JAPAN
BOJ gets no bids for offer
The Bank of Japan (BOJ) said no bids were placed at its first operations when it offered to buy bonds at a fixed rate, a tool it introduced when deciding in September it would seek to control the yield curve. Japanese government bonds advanced yesterday, as the central bank said it would carry out two operations, one to buy securities maturing in one to three years, and another for debt of three to five years maturity. Each received zero bids, according to statements from the BOJ. Ten-year sovereign yields turned positive this week for the first time since Sept. 21, when the BOJ announced a shift in policy aimed at pegging them near zero percent.
INVESTMENT
FDI into China rises 4.2%
Foreign direct investment (FDI) into China rose 4.2 percent to 666.3 billion yuan (US$96.99 billion) in the first 10 months of this year from the same period a year earlier, the Ministry of Commerce said yesterday. Non-financial outbound direct investment rose 53.3 percent during the same period to 961.9 billion yuan from a year ago, ministry spokesman Sun Jiwen (孫繼文) said at a regular briefing. Outbound investment for last month rose 48.4 percent from last year.
SINGAPORE
Non-oil exports plunge 12%
Singapore’s non-oil domestic exports posted the largest decline in seven months last month, driven by a slump in pharmaceutical exports. Non-oil domestic exports fell 12 percent from a year earlier, compared with a revised 5 percent drop in September, International Enterprise Singapore said in a statement. Compared with the previous month, non-oil exports fell 3.7 percent. Pharmaceutical exports, one of the most volatile components in the index, fell 47 percent from a year earlier.
EMPLOYMENT
French jobless rate rises
France’s unemployment rate rose 0.1 percentage points to 9.7 percent in the third quarter after a significant mid-year drop, the statistics office announced yesterday. The rate was down 0.4 points year on year, INSEE said, adding that there were 2.8 million unemployed in mainland France in the July-September period. For all of France including its overseas population, third-quarter unemployment stood at 10 percent.
MACROECONOMY
Spain raises GDP forecasts
Spain on Wednesday raised its growth forecasts for this year and the next, in a sign that a 10-month political impasse had limited effect on the economy. Spanish Minister of Economy and Competitiveness Luis de Guindos told reporters that the economy was expected to grow 3.2 percent this year — well above the eurozone average — and 2.5 percent next year, from its previous forecasts of 2.9 and 2.3 percent respectively. The European Commission had already said that the economy would grow 3.2 percent this year, but its prediction for next year was lower at 2.3 percent.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Facebook buys FacioMetrics
Facebook Inc on Wednesday said that it has bought facial recognition startup FacioMetrics, potentially using the technology for photo or video effects to better challenge rival Snapchat. Facebook did not disclose financial terms of the deal to buy FacioMetrics, which was spun out of Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania. FacioMetrics was founded last year and specializes in using artificial intelligence to give facial image analysis capabilities to applications that run on smartphones.
purpose: Tesla’s CEO sought to meet senior Chinese officials to discuss the rollout of its ‘full self-driving’ software in China and approval to transfer data they had collected Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk arrived in Beijing yesterday on an unannounced visit, where he is expected to meet senior officials to discuss the rollout of "full self-driving" (FSD) software and permission to transfer data overseas, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Chinese state media reported that he met Premier Li Qiang (李強) in Beijing, during which Li told Musk that Tesla's development in China could be regarded as a successful example of US-China economic and trade cooperation. Musk confirmed his meeting with the premier yesterday with a post on social media platform X. "Honored to meet with Premier Li
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Dutch brewing company Heineken NV on Friday announced an investment of NT$13.5 billion (US$414.62 million) over the next five years in Taiwan. The first multinational brewing company to operate in Taiwan, Heineken made the statement at a ceremony held at its brewery in Pingtung County. It also outlined its efforts to make the brewery “net zero” by 2030. Heineken has been in the Taiwanese market for 20 years, Heineken Taiwan managing director Jeff Wu (吳建甫) said. With strong support from local consumers, the Dutch brewery decided to transition from sales to manufacturing in the country, Wu said. Heineken assumed majority ownership and management rights
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI