UNITED STATES
Data point to Harvey shock
Retail sales unexpectedly fell last month as Hurricane Harvey disrupted activity, suggesting the storm could dent economic growth in the third quarter. The US Department of Commerce said retail sales dropped 0.2 percent last month from the previous month, the biggest decline in six months, as motor vehicle sales tumbled 1.6 percent. Sales of building materials, electronics and appliances as well as clothing also fell. Overall retail sales increased 3.2 percent on a year-on-year basis. In a separate report on Friday, the US Federal Reserve said industrial production declined 0.9 percent last month in the biggest drop since May 2009, following six straight monthly gains.
RUSSIA
Central bank cuts rate again
The Central Bank of the Russian Federation on Friday cut its key interest rate to 8.5 percent, the fourth reduction this year, as inflation hit a record low. The bank said it took the decision to slice 50 points off the rate after “inflation expectations resumed their decline.” In a statement, the bank said it would “continue to conduct a moderately tight monetary policy” in order to maintain inflation close to 4 percent. However, it also said that “during the next two quarters, the Bank of Russia deems it possible to cut the key rate further.” GDP is expected to grow by 1.7 percent to 2.2 percent after two years of recession, it said.
CHINA
Mortgages drive credit growth
Chinese bank loans rebounded last month to hit 1.09 trillion yuan (US$166 billion), beating analysts’ expectations as demand was buoyed by home buyers. The figure was up from 825.5 billion yuan in July, the People’s Bank of China said. It exceeded forecasts from analysts surveyed by Bloomberg, although it remains far below the 1.54 trillion yuan loaned by banks in in June. However, the broad M2 measure of money supply rose 8.9 percent from a year earlier, down from 9.2 percent recorded a month ago.
GREECE
Quick review of loans urged
Greece wants the next review of its European loan program to wrap up by the end of the year to pave the way for additional money to be disbursed next year, a senior member of Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ government said. Greek Minister of Digital Policy, Telecommunications and Media Nikos Pappas, an economist who is considered a close adviser to Tsipras, said the Greek economy is rebounding, with output set to expand 2 percent this year and unemployment falling. “We hope to conclude before the end of the year. There is absolutely no reason to have any delays,” Pappas said on Friday. “If there are delays, it is not going to be because of Greece.”
ACCOUNTANCY
KPMG S Africa head quits
KPMG LLP on Friday said the head of its South African office and seven other senior executives quit, after an internal investigation found that work done for the politically connected Gupta family fell “considerably short” of the auditing firm’s standards. It is to give the equivalent of US$3 million, the fees it made from its work with the family since 2002, to education and anti-corruption charities. KPMG South Africa chief executive officer Trevor Hoole, chairman Ahmed Jaffer and chief operating officer Steven Louw were among those to have resigned, KPMG said.
In Italy’s storied gold-making hubs, jewelers are reworking their designs to trim gold content as they race to blunt the effect of record prices and appeal to shoppers watching their budgets. Gold prices hit a record high on Thursday, surging near US$5,600 an ounce, more than double a year ago as geopolitical concerns and jitters over trade pushed investors toward the safe-haven asset. The rally is putting undue pressure on small artisans as they face mounting demands from customers, including international brands, to produce cheaper items, from signature pieces to wedding rings, according to interviews with four independent jewelers in Italy’s main
Macronix International Co (旺宏), the world’s biggest NOR flash memory supplier, yesterday said it would spend NT$22 billion (US$699.1 million) on capacity expansion this year to increase its production of mid-to-low-density memory chips as the world’s major memorychip suppliers are phasing out the market. The company said its planned capital expenditures are about 11 times higher than the NT$1.8 billion it spent on new facilities and equipment last year. A majority of this year’s outlay would be allocated to step up capacity of multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memory chips, which are used in embedded multimedia cards (eMMC), a managed
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has talked up the benefits of a weaker yen in a campaign speech, adopting a tone at odds with her finance ministry, which has refused to rule out any options to counter excessive foreign exchange volatility. Takaichi later softened her stance, saying she did not have a preference for the yen’s direction. “People say the weak yen is bad right now, but for export industries, it’s a major opportunity,” Takaichi said on Saturday at a rally for Liberal Democratic Party candidate Daishiro Yamagiwa in Kanagawa Prefecture ahead of a snap election on Sunday. “Whether it’s selling food or
In the wake of strong global demand for AI applications, Taiwan’s export-oriented economy accelerated with the composite index of economic indicators flashing the first “red” light in December for one year, indicating the economy is in booming mode, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Moreover, the index of leading indicators, which gauges the potential state of the economy over the next six months, also moved higher in December amid growing optimism over the outlook, the NDC said. In December, the index of economic indicators rose one point from a month earlier to 38, at the lower end of the “red” light.
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