SINGAPORE
Economy rebounds in Q2
Singapore’s economy expanded in the second quarter, helped by rising manufacturing and construction, even as growth missed economists’ forecasts. GDP rose an annualized 0.4 percent from the first quarter, according to preliminary estimates from the Ministry of Trade and Industry yesterday. That compares with a revised contraction of 1.9 percent in the first quarter. Compared to the same period last year, GDP rose 2.5 percent in the second quarter, lower than the 2.7 percent median estimate in a Bloomberg survey. The government is projecting an improvement this year from last year’s 2 percent expansion.
UNITED STATES
June budget deficit spikes
The US federal budget deficit rose sharply last month compared with a year ago, although much of the increase reflected calendar quirks. The US Department of the Treasury said the June deficit totaled US$90.2 billion, up from a surplus in June last year of US$6.3 billion. However, outlays grew by US$39 billion this year because benefit payments that normally would have been distributed this month were made last month, as July 1 fell on a Saturday. Through the first nine months of this budget year, the budget deficit totals US$523.1 billion, up from a deficit of US$399.2 billion during the same period a year ago.
AUTOMAKERS
EU demand hits 10-year high
European car demand rose at a slower pace last month, as fewer selling days in Germany and Brexit-related concerns in the UK weighed on a peaking vehicle market. Industrywide registrations increased 2.1 percent from a year earlier to 1.54 million vehicles last month, with Toyota Motor Corp and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV models posting the biggest gains, the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association said yesterday in a statement. While the sales figure marked the strongest June since 2007, the growth lagged behind May’s 7.7 percent jump. First-half registrations rose 4.6 percent to 8.46 million vehicles. The Brussels-based association compiles numbers from the EU’s 28 member states, excluding Malta, plus Switzerland, Norway and Iceland.
AIRLINES
EasyJet to register in Austria
British budget airline easyJet has chosen to apply for an air operator certificate in Austria, and is to establish a new airline, easyJet Europe, to protect its flying rights once Britain leaves the EU. The new airline is to be based in Vienna. The budget airline must have an air operator’s certificate (AOC) in an EU member state to allow it to continue flying between EU member countries after Brexit. “The accreditation process is now well-advanced and easyJet hopes to receive the AOC and license in the near future,” easyJet said in a statement.
TECHNOLOGY
Infosys targets AI
Indian IT giant Infosys Ltd yesterday said artificial intelligence (AI) was key to future profits as it bids to satisfy clients’ demands for innovative new technologies. The company reported an increase of 1.4 percent in consolidated net profit year-on-year for the first quarter, marginally beating analysts’ expectations. Net profit in the three months to June 30 came in at 34.83 billion rupees (US$540 million), marginally above the 34.36 billion rupees it reported in the same period last year, Infosys said. Shares rose nearly 3 percent in early trade after the company forecast revenue growth of between 6.5 to 8.5 percent for the current financial year.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
Apple Inc has been developing a homegrown chip to run artificial intelligence (AI) tools in data centers, although it is unclear if the semiconductor would ever be deployed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The effort would build on Apple’s previous efforts to make in-house chips, which run in its iPhones, Macs and other devices, according to the Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. The server project is code-named ACDC (Apple Chips in Data Center) within the company, aiming to utilize Apple’s expertise in chip design for the company’s server infrastructure, the newspaper said. While this initiative has been
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that revenue would rise moderately in the second half of this year, driven primarily by robust demand for advanced wafers used in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. “The first quarter is the lowest point of this cycle. The second half will be better than the first for the whole semiconductor industry and for GlobalWafers,” chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) said during an online investors’ conference. “HBM would definitely be the key growth driver in the second half,” Hsu said. “That is our big hope
The consumer price index (CPI) last month eased to 1.95 percent, below the central bank’s 2 percent target, as food and entertainment cost increases decelerated, helped by stable egg prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. The slowdown bucked predictions by policymakers and academics that inflationary pressures would build up following double-digit electricity rate hikes on April 1. “The latest CPI data came after the cost of eating out and rent grew moderately amid mixed international raw material prices,” DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) told a news conference in Taipei. The central bank in March raised interest rates by