The US dollar climbed the most since September against the euro as investors sought refuge after US job growth fell short of forecasts and the European Central Bank (ECB) said the region’s economy still faces risks.
The shared currency touched a two-year low versus the US dollar amid concern an ECB cut in interest rates to a record low would not be enough to stem the euro bloc’s debt crisis. The greenback’s advance was tempered by speculation the US Federal Reserve might take further steps to boost growth, including a third round of debt purchases under quantitative easing. The US central bank opens a two-day policy meeting on July 31.
“The market has a risk-off tone,” Mary Nicola, a currency strategist at BNP Paribas SA in New York, said yesterday in a telephone interview. “The data this week has been very disappointing. It shows that there are some dimming prospects to growth, to the point that the idea of QE3 [third round of quantitative easing] might come into play next week.”
The US dollar rallied 3.1 percent to US$1.2291 per euro yesterday in New York, from US$1.2667 on June 29. The jump was its biggest since the five days ended Sept. 9. It touched US$1.2260, the strongest level since July 2010. The 17-nation currency depreciated 3.1 percent to ¥97.89 in the pair’s largest weekly drop since April 6. The Japanese currency rose 0.2 percent to ¥79.66 per dollar.
The Dollar Index, which Intercontinental Exchange Inc uses to track the greenback against the currencies of six major US trade partners, including the euro and the yen, advanced 2 percent, the most since December, to 83.285. It touched 83.431, the highest level since June 1.
The yen gained against all of its 16 most-traded counterparts this week except South Korea’s won. The euro fell against all of its major peers except the Danish krone.
Currencies of commodity-exporting nations fell against the US dollar and the yen as risk appetite ebbed. South Africa’s rand weakened 1.2 percent, the most in a month, to 8.2591 per dollar.
The pound rose 1.6 percent last week to £0.7933 per euro on Friday, the strongest level since November 2008. Sterling fell 1.5 percent to US$1.5478.
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