UNEMPLOYMENT
Eurozone hits record high
The eurozone unemployment rate hit a record high level in March, jumping to 10.9 percent for the first time for 15 years, official figures showed yesterday. Almost 17.37 million men and women looked for work in the zone in March, or 169,000 more than in February, according to Eurostat data agency. The 10.9 percent rate equaled an April 1997 record. The unemployment rate had reached 10.8 percent in February, with the eurozone widely expected to have dipped back into recession as it battles a festering debt crisis.
AUTOMAKERS
US sales rise 2.3%
US auto sales rose 2.3 percent last month, helped by strong gains at Toyota Motor Corp and Chrysler Group LLC, as shoppers looked to replace their aging cars and trucks and the broader US economy showed signs of strength. The annual sales rate last month was 14.4 million, in line with the pace projected by economists polled by Thomson Reuters. This was down slightly from the 14.6 million pace reported in the first quarter. Toyota sales shot up 11.6 percent, spurred by passenger cars led by the Camry sedan and the Prius hybrid. Chrysler sales leapt 20 percent on the strength of models like the 300 sedan.
INVESTMENT
Facebook roadshow set
Facebook is on track to make its historic multibillion-dollar debut on Wall Street on May 18, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. Executives from the social network plan to begin a financial roadshow next week, going to various cities to discuss Facebook’s prospects with potential investors before the initial public offering, the newspaper said. The Journal said that if the roadshow goes smoothly, Facebook will begin trading on May 18 or possibly a day or two later. The timing of Facebook’s much-anticipated IPO was put in doubt after the company spent a billion dollars on hot photo-sharing smartphone application Instagram and another US$550 million to buy patents from Microsoft.
BANKING
ANZ profits up 10%
One of Australia’s largest banks, ANZ Banking Group, yesterday posted a 10 percent increase in its first half profit to A$2.92 billion (US$3.02 billion), but warned margins in its Australian business were declining. The Melbourne-based bank’s net profit for the six months to March 31 was up from A$2.66 billion in the previous corresponding period. Analysts had expected a higher net profit of about A$2.96 billion. Australian banks proved resilient against the global economic downturn and remain among a handful of banks in the world to maintain an AA credit rating. Net profit rose on improving results from the bank’s operations in Asia, the Pacific, Europe and the US, ANZ said. ANZ’s net interest margin for the six months through March was 2.38 percent, down from 2.44 percent in the six months through September last year.
MANUFACTURING
Eurozone outlook gloomy
Gloom over eurozone manufacturing deepened last month, highlighting the impact of policies to control budgets and signaling recessionary pressures, a Markit survey showed yesterday. A key index of activity based on a survey by Markit fell to almost the lowest level for three years. In its latest survey for its purchasing managers’ index Markit said: “The eurozone manufacturing downturn took a further turn for the worse in April.” The adjusted manufacturing PMI figure fell to 45.9 from 47.7 in March. A figure of below 50 points to contraction.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
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],”