ECONOMY
S Korea inflation disappoints
South Korea’s inflation remained way below the central bank’s target range last month, as low crude oil prices depressed consumer price gains, government data showed yesterday. Inflation stood at 0.5 percent from a year earlier, Statistics Korea said. The rate was marginally higher than the 0.4 percent recorded in April, which was the lowest level since 1999. The South Korean Ministry of Finance said consumer prices should pick up in the second half of this year due to a gradual increase in international oil prices.
EMPLOYMENT
German jobless rate dips
German unemployment fell last month to the lowest level in 24 years as the recovery in Europe’s biggest economy continued, data showed yesterday. The number of people registered as unemployed fell by a seasonally adjusted 6,000 to 2.79 million, the lowest level since December 1991, the German Federal Labor Office said. That was slightly fewer than expected, as analysts had forecast a decline of about 10,000.
TRADE
Brazil’s surplus climbs
A steep decline in imports saw Brazil post a better-than-expected trade surplus of US$2.761 billion last month, trimming its deficit for the year to date to US$2.305 billion, the government said on Monday. In April, Brazil posted a US$491 million trade surplus. Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade figures showed imports dropping 26.5 percent from a year ago, while exports slid 15.2 percent. For the first five months of the year, exports fell 16.2 percent, while imports declined 18.1 percent over the same period.
ECONOMY
US consumer spending flat
US consumer spending was unexpectedly flat in April as households cut back on purchases of automobiles and continued to boost savings, suggesting the economy was struggling to gain momentum early in the second quarter. A US Department of Commerce report on Monday also showed no inflation pressures, with a price index for consumer spending recording its smallest gain since late 2009 on an annual basis. The weak data suggest the US Federal Reserve is unlikely to raise interest rates before the end of the year.
ECONOMY
Russia outlook improving
The World Bank on Monday said it saw some improvement in Russia’s battered economy, predicting it would shrink by 2.7 percent this year and return to growth of 0.7 percent next year. The IMF has also improved its outlook for Russia, projecting a 3.4 percent contraction this year and growth of 0.2 percent next year. Official statistics showed that Russia’s GDP shrank 1.9 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of the year.
MANUFACTURING
PMI in Spain, Italy rises
Manufacturing in Spain and Italy last month grew more than economists forecast as a weaker euro helped boost export competitiveness. Markit Economics said its purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for Italy rose to 54.8 from 53.8 in April, the highest since 2011, while the Spanish measure jumped to 55.8 from 54.2. Markit’s factory PMI for the entire 19-nation eurozone rose to 52.2 last month from 52 in April. In Germany, the index fell more than initially reported, dropping to 51.1 from 52.1. France’s remained below 50.
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
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
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