Business confidence data from China and the eurozone might offer some pointers this week to where the global economy is going after the US Federal Reserve kept markets guessing about when it will begin raising rates.
With a Chinese slowdown blamed for spooking the Fed last week into postponing a rate hike, China’s flash manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) on Wednesday will be closely watched for signs of deterioration in the world’s second-biggest economy.
Economists polled by Reuters are banking on a slight improvement and any disappointment risks reigniting concerns that the Chinese economy is slowing faster than thought.
“We would caution against pinning hopes on more than a slight stabilization at weak levels, given continued weak industrial conditions and especially as the effect of recent factory closures will not have completely washed out,” economists at brokerage Exane BNP Paribas said.
In the US, economic data is likely to take a back seat this week.
“Of more significance will be Fed speeches, which may be used to nudge rate hike expectations following the markets’ seemingly dovish interpretation of the press release and conference message,” ING economist James Knightley said in a research note.
“We still feel there is a strong case for expecting an October hike,” he added.
Most Wall Street banks polled by Reuters shortly after the decision was made public expect that the Fed will not act that soon, and will instead begin hiking rates only at its meeting in December.
No longer muzzled by the pre-meeting blackout, Fed officials will be out in droves to air their views, with the highlight a speech by Fed Chair Janet Yellen in Massachusetts on Thursday.
However, intense attention will also fall on Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) meeting on Friday with US President Barack Obama in Washington, with no shortage of economic issues to chew over.
Looking to the eurozone, economists see flash PMI data due on Wednesday coming in slightly stable to soft for this month.
However, expectations for Germany’s PMI and IFO business confidence are on the downside, despite a weaker euro benefiting its exports as Chinese demand eases.
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],”
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
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