Amundi on what the U.S. wants from the China trade talks
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UPI
an hour ago
- UPI
South Korea's top two cosmetics firms report differing results for Q2
Amorepacific posted an operating profit of $53 million during the second quarter of 2025, up more than 16 times from a year before. Photo courtesy of Amorepacific SEOUL, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- South Korea's two leading cosmetics companies reported differing results for the second quarter of this year. Runner-up player Amorepacific fared well, while business bellwether LG Household & Health Care struggled. Amorepacific said Friday that its second-quarter operating profit was $53 million, up more than 16-fold from a year ago. During the three-month period, its sales also jumped 11.1% year-over-year to reach $720 million. The Seoul-based company was supported by stellar performance in global markets. It posted double-digit sales growth in such major markets as the United States, China and the Middle East. An analyst said Amorepacific boosted its bottom line thanks to improvement in China, where the company suffered huge losses in the past. "It seems that Amorepacific's Chinese business recorded a small amount of operating profit in the second quarter, following the first quarter," Korea Investment & Securities analyst Kim Myung-joo said in a market report. "It has restructured its transaction model in China, which caused inefficiencies last year, and has also significantly reduced the number of offline stores. Thanks to these structural changes, it is not likely to log large losses in China anymore," Kim said. By contrast, LG Household's revenue stood at $1.15 billion during the April-June period, down 8.8% from a year before. Its operating income dropped 65.4% year-over-year to $39 million. The company's beauty business suffered an operating loss of $1.2 million, the first quarterly deficit in two decades. The disappointing results of LG Household, a unit of LG Group, is attributable to the stiff competition in its traditional channels, including duty-free shops and door-to-door sales. Despite the solid results, Amorepacific's share price dipped more than 5% over the past three trading days through Tuesday. LG Household also faced a similar downturn during this span.
UPI
an hour ago
- UPI
TSMC arrests three after finding leaks of trade secrets
1 of 2 | On Tuesday, Taiwain Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. took "strict" disciplinary action against 3 accused workers after a "routine monitoring" led to the discovery of a leak in valuable company trade secrets, TSMC officials confirmed. File Photo By David Chang/EPA Aug. 5 (UPI) -- Three Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. employees were taken into custody Tuesday after company officials detected "unauthorized activities" and a leak of its trade secrets related to "core technologies." TSMC, one of the world's largest computer chip manufacturers in Taiwan said it took "strict" disciplinary action against its accused workers and legal proceedings were launched after a "routine monitoring" led to the discovery, company officials told CNBC and The New York Times in a statement. "Such violations are dealt with strictly and pursued to the fullest extent of the law," it said. "We remain committed to safeguarding our core competitiveness and the shared interests of all our employees." TSMC previously indicated its internal system held over 200,000 "trade secrets" related to critical tech and data. According to sources familiar with the matter, multiple former TSMC employees are under suspicion of attempting to obtain the company's proprietary intellectual property related to 2-nanometer chip development and production. The company stated its "comprehensive and robust monitoring mechanisms" had identified the issue early which permitted TSMC officials to execute a swift internal investigation. TSMC's security breach arrived as the Chinese government met last week with Nvidia officials over potential security risks in an AI chip it developed for sale in China. TSMC is a leading global producer of advanced chips that has Apple and Nvidia among its client base. Company officials stated that TSMC "maintains a zero-tolerance policy toward any actions that compromise the protection of trade secrets or harm the company's interests." TSMC added it was unable to provide further information at the present time. In November, TSMC was part of a more than $6 billion deal with the U.S. Department of Commerce under then-President Joe Biden. The geopolitical stakes around Taiwan's semiconductor dominance have soared as China escalates military pressure, through increased fighter jet incursions, large-scale naval drills and explicit threats of reunification.
CNBC
an hour ago
- CNBC
U.S. trade deficit hits a nearly 2-year low in June; China gap plunges
The U.S. trade deficit narrowed in June on a sharp drop in consumer goods imports, and the trade gap with China shrank to its lowest in more than 21 years, the latest evidence of the imprint on global commerce President Donald Trump is making with sweeping tariffs on imported goods. The overall trade gap narrowed 16.0% in June to $60.2 billion, the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis said on Tuesday. Days after reporting that the goods trade deficit tumbled 10.8% to its lowest since September 2023, the government said the full deficit including services also was its narrowest since then. Exports of goods and services totaled $277.3 billion, down from more than $278 billion in May, while total imports were $337.5 billion, down from $350.3 billion. The diminished trade deficit contributed heavily to the rebound in U.S. gross domestic product during the second quarter, reported last week, reversing a drag in the first quarter when imports had surged as consumers and businesses front-loaded purchases to beat the imposition of Trump's tariffs. The economy in the second quarter expanded at a 3.0% annualized rate after contracting at a 0.5% rate in the first three months of the year, but the headline figure masked underlying indications that activity was weakening. Last week Trump, ahead of a self-imposed deadline of Aug. 1, issued a barrage of notices informing scores of trading partners of higher import taxes set to be imposed on their goods exports to the U.S. With tariff rates ranging from 10% to 41% on imports to the U.S. set to kick in on August 7, the Budget Lab at Yale now estimates the average overall U.S. tariff rate has shot up to 18.3%, the highest since 1934, from between 2% and 3% before Trump returned to the White House in January. A centerpiece of Tuesday's report was the latest steep drop in the U.S. trade deficit with China, which tumbled by roughly a third to $9.5 billion in June to its narrowest since February 2004. Over five consecutive months of declines, it has narrowed by $22.2 billion — a 70% reduction. U.S. and China trade negotiators met last week in Sweden in the latest round of engagement over the trade war that has intensified since Trump's return. The U.S. currently imposes a 30% tariff on most Chinese imports, which has fueled a steep drop off in inbound goods traffic from China. Imports from China dropped to $18.9 billion, the lowest since 2009. The trade negotiators have recommended that Trump extend an August 12 deadline for the current tariff rate to expire and snap back to more than 100%, where it had briefly been earlier this year after a round of tit-for-tat increases by both sides. "We're getting very close to a deal," Trump said Tuesday in an interview on CNBC. "We're getting along with China very well."
