercial property transactions last quarter totaled NT$12.9 billion (US$425.63 million), declining 60 percent from the same period last year, as buyers turned conservative amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the latest data released by property brokers showed. Industrial properties accounted for 80 percent of transactions, followed by offices at NT$1.34 billion, Colliers International Taiwan (高力國際) said in a quarterly survey yesterday. However, Cushman & Wakefield Taiwan (戴德梁行) data showed that overall deals totaled NT$9.51 billion, representing a 61 percent retreat. “The market might see a panic sell-off if the outbreak persists beyond this quarter,” Cushman & Wakefield Taiwan general manager Billy Yen (顏炳立) told an online news briefing last week. Yen compared the COVID-19 pandemic to a black swan that has not only sickened people worldwide, but also snapped an expected recovery for the local property market. Sellers are struggling to stay afloat, while buyers are waiting for price corrections, Yen said, adding that both sides prefer to stay on the sidelines to see how the global health crisis pans out. Pent-up demand could evolve into a protracted recession if the disease drives up business closures and pushes a large number of people out of work, he said. Colliers Taiwan said the outbreak has prompted companies in the region to slow expansion plans, with the effects most evident at retail stores, hotels and restaurants. Travel restrictions and “social distancing” recommendations make operating those establishments difficult, Colliers said. Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport last month saw an average of between 2,000 and 3,000 passengers per day, a 90 percent decline from a year earlier, government data showed. In February, restaurant sales shrank 30 percent year-on-year, while revenues at department stores tumbled 36 percent, defying cutthroat discounts to attract customers, Colliers said. Land deals appeared unaffected by the virus, given record first-quarter volume of NT$84.2 billion. The superficies right to regenerate the former site of the Taipei

By Crystal Hsu

Insurers drop declared rates on policies

Major life insurance companies have lowered the declared interest rates for their New Taiwan dollar-denominated policies to 2 percent and US dollar policies to 3 percent on expectations of reduced returns on investment in a low-interest rate environment. Life insurers announce each month the declared interest rates, which are used to calculate the size of policyholders’ distributions. Fubon Life Insurance Co (富邦人壽), the nation’s second-largest life insurer with a market share of 17.2 percent, said it has slashed the rates for its 101 NT dollar-denominated products by 25 basis points — the same as the central bank’s March 19 rate cuts — to between 1.05 and 2.25 percent. It cut the rates for its US dollar policies by 40 basis points to a range from 2.7 to 3 percent, Fubon said. Nan Shan Life Insurance Co (南山人壽), the third-largest insurer with a market share of 13.39 percent, cut its rates by 25 basis points for its 90 NT dollar products to between 1.9 and 2.05 percent, as well as 50 basis points for its 70 US dollar products to between 2.85 and 3 percent, it said in a statement. Shin Kong Life Insurance Co (新光人壽), the fourth-largest insurer with a market share of 9.18 percent, reduced rates by a range of 8 basis points to 45 basis points for its NT dollar products and a range from 5 basis points to 45 basis points for its US dollar policies. As a result, the maximum declared interest rates for the company’s NT dollar and US dollar policies were 2.05 percent and 3.1 percent respectively. However, Cathay Life Insurance Co (國泰人壽), the nation’s largest life insurer with a market share of 19.45 percent, only cut rates by 5 basis points for its 54 US dollar products to a range of between 2.25 and 3.4 percent, and reduced between 6

By Kao Shih-ching

Nan Shan posts record profits despite ban

Nan Shan Life Insurance Co (南山人壽) on Wednesday reported a record profit for last year, despite being barred from selling investment-linked policies as of September. Net profit last year grew 28 percent year-on-year to NT$33.9 billion (US$1.12 billion), thanks to stable growth of interest income and high capital gains from investments in stocks and bonds, the insurer said in a statement. Earnings per share were NT$2.81, up from NT$2.35 the previous year, it said. The company’s financial statement showed that investment gains advanced 10.95 percent annually to NT$182.23 billion, boosted by a 5 percent increase in interest income to NT$132.62 billion and a 50 percent hike in realized gains to NT$38.91 billion. Gains from real-estate investments fell 11 percent to NT$3.22 billion, while net foreign-exchange losses were NT$42.59 billion, compared with net foreign-exchange gains of NT$57 billion in 2018, company data showed. Nan Shan’s compensations and payments to policyholders totaled NT$313 billion, up 22 percent from the previous year, while commission fees to salespersons totaled NT$19.83 billion, down 2 percent, data showed. First-year premiums (FYPs) retreated for the first time in three years — down 16 percent to NT$167.1 billion — as Nan Shan halted sales of investment-linked policies due to a Financial Supervisory Commission ban over an information technology system malfunction, data showed. Nan Shan, which had the second-highest for FYP income among its peers in 2018, was third last year, behind Fubon Life Insurance Co (富邦人壽) with NT$206.3 billion and Cathay Life Insurance Co (國泰人壽) with NT$201.1 billion, data showed. Nan Shan last year ranked first in sales of accident and health policies, spillover insurance products and long-term care insurance, with its market share at 18 percent, 46 percent and 88 percent respectively. The company’s total assets expanded 11 percent to NT$4.9 trillion and its net worth jumped 163 percent to NT$368.1 billion due to booming global

By Kao Shih-ching

Scooter sales rise as people look to avoid public transit

MRT TRAVEL FALLS: In February, ridership on the Taipei MRT System fell 8.96 percent from an average of 2.01 million per day in January

Scooter sales jumped 13 percent last month as more commuters turned to two-wheelers to avoid public transportation amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the latest statistics showed. Sales expanded to 74,493 units last month, compared with 65,913 units in February, statistics released on Wednesday by Kwang Yang Motor Co (光陽工業) and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications showed. In the first quarter, aggregate sales slid 0.51 percent year-over-year to 186,627 units, from 187,580 units, data showed. Kwang Yang, the nation’s biggest scooter manufacturer, continued to lead the market by selling 24,136 vehicles last month, growing 6.12 percent from 20,785 units in the previous month, while electric scooter maker Gogoro Inc (睿能創意) saw the fastest monthly growth at 40.06 percent to 8,619 units, up from 6,154 units in February, statistics showed. “Some people did change how they commute by purchasing private vehicles because of the pandemic. The effect also reflected on overall scooter sales in March,” Gogoro said in a statement on Wednesday. Combined electric scooter sales from the “Powered by Gogoro Network” rose 45 percent from a month earlier to 10,038 vehicles last month, Gogoro said. Gogoro makes electric scooters for its network members, such as Aeon Motor Co (宏佳騰), Yamaha Motor Co, Suzuki Motor Corp and Motive Power Industry Co (摩特動力). Statistics from Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (台北大眾捷運), which runs the mass rapid transport system in the capital, show a decline in average travelers per day. An average of 1.8 million people per day rode the Taipei MRT system during the first half of last month, compared with 1.83 million in February, the company’s statistics showed. The monthly reduction was more marked when stretching the period to all of February, which showed a monthly reduction of 8.96 percent from an average of 2.01 million per day in January, data showed. “We did feel that consumers are concerned about taking public transit

By Lisa Wang

Asustek rolls out first dual-screen gaming laptop

Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), the nation’s leading PC vendor, yesterday launched its first dual-screen gaming laptop powered by Intel Corp’s latest central processing units (CPUs). The PC manufacturer’s announcement closely followed the US chipmaker’s unveiling of its 10th Generation Core H-series, the fastest commercial mobile processors with speeds of up to 5 gigahertz. Although Asustek’s Zephyrus Duo 15, the highlight of its Republic of Gamers line, is not the company’s first laptop with two screens, it is its first designed specifically for gaming. Nestled between the primary display panel and the keyboard, the secondary display, which Asustek calls the ScreenPad Plus, is angled for better viewing and cooling when the laptop is unfolded, it said. The ScreenPad Plus can be used to expand the main display for a more immersive experience, or it can serve as a multi-tasking tool to display real-time gaming statistics or for streaming content while playing a game on the primary display, the company said. Asustek said it is working with video game developers to adapt game interfaces to fit the secondary panel. The Zephyrus Duo 15, which is to go on sale next month, is equipped with Nvidia Corp’s newest graphics processing units (GPUs) — GeForce RTX 2080 Super — based on the company’s Turing architecture. Industry peer Acer Inc (宏碁) yesterday revealed its premium Predator Triton 500 laptop, as well as a mid-range Nitro 5 unit, both of which are to be released next month. The laptops also feature Intel’s new CPUs and the latest RTX GPUs from Nvidia. New Taipei City-based gaming PC specialist Micro-Star International Co (MSI, 微星科技) also announced that its new gaming laptops — GS66 and GE66 — are outfitted with Intel’s H-Series processors and Nvidia’s latest GPUs. MSI, which has recently set its sights on the growing content creation market, has further equipped its Creator 17 laptop, the first

By Natasha Li

Moody’s lowers outlook on Asian banks to ‘negative’

Moody’s Investors Service yesterday lowered its outlook from “positive” to “negative” on banking systems in the Asia-Pacific region, including Taiwan, as the COVID-19 pandemic constrains business activity and increases their asset risk. Moody’s expects the operating environment for these systems to deteriorate significantly as a result of virus-related disruption, it said, adding that widespread business defaults and restrictions on social interactions would drive the global economy into a contraction. Moody’s also expects the hotel, restaurant, airline, automotive and retail sectors to be the most severely hit, and that small and medium-sized enterprises would be particularly vulnerable. If disruptions from the outbreak extend beyond the first half of this year, the credit effects on banks could be material, it said. Although governments have introduced measures to shore up affected businesses and mitigate the negative effects on employment and households, Moody’s said it did not think the measures would be sufficient to fully offset the adverse effects of the virus-induced downturn on banks. The economic and market upheaval caused by COVID-19 would depress business activity and increase banks’ asset risk, while credit costs would rise, it said. As a result, bank profitability would decline, partly weighed by lower interest rates, it added. Moody’s already had a “negative” outlook on banking systems in Hong Kong and Japan, which remain, it said.

By Crystal Hsu

Intel emphasizing chips’ top-end speed

PROCESSOR PIONEER: The chipmaker was the first to market the clock speed of its products, which was standard practice until the industry shifted to multicore designs

Intel Corp is trying to sell its new laptop chips in an old way — by emphasizing their speed. The world’s biggest chipmaker is touting the clock speed of its new H line of processors, citing their ability to process data at more than 5 gigahertz (GHz), or 5 billion cycles per second. “Frequency is the thing we’ve optimized for... These are the first mobile processors to break 5GHz,” Intel general manager Fredrik Hamberger said. Laptops based on these new 10th-generation Core design chips are to start appearing this month. The top-of-the-range part can count as fast as 5.3GHz when operating in “Turbo Boost” mode, Intel said. That targets video gamers and professional content creators, who often influence what is considered the best PC hardware. The new products are being rolled out as Intel faces rising threats to its industry leadership. Smaller rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) started fielding more competitive chips about two years ago. Intel pioneered the sale of processors based on clock speed. In 2001, then-Intel president Paul Otellini promised that Intel’s Pentium design would scale all the way to 20GHz. However, the firm’s engineers underestimated how much power was needed, and how much heat would be generated by such chips. As the new century progressed, laptops became more popular, and those slim designs could not handle power-hungry, hot processors as well as desktop machines. So Intel and the industry started making multicore semiconductors that combined several processors into one. Performance is now measured by the ability to run different workloads at the same time, rather than pure speed. AMD sells new processors that have more cores than Intel chips, garnering praise from gamers and PC reviewers. That has helped the smaller company take market share from Intel. Intel has also struggled to maintain its lead in manufacturing technology. AMD outsources manufacturing to specialists such

Asian stocks mixed amid virus fears

Equity markets in Asia were mixed yesterday, but the COVID-19 pandemic is keeping traders on edge as it sweeps the planet, with infections approaching 1 million and nations forced to tighten already strict lockdown measures. Oil soared 10 percent on hopes for a US intervention to end a Saudi Arabia-Russia price war, with US President Donald Trump saying that he expected the two to resolve the row, while dealers were also cheered by China’s decision to enter the market. After two weeks of much-needed gains fueled by trillions of US dollars in stimulus and widespread monetary easing, focus has returned to the devastation wrought on populations and the long-term effects of the pandemic. Trump’s COVID-19 task force has said that the US could see almost 250,000 deaths and the president warned of a “horrific” couple of weeks ahead. His sobering comments came as a number of nations said that they would extend lockdowns, which have already gouged economies worldwide. Adding to the unease on trading floors was a report saying that Beijing had masked the true extent of the virus in China, which is just coming out of an extended shutdown. “The incremental news on the virus in the last 24 to 48 hours has been disappointing,” Mellon Investments Corp’s John Porter told Bloomberg TV. “The global economy has hit a wall, there’s a tremendous amount of uncertainty, and that’s contributing to the volatility in the markets and the downward trajectory we’ve seen the last few days,” Porter said. US and European markets on Wednesday fell about 4 percent, with investors ignoring data showing far fewer private-sector jobs were lost last month than expected. The selling extended into Asia early on, but investors managed to pare the losses, with some markets moving into positive territory. Tokyo ended down 1.4 percent, while Sydney and Kuala Lumpur shed 2 percent apiece and