President George W. Bush will propose tax cuts and investment incentives, estimated by lawmakers to cost US$300 billion over 10 years, to boost the economy and to help create jobs. The White House said he will announce the plan on Tuesday.
TSMC may drop on concern first-quarter orders may slide as companies use up inventories. The world's largest supplier of made-to-order chips may say sales last month slid 21 percent from November, a Chinese-language economic daily reported on Friday.
All the island's publicly traded companies must release December sales results by Jan. 10.
"The Christmas buying season was not so strong," said Janet Chang, who manages US$29 million at Barits Securities Investment Trust Co. "The first quarter is usually the high season for the technology sector, but we don't see any strong performances."
Hong Kong's developers, such as Cheung Kong (Holdings) Ltd and Sun Hung Kai Properties Co, may decline along with other companies that rely on domestic sales. Property sales fell 3.4 percent last year to HK$186.3 billion (US$23.9 billion), Centaline Property Agency Ltd. said. Consumer prices have dropped in the city for 49 months.
While the government took steps in mid-November to halt the slide in property prices, Tung is not expected to unveil with measures to strengthen the economy during his annual policy address on Jan. 8.
"I doubt there is much he can do," said Frederick Tsang, head of research at China Everbright Ltd. "If people are pessimistic they might not want to buy flats and pay mortgages and turn their savings into liability. That's a big change."
Esprit Holdings Ltd and Giordano Holding Ltd, two of Hong Kong's biggest fashion retailers, may fall. The government might say on Tuesday that November retail sales contracted for a ninth month because of high unemployment, falling wages and deflation.
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