AUSTRALIA
Bank holds interest rates
The central bank yesterday held interest rates steady, a widely expected decision given policymakers have signaled a steady outlook for much of the rest of the year. The central bank kept rates at a record low of 1.5 percent for an eighth straight month, following easings in may and August last year. All 67 economists in a Reuters poll expected a steady outcome this week. “Today’s RBA [Reserve Bank of Australia] statement reveals a central bank pleased with both the improving global backdrop and the transition of the Australian economy to better growth and stronger employment,” UBS economist Scott Haslem said. Haslem expects the central bank to stay pat until the middle of next year as it balances disinflationary forces, such as record low wage growth and heightened retail competition, with sky-rocketing property prices.
GERMANY
Factory orders plunge 7.4%
Factory orders plunged at the steepest pace in eight years as demand for investment goods weakened. Orders, adjusted for seasonal swings and inflation, fell 7.4 percent from December last year, when they increased 5.2 percent, Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy data showed yesterday. That was the biggest drop since January 2009. The typically volatile reading compares with a median estimate for a 2.5 percent decline in a Bloomberg survey. Orders were down 0.8 percent from a year earlier. The report breaks a string of data that had pointed to a buildup in momentum and serves as a reminder that Europe’s largest economy is not fully insulated against risks. Last month, the Bundesbank predicted growth would pickup at the start of this year, supported by domestic demand and a stronger global outlook.
UTILITIES
EDF sells shares
Electricite de France SA (EDF), Europe’s biggest power producer, yesterday began a sale of 4 billion euros (US$4.2 billion) of shares to bolster its balance sheet and help fund a planned nuclear plant in southwest England. Existing investors can buy three new shares for every 10 they own at 6.35 euros apiece, a third lower than Monday’s closing price. The French state, which owns about 86 percent of the utility, is to subscribe for about 3 billion euros of shares, Paris-based EDF said in a statement. The company announced plans for the sale in April last year. EDF suffered from a lackluster electricity market last year as well as prolonged halts at some of its nuclear plants, prompting it to cut its profit forecast twice. Rising competition also threatened the cash flow it needs to renovate its French reactors and fund a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point in England.
AUTOMAKERS
Autonomous bus test begins
A pair of US$250,000 autonomous buses began driving around an empty San Francisco Bay Area parking lot on Monday, preparing to move onto a public road in California’s first pilot program for a self-driving vehicle without a steering wheel or human operator. California and other states are weighing the opportunities of becoming a hub of testing a technology that is seen as the future of transportation and the risks from giving up active control of a large, potentially dangerous vehicle. In most tests of self-driving cars there is still a person seated at the steering wheel, ready to take over, although Alphabet Inc’s Waymo tested a car with no steering wheel or pedals in Austin, Texas, as early as 2015. The project in San Ramon involves two 12-passenger shuttle buses from French company EasyMile.
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