Many commodity markets sank this week to fresh multimonth lows, as the US dollar surged to 22-month peaks against the euro on mounting fears that Greece could be heading for the eurozone exit.
The European single currency sank to US$1.2496 on Friday, touching a low last seen on July 6, 2010. The strong greenback makes US dollar-priced commodities more expensive for buyers using weaker currencies. That tends to pull prices lower.
OIL: The crude oil market tumbled as investors shunned risky assets after former Greek prime minister Lucas Papademos warned that Athens might leave the eurozone.
Brent North Sea crude struck US$105.03 per barrel on Thursday, touching the lowest point since Dec. 20. New York’s light sweet crude sank on Wednesday to US$89.28 a barrel, hitting the lowest level since Nov. 1.
By late Friday on London’s Intercontinental Exchange, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in July dived to US$106.91 a barrel from US$107.40 for the June contract a week earlier.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate or light sweet crude for June sank to US$90.99 from US$92.20.
PRECIOUS METALS: On the London Bullion Market, gold fell to US$1,569.50 an ounce from US$1,589.50 a week earlier.
Silver declined to US$28.24 an ounce from US$28.48.
On the London Platinum and Palladium Market, platinum fell to US$1,456 an ounce from US$1,466.
Palladium slid to US$590 an ounce, from US$605 an ounce.
BASE METALS: Prices mostly dropped, with aluminum, copper, lead and nickel hitting their lowest levels for more than four months.
By late Friday on the London Metal Exchange, copper for delivery in three months fell to US$7,637 a tonne from US$7,716 a week earlier.
Three-month aluminum fell to US$2,014 a tonne from US$2,059, while three-month lead slipped to US$1,952 a tonne from US$1,964.
Three-month nickel declined to US$17,011 a tonne from US$17,153.
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],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
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