Boeing to temporarily halt 737 Max production in January

Boeing Co. said it would suspend production of its 737 Max jetliner, in an escalation of the crisis facing the aerospace giant that will ripple through the global aerospace industry.

The company said Monday that it plans to halt production in January, having assembled around 40 planes a month at its plant near Seattle since the Max was grounded globally in March following two fatal crashes of the aircraft within five months. The two accidents in Indonesia and Ethiopia claimed a combined 346 lives.

Chicago-based Boeing BA, -4.29%  plays a big role in the U.S. economy: It is the largest U.S. manufacturing exporter and one of the nation’s top private employers. And the Max is its best-selling plane.

The plane maker employs around 12,000 workers at its 737 assembly plant in Renton, Wash. Production of the 737 Max also supports thousands of jobs across a network of over 600 suppliers and hundreds of other smaller firms in the global Max supply chain.

Boeing said that it planned to reassign its workers and didn’t expect furloughs or layoffs. The company didn’t share details on the expected duration of a production shutdown that will impact suppliers around the world.

An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.

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The taste-changing miracle berry and other discoveries from 2019

A “miracle berry” that can alter taste buds and a new snowdrop found through a Facebook post are among the plant and fungi species discovered this year.

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, is highlighting its weird and wonderful discoveries from 2019.

Dr Martin Cheek, a botanist and scientist at Kew, says the discoveries could “help us tackle some of the critical challenges facing humanity today”.

These are the top 10 highlights:

German ZEW Economic Confidence Strongest Since Early 2018

Germany’s economic sentiment strengthened notably to the highest level in 22 months in December as strong exports and labor market conditions boosted expectations among financial experts, survey data from the ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research in Mannheim showed on Tuesday.

The ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment rose to 10.7 in December from -2.1 in November. This was the highest reading since February 2018, when the score was 17.8. The score was also well above the forecast of 3.5 points.

The indicator for the current situation improved to -19.9 from -24.7 in the previous month. Economists had forecast the index to climb moderately to -22.0.

The renewed substantial rise in sentiment may seem surprising, ZEW President Achim Wambach said. It rests on the hope that German exports and private consumption will perform better than prior estimates.

This hope results from a higher than expected German foreign trade surplus in October, alongside relatively robust economic growth in the EU in the third quarter and a stable German labor market, he noted.

“The rather unfavorable figures for industrial production and incoming orders for October, however, show that the economy is still quite fragile,” Wambach added.

Sentiment concerning economic development in the euro area also improved considerably at the end of the year. The economic confidence indicator advanced 12.2 points to 11.2 in December. Likewise, the current economic situation index rose 4.9 points to -14.7.

Newmont To Sell 50% Stake In KCGM To Australia’s Northern Star For $800 Mln

Newmont Mining Corp. (NEM, NGT.TO) announced Tuesday that it has agreed to sell its 50 percent stake in Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines or KCGM to Australia’s Northern Star Resources Limited (NST.AX) for $800 million in cash.

The cash consideration includes a $25 million payment that gives Northern Star specified exploration tenements, transitional services support and an option to negotiate exclusively for 120 days the purchase of Newmont’s Kalgoorlie power business for fair market value.

The company said the $25 million payment will be credited against the purchase price for the power business or returned to Northern Star if the power business is sold to a third party.

The sale is expected to close in early January following receipt of ministerial consent required under KCGM’s crown leases.

With the latest sale, the company’s proceeds from 2019 asset sale agreements would reach more than $1.4 billion.

Further, Newmont said it expects to provide an update to its previously announced 2020 guidance and longer-term outlook in early 2020.

Intel Buys Israeli AI Chipmaker Habana Labs For $2 Bln

Chipmaker Intel Corp. (INTC) announced late Monday that it has acquired Habana Labs, an Israeli developer of programmable deep learning accelerators for the data center, for approximately $2 billion.

The company said the acquisition strengthens its artificial intelligence or AI portfolio and accelerates its efforts in the nascent, fast-growing AI silicon market. Intel expects AI silicon market to be greater than $25 billion by 2024.

In 2019, Intel expects to generate over $3.5 billion in AI-driven revenue, up more than 20 percent year-over-year.

With the acquisition, Habana will remain an independent business unit and will continue to be led by Habana CEO David Dahan and current management team. Habana chairman Avigdor Willenz has agreed to serve as a senior adviser to the business unit as well as to Intel.

Habana will continue to be based in Israel and will report to Intel’s Data Platforms Group, home to Intel’s broad portfolio of data center class AI technologies.

Prior to this transaction, Intel Capital was an investor in Habana.