UNITED STATES
Economy is expanding: Fed
The economy expanded at a slow to moderate pace in most areas of the US over the past two months, according to a Federal Reserve survey. A modest pickup in consumer spending, tourism and manufacturing drove the growth. The Fed said economic conditions improved in all but one of its 12 bank districts. The one exception was the St Louis District, where conditions declined. However, hiring was weak in most areas. Businesses in six of the Fed regions said they had a hard time finding qualified workers for those jobs that were open, particularly for high-skilled manufacturing and tech jobs. The report, known as the Beige Book, covered the period from Oct. 8 through the middle of last month.
FRANCE
Economic pessimism rising
People are more pessimistic about the future of the economy than any time since the height of the global financial crisis in 2008, according to a poll released yesterday. In the BVA poll 83 percent of respondents said they were less confident about the future of the economy, while 16 percent were confident. One percent did not express an opinion. The result was the worst since October 2008 after the collapse of Lehman Brothers caused turmoil in global financial markets. The BVA survey questioned a statistically representative sample of 1,405 people aged 15 and above from Nov. 24 to Nov. 25.
SOUTH KOREA
Inflation on the rise again
The annual inflation rate was 4.2 percent last month, official figures showed yesterday, back above the central bank’s target range, despite a revision of the consumer price index. The figure announced by Statistics Korea compared with a revised 3.6 percent increase in October. However, it was below the median forecast for a 4.5 percent rise in a Dow Jones Newswires poll of seven economists. Month-on-month, the index rose by 0.1 percent last month. The increase — blamed on food prices — came despite a recalibration of the price index that cut the year-to-date inflation figure by 40 basis points. The Bank of Korea has set a 2 percent to 4 percent target range for inflation this year.
THAILAND
Inflation remains moderate
Inflation held steady last month, government data showed yesterday, as the country’s worst flooding in decades caused widespread damage to farmland and forced food prices higher. The consumer price index rose 4.19 percent last month from a year earlier, against a similar 4.19 percent rise in October, the Ministry of Commerce reported. Core inflation last month, which excludes volatile energy and food prices, rose 2.9 percent compared with last year, but the increase remained within the central bank’s 0.5 percent to 3 percent target range.
BANKING
UBS appoints new risk head
UBS AG, the Swiss bank that reported a US$2.3 billion loss from unauthorized trading in September, appointed Philip Lofts as the group’s chief risk officer, replacing Maureen Miskovic, who is leaving the firm after less than a year. Robert McCann, head of the wealth management Americas unit, will also assume Lofts’ previous role of chief executive officer of all business in the Americas, the Zurich-based bank said in a statement yesterday. Chief operating officer Ulrich Koerner, 49, will take on additional responsibility for business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the role filled by Sergio Ermotti before his appointment as group chief executive last month.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure