CANADA
Trade deficit expands
The trade deficit in goods in May widened from C$1.9 billion to C$2.8 billion (US$1.45 billion to US$2.14 billion) as imports rose while exports edged down, Statistics Canada said on Friday. Pushed by a 17.7 percent rise in orders of aircraft and other transportation equipment — the fifth consecutive monthly rise for that category — Canadian imports rose 1.7 percent to C$51.1 billion in May, it said. The year-on-year increase was 3.5 percent. Exports for the month slipped 0.1 percent to C$48.3 billion.
ETHIOPIA
‘Pro-poor’ budget passed
Parliament passed a 346.9 billion birr (US$12.58 billion) budget, about two-thirds of it poverty reduction programs involving health, education and food security. In televised comments, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed described the budget as “pro-poor” and said that the government still needs US$7.5 billion to finish so-called megaprojects, including sugar factories and the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. As a result, it would not begin new projects in the 2018-to-2019 fiscal year, he said.
OIL AND GAS
BP to buy US shale basins
BP PLC has emerged as the front-runner to buy BHP Billiton Ltd’s onshore oil and gas operations in the US, a person familiar with the matter said. Reuters earlier reported that BP made an offer of more than US$10 billion. The assets up for grabs include about 323,749 hectares in four US shale basins, including the Permian Basin, one of the most productive oilfields in the world. The London-based firm has made the highest offer for the assets, which BHP would prefer to sell in a single package, the person said.
STOCK MARKET
Swiss bourse goes digital
SIX Group, the owner of Switzerland’s SIX Swiss Exchange securities exchange in Zurich, is creating a platform for trading digital assets, boosting a nascent industry that some countries are trying to suffocate. The new platform is to offer a “fully integrated, end-to-end trading, settlement and custody service,” the world’s first to do so, the bourse said in a statement on Friday.
MEDIA
Gawker blogs might be sold
Univision Holdings Inc is considering selling its English-language Web sites, including the former gawker.com blog properties, people with knowledge of the situation said. The move would put a group of sites including gizmodo.com, deadspin.com and jezebel.com on the block, the people said. Univision is working with financial advisers on the process, they said. Univision bought the former Gawker Media LLC Web sites for US$135 million at a 2016 bankruptcy auction.
TECHNOLOGY
Sonos plans initial listing
Wireless speaker maker Sonos Inc filed for a US initial public offering. The Santa Barbara, California-based company filed with an offering size of US$100 million, a placeholder amount that is likely to change. It plans to list on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol SONO, a regulatory filing on Friday said. Sonos, a pioneer in the market for Internet-connected speakers, is targeting a valuation of US$2.5 billion to US$3 billion in the initial listing, people said.
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
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