The US dollar edged slightly higher against the euro on Friday, but remained under heavy pressure and failed to take full advantage of stronger-than-expected data from the US. The euro in late-day trading was at US$1.4165 after US$1.4195 late on Thursday in New York.
US retail sales, a crucial motor of economic growth, rose 0.6 percent last month as US consumers boosted their spending, a government report showed on Friday.
The reading defied expectations as most economists were anticipating a tepid 0.2 percent rise in overall sales.
In another report the government said surging energy costs pushed up wholesale prices by a sharp 1.1 percent last month. But the core rate of inflation viewed as more important by economists remained tame.
The producer price index (PPI) showed a much steeper gain than the 0.5 percent increase expected on Wall Street, while the core rate, watched closely by economists since it excludes volatile food and energy components, was up just 0.1 percent, below the consensus forecast with a 0.2 percent increase.
In late European trading on Friday, the euro changed hands at US$1.4165, against US$1.4195 late on Thursday, ?166.39 (?166.48), ?0.6995 (?0.6986) and 1.6803 Swiss francs (SF1.6779).
The US dollar stood at ?117.49 (?117.27) and SF1.1861 (SF1.1819).
The pound was being traded at US$2.0338 (US$2.0316).
In London, the price of gold edged up to US$749.50 per ounce at the morning fixing from US$749.00 late on Thursday.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained