UNITED KINGDOM
Growth slower than expected
Economic growth slowed by more than expected in the first quarter, revised official data showed on Thursday ahead of the nation’s general election. Two weeks before Britons head to the polls in what is widely seen as a vote on British Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit strategy, the Office for National Statistics said GDP growth stood at 0.2 percent in the first three months of the year compared with the final quarter of last year. That was the weakest quarter-on-quarter growth in a year. An initial estimate provided by the office last month had put first-quarter GDP output growth at 0.3 percent. Output in the fourth quarter of last year had stood at 0.7 percent.
JAPAN
Prices rise on energy costs
The core consumer price index last month climbed to a two-year high of 0.3 percent, as costs for energy rose. Economists said the increase reported yesterday was not likely to persist and that prices for imported consumer goods actually fell. Inflation has been positive in recent months, but well below the government’s 2 percent target. Core inflation excluding volatile food prices rose 0.3 percent from a year earlier, just above the rate in March. Inflation excluding fresh food and energy was up 0.1 percent, while energy costs rose by 4.5 percent.
COMMODITIES
Noble’s rating cut again
Noble Group Ltd (來寶集團) received a fresh blow as Fitch Ratings Ltd cut the embattled commodity trader’s rating for a second time in the space of 10 days, flagging concern over its ability to address about US$2 billion of debt that matures over the next 12 months. The Hong Kong-based company is in talks with banks to renew a borrowing base facility expiring next month and Fitch said a successful rollover of a large part of that is “critical” for its liquidity. Fitch expects the banks to do so, but on less favorable terms.
RETAIL
Costco shares rally
Costco Wholesale Corp shares rose in after-hours trading after the warehouse club company reported earnings that topped Wall Street expectations. The Issaquah, Washington-based company said on Thursday that net income in its most recent quarter came to US$700 million, or US$1.59 per share, up from US$545 million, or US$1.24 per share, in the same period last year. Stripping out one-time items, earnings came to US$1.40 per share in the quarter that ended on May 7. Revenue rose 7.8 percent to US$28.86 billion, Costco said. Its shares rose 1 percent to close at US$174.73 and added an additional 1.8 percent after the market closed.
TELECOMS
Fund to invest in start-ups
Saudi Arabia’s largest telecom said on Thursday it is to set up a US$500 million venture capital fund to invest in start-up companies. As part of a wide-ranging economic diversification plan launched last year, Saudi Arabia is trying to promote small and medium-sized enterprises and expand its investment and industrial base, as well as develop the digital infrastructure to support such growth. “The fund will invest globally in promising technologies and digital sectors, especially in areas where the company can tap into its assets and infrastructure, and help it enable its investments to grow,” Saudi Telecom Co chief executive officer Khaled al-Biyari said.
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