INVESTMENTS
FDI into China rises 2.2%
Foreign direct investment (FDI) into China picked up last month, official figures showed yesterday. FDI rose 2.2 percent year-on-year to US$12.4 billion last month, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said, an acceleration from February’s 0.9 percent gain. For the first three months of the year, FDI gained 11.3 percent to US$34.88 billion, the figures showed. Overseas direct investment increased 0.4 percent year-on-year to US$8.39 billion last month and jumped 29.6 percent to US$25.79 billion in the first quarter.
MACROECONOMICS
US economy growing: Fed
The US economy grew at a moderate pace from the middle of February through the end of last month, although the harsh winter, the rising value of the US dollar and a big plunge in oil prices were having adverse effects on some industries, the US Federal Reserve said. In its latest survey of business conditions around the country, the Fed said that eight of its 12 banking regions described the economy as growing at either a moderate or modest pace with two others — Atlanta and Kansas City — describing conditions as steady. The report said that demand for manufactured goods was mixed with the strong US dollar, cutting into demand for exports.
AUSTRALIA
Unemployment dips to 6.1%
The unemployment rate dipped to 6.1 percent last month, data showed yesterday, a better-than-expected reading that could ease pressure on the central bank to further cut interest rates. The figure was down from a revised 6.2 percent in February, as 37,664 positions were created, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said. Full-time roles increased by 31,516, while part-time jobs rose 6,148. The labor participation rate strengthened from a seasonally adjusted 64.7 percent to 64.8.
GREECE
S&P lowers Greece rating
Standard and Poor’s (S&P) on Wednesday cut its long-term credit rating for the nation by one notch to “CCC+,” a level at which borrowers are considered as being vulnerable to default, saying it needs further reforms and help. The downgrade “reflects our view that Greece’s solvency hinges increasingly on favorable business, financial, and economic conditions,” S&P said. Despite the rising risk of a default, S&P said it still does not see a euro exit for Athens as the most likely outcome.
RETAIL
McDonald’s unit sees losses
McDonald’s Corp’s Japan business forecast wider losses this year, announcing plans to close 131 stores this year and cut 100 jobs after sales suffered from food scandals. The fast-food chain would probably lose ¥38 billion (US$318 million) this year, compared with a ¥21.8 billion loss last year, it said yesterday. Sales were expected to drop 10 percent to ¥200 billion, it said.
TELECOMS
Pacnet deal completed
Cashed-up Australian telecom giant Telstra Corp yesterday said it has completed its acquisition of Pacnet Ltd (亞太環通), Asia’s biggest private owner of submarine communication cables, with the brand name to be progressively retired. Telstra said it was buying the company for US$697 million in December last year in one of its largest acquisitions to date, with regulatory hurdles now cleared. Pacnet, headquartered in Singapore and Hong Kong, also offers data center services to carriers, governments and multinationals across the Asia-Pacific region.
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