JAPAN
BOJ upgrades forecast
The Bank of Japan (BOJ) yesterday upgraded its assessment of the economy’s prospects after earlier this year implementing an ambitious monetary policy aimed at boosting inflation and growth. The bank, ending a two-day policy board meeting, chose more optimistic language to describe the world’s third-largest economy. It said in a statement that the economy was “starting to recover moderately.” “The bank will continue with quantitative and qualitative monetary easing, aiming to achieve the price stability target of 2 percent, as long as it is necessary for maintaining that target in a stable manner,” the bank said.
LABOR
Australia jobless rate jumps
Australia’s jobless rate jumped to 5.7 percent last month, its highest level in almost four years, as the mining-driven economy gears up for a bumpy transition away from its reliance on commodities. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate compares with an upwardly revised 5.6 percent in May, and is higher than the 5.6 percent forecast by analysts. It is the highest level since September 2009 and is just shy of the 5.8 percent peak reached at the height of the financial crisis.
ECONOMY
Brazil hikes interest rate
Brazil’s Central Bank on Wednesday hiked its key lending rate by 0.5 percent — to 8.5 percent — against a background of rising inflation and anemic economic growth. The bank had already lifted its key interest rate twice this year — by 0.25 points in April and by another 0.50 points in May — after no increases since July 2011. Last month, 12-month inflation reached 6.7 percent, above the 6.5 percent upper limit of the official target.
CHINA
Mead Johnson cuts prices
US baby formula maker Mead Johnson is to cut prices by 7 percent to 15 percent, it said, confirming it was cooperating with an anti-trust probe by authorities. It is the latest response from a foreign formula producer after the National Development and Reform Commission launched an investigation into high prices it claimed resulted from a monopoly-like situation, mostly targeting overseas firms. France’s Danone, Swiss food giant Nestle’s unit Wyeth Nutrition, Dutch RoyalFriesland Campina and Abbott Laboratories have all already announced price cuts.
LABOR
French probing Adecco
Switzerland’s Adecco Group says French authorities have opened an investigation into the firm and some of its competitors over alleged violations of French competition law. The Zurich-based company yesterday said it is cooperating fully with the French competition authority, which informed it about the probe on Wednesday. Adecco Group, one of the world’s biggest providers of human resources services, provided no more details.
COMPUTERS
Icahn seeks assessment
Billionaire investor Carl Icahn said on Wednesday he will ask a Delaware judge to assess whether a proposed US$24.4 billion acquisition of Dell represents a fair price for the struggling PC maker. It is Icahn’s latest attempt to wrangle a higher offer from buyout group that includes company CEO Michael Dell. Icahn, Dell Inc’s second-largest shareholder, urged shareholders to exercise their right for a court appraisal to determine whether the firm is worth more than the US$13.65 per share that Michael Dell’s group has agreed to pay.
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],”
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained
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