MACROECONOMICS
Economists back Fed tactics
A majority of economists believe the Federal Reserve is doing the right things to help repair the US economy, according to a survey released yesterday by the US National Association of Business Economists. The survey also showed that a vast majority of economists believe that the US economy is at little risk of inflation in the coming years. In the association’s semiannual survey, 53 percent of economists said the Fed’s stimulus programs were “on the right track” for the US economy, while 39 percent thought the Fed was doing too much. In the survey, three-quarters of the economists said they believe the Fed’s first interest rate increase would come in next year.
MACROECONOMICS
German outlook weakens
German business confidence declined for a fourth month, reflecting a faltering eurozone economy that European Central Bank President Mario Draghi says might need more stimulus. The Ifo Institute’s business climate index, based on a survey of 7,000 executives, fell to 106.3 this month from 108 last month. Economists predicted a drop to 107, according to the median of 39 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. German GDP fell last quarter for the first time in more than a year. While the 0.2 percent contraction was largely a consequence of a warm winter that shifted output into the previous three months, the Bundesbank has said that a previously anticipated rebound in the second half of the year is now in doubt.
RETAIL
Wal-Mart imports Indian VP
Wal-Mart Stores Inc has moved Arvind Mediratta, chief operating officer of its Indian unit, to the US retail business as a senior vice president, according to two company officials familiar with the matter. Mediratta is to be based at the headquarters of the world’s largest retailer in Bentonville, Arkansas, said the people who asked not to be identified. The Indian executive’s move comes a month after Wal-Mart picked Asia chief Greg Foran to head its US business replacing Bill Simon. In India, Wal-Mart operates 20 wholesale stores where only registered traders can shop. The company plans to add 50 more in the country over the next four to five years.
FINANCE
ICBC seeks Dubai loan
ICBC Leasing (工銀金融租賃), a unit of Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd (中國工商銀行), hired Dubai-based Emirates NBD and Commercial Bank International to arrange a US$300 million loan, according to three people familiar with the matter. The facility is to be priced at 2.1 percent above the London interbank offered rate and syndication is expected to be completed by the end of this month, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. China is the third-largest trading partner for the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia’s largest.
ENVIRONMENT
Guyana gets UN grant
The UN Development Program is providing more than US$800,000 to help limit environmental damage in Guyana as a result of gold mining. The natural resources ministry said on Saturday that the money is to be used to build dozens of monitoring stations in the jungle and use satellite technology to assess damaged areas. Local representative Khadija Musa said the program also aims to help agencies better coordinate oversight of Guyana’s booming gold industry, which generated nearly US$1 billion in revenue last year.
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],”