COMMODITIES
India limits exports of gold
India has banned the export of gold products with purity greater than 22 karats with immediate effect, a move that the industry sees as a way of curbing irregularities in the trade. The Indian Directorate-General of Foreign Trade issued a notice limiting shipments of jewelry, coins and medallions to 22 karats or less, without giving a reason. Gold medallions and coins made up 15 percent of the country’s total gems and jewelry exports by value in the financial year ended March, Gems & Jewellery Export Promotion Council data showed. There were no data on how much of the exports were greater than 22 karats.
BANKING
Duke to lead Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo & Co on Tuesday said that Elizabeth Duke would become its chairwoman next year, making her the first woman to hold the position at a major Wall Street bank. Duke, a former member of the US Federal Reserve’s governing board, is to replace Stephen Sanger on Jan. 1, the bank said in a statement. Sanger late last year took over as independent chairman after John Stumpf, Wells Fargo’s then-CEO and chairman, abruptly resigned in the aftermath of the bank’s sales practices scandal. Duke was a member of the Fed’s board of governors from 2008 to 2013.
REAL ESTATE
Canadian home prices fall
Canada’s benchmark home price last month fell by the most in nearly a decade as Toronto led a fourth straight decline in sales. The nationwide benchmark home price declined 1.5 percent to C$607,100 (US$477,120) from June, the Canadian Real Estate Association said on Tuesday, the largest drop since the previous recession. In Toronto, the nation’s largest city, the price fell 4.7 percent on the month. Sales of existing homes in Toronto last month fell 5.4 percent from a month earlier. That accounted for a major portion of the 2.1 percent national decline. Total resales nationwide were down 15 percent after reaching a record in March.
RETAIL
US sales rise 0.6 percent
US retail sales last month recorded their biggest increase in seven months as consumers boosted purchases of motor vehicles and raised discretionary spending, suggesting the economy continued to gain momentum early in the third quarter. Retail sales jumped 0.6 percent, the largest gain since December last year. June’s retail sales were revised to show a 0.3 percent gain instead of the previously reported 0.2 percent drop. The upbeat report from the US Department of Commerce is likely to keep the US Federal Reserve on course to raise interest rates again in December.
BRAZIL
Yearly deficit ceiling raised
The government is raising its deficit ceiling for this year and next year because of a big drop in tax revenue, sluggish growth and other woes in Latin America’s biggest economy. The government’s limit for the fiscal deficit this year was the equivalent of US$43.7 billion and US$40.6 billion next year. However, now it is to go up to US$50 billion for both years, Minister of Finance Henrique Meirelles said on Tuesday. Meirelles said the numbers will change significantly, again for the worse, in 2019 and 2020 as well. The nation’s economy shrank 3.6 percent last year. The government is hoping for modest expansion of at least 0.5 percent this year and 2 percent next year.
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