UNITED STATES
Factory output up 0.7%
Factory output surged last month as the pace of motor vehicle assemblies jumped to a six-year high, a hopeful sign for the economy after a slow start to the third quarter. Although another report on Monday showed a slight pullback in factory activity in New York State this month, businesses were upbeat about the future. In addition, gauges of new orders and shipments in the state jumped, all pointing to a pick-up in manufacturing after a speed bump in the spring. Manufacturing production advanced 0.7 percent, the Federal Reserve said. The rise, which more than reversed the prior month’s 0.4 percent drop, helped to lift overall industrial production 0.4 percent. Factory output had lagged solid gains in the Institute for Supply Management’s index of manufacturing activity.
GERMANY
Investor confidence rises
Investment sentiment in Germany rose to its highest level in three-and-a-half years this month amid growing optimism in Europe’s biggest economy, a new survey found yesterday. The widely watched investor confidence index calculated by the ZEW economic institute rose by 7.6 points to 49.6 points this month, the institute said in a statement. That was fractionally higher than analysts’ forecasts for an increase to about 49 points this month, and was the highest level since April 2010. “Financial market experts hold the view that the German economy is still gaining momentum. In particular, the experts’ economic optimism has increased due to the improved economic outlook for the eurozone, although recently released economic data for Germany have fallen short of expectations,” ZEW president Clemens Fuest said.
SINGAPORE
Home sales up temporarily
The city-state’s jump in private home sales last month was only a temporary reprieve for developers as the government’s cooling measures take root and mortgage rates begin to rise. The city-state’s housing sales climbed 54 percent to 742 last month from July, when they fell to 482, the lowest in almost four years, according to government data. With nine rounds of cooling measures since mid-2009, the increase will be short-lived, according to Mizuho Bank Ltd and UOB Kay Hian Pte. Monthly sales averaged about 1,700 units in the first six months of the year. “There have been successive rounds of measures coming through and with mortgage rates also beginning to move up, you will find that buyers are becoming more circumspect and wondering if these are the right entry levels,” said Singapore-based Mizuho economist Vishnu Varathan, who forecast home prices would fall between 10 percent and 15 percent by 2016.
ELECTRONICS
Philips to buy back shares
Dutch electronics giant Philips is to buy back 1.5 billion euros (US$2 billion) of shares, the company said yesterday, also raising its targets for 2016. The company, increasingly focused on healthcare, said it wanted to push ahead with its restructuring program, including through job cuts. Philips chief executive Frans van Houten declined to say how many jobs were concerned. Philips said it wanted to increase its comparable sales growth by an average of between 4 and 6 percent a year to 2016, and raise earnings before interest, tax and amortization margins to between 11 and 12 percent, particularly thanks to its healthcare business. The Eindhoven-based company said its share buyback program would start next month and “conclude in the next two or three years.”
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],”