IN BRIEF (Page 16)

Orders drop

Japan's core machinery orders fell in November, keeping markets focused on the risks to growth from a US slowdown that has not only ruled out any prospect of a Japanese rate hike this year but sparked talk of a rate cut.

Core orders received by Japanese manufacturers, a key gauge of corporate capital spending, fell 2.8 percent in November, government data showed yesterday. That was a smaller drop than a consensus forecast of a 4.7 percent fall.

Surprise rise

ASML Holding NV, Europe's largest maker of semiconductor equipment, reported a surprise increase in fourth-quarter profit on higher selling prices and a tax gain.

Net income rose to a record 206.1 million euros, or 46 cents a share, from 205.5 million euros, or 42 cents, a year earlier, ASML said. Analysts had predicted a profit of 150.1 million euros, the median of nine estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. Profit included a 35 million-euro gain from a tax settlement.

Job cuts

Mortgage lender IndyMac Bancorp Inc said it will slash its work force by 24 percent, laying off 2,403 employees in a bid to cut costs as it tries to weather the worsening housing slump and problems selling home loans to investors.

The job cuts include a significant reduction in temporary vendor staffs, mainly in India, the Pasadena-based firm said.

Gloomy consumers

Japanese consumer sentiment worsened to nearly a five-year low and public expectations of future price hikes rose sharply, a Bank of Japan survey showed yesterday.

The index measuring how consumers felt about the economy stood at minus 40.7 percent in December, worse than minus 27.4 percent in the previous survey in September and the lowest level since March 2003, according to the BOJ's quarterly survey on people's livelihood.

Capital increase

Eurotunnel, the company that runs the subsea tunnel between Britain and continental Europe, aims to carry out a capital increase before year-end, its chief executive told Les Echos newspaper in an interview published yesterday.

Jacques Gounon said that while the group had three years to carry out the capital increase under a debt restructuring agreed with creditors last year, he believed it was in the best interests of the company to move quickly.

Decision defended

Italy will end up with a "far from negligible" stake in Air France-KLM after the French carrier buys Alitalia, Italian Economy Minister Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa said, defending the decision to back the offer for the loss-making airline.

That came as Air France-KLM officially kicked off eight weeks of exclusive talks with Alitalia on Tuesday, during which it is expected to work out a deal to buy the airline and try to drum up local support for the offer.

Challenging Christmas

British sweets-to-DVDs retailer Woolworths Plc said yesterday trading over the key Christmas period had been "very challenging" but it expected its retail business to return to profitability this year.

Woolworths, one of Britain's most recognized high street names with more than 800 stores, said retail like-for-like sales fell 3.2 percent in the 49 weeks to Jan 12, after having fallen 0.4 percent in the 38 weeks to Oct 27.

Nano going to Europe?

The chairman of Indian automaker Tata Motors has left open the possibility of bringing the Nano to Europe and hinted at Fiat helping it out with the world's cheapest car.

In an interview with Italian car magazine Automobilismo, Ratan Tata also said he would keep the Jaguar and Land Rover luxury brands true to their roots if the Indian automaker were to buy them from US automaker Ford.

Agencies

(China Daily 01/17/2008 page16)