The euro strengthened against the US dollar for a second week as investors pulled back on record bets against the currency before the Greek election today that may determine whether the nation remains in the bloc.
The 17-nation currency rallied amid speculation central banks might provide aid to financial markets after Spain last week became the fourth euro member to seek a rescue. The yen strengthened against the US dollar after the Bank of Japan refrained from expanding monetary stimulus that debases the currency. The greenback fell versus major peers as weaker US growth added to the case for further monetary stimulus from the US Federal Reserve at its policy meeting om Tuesday and Wednesday.
“Most investors think the outcome is likely going to be a coin toss,” said Joe Manimbo, a market analyst in Washington at Travelex Global Business Payments, a currency-exchange network, referring to the Greek elections. “That leaves open the prospect for a positive outcome. Consequently, we’ve seen investors really scale back on some of those deeply bearish bets against the single currency.”
The euro rose 1 percent to US$1.2638 this week in New York trading, after gaining 0.7 percent last week. The shared currency was little changed at ¥99.49. The US dollar lost 0.8 percent to ¥78.73, reaching ¥78.61, the lowest level on Friday since June 6.
Hedge funds and other large speculators pared their bets on a drop in the euro against the US dollar from a record high, Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed yesterday. Futures traders decreased net euro short contracts to 195,187 in the week ended June 12, the figures showed on Friday. They reached a high of 214,418 the week ended June 5.
The euro has appreciated 2.2 percent against the US dollar this month, after falling 6.6 percent last month. The median year- end estimate for the euro is US$1.25, according to more than 50 economists and strategists surveyed by Bloomberg.
Pound Gains
The pound rose 0.2 percent to £0.8074 per euro and strengthened 1.2 percent to US$1.5655. It gained against most of its 16 major peers this week.
However, the pound is the worst performer in the past month among 10 developed-market currencies tracked by Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Indexes. It slid 2.5 percent, while the US currency fell 0.2 percent and the euro dropped 1 percent during the period.
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