JAPAN
Output rises for second month
Factory output rose for the second straight month last month, official data released yesterday showed, as the world’s third-biggest economy continued to pick up steam. Industrial production registered a 0.6 percent increase compared with the previous month, slightly better than market expectations of a 0.5 percent rise. Shipments of products manufactured in Japan rose 2.4 percent month-on-month, while inventories dropped 1 percent, the Ministry of Industry said.
UNITED STATES
Consumer confidence falls
Consumer confidence retreated from a 17-year high last month, as optimism about the short-term outlook fell sharply, according to a closely watched monthly survey released on Wednesday. While sentiment about current conditions was more positive than last month, consumers were more pessimistic about the situation for business and jobs six months out, the US Conference Board reported. The consumer confidence index fell to 122.1 from 128.6 last month.
ARGENTINA
Senate approves budget plan
The Senate on Wednesday gave its final approval to the government’s tax reform and budget plan for next year, part of President Mauricio Macri’s push to cut business costs and attract investment to Latin America’s No. 3 economy. Macri was elected in late 2015 with a mandate to free the markets by ditching the heavy controls put on the economy by the previous government. Next year’s budget bill foresees economic growth of 3.5 percent and average inflation of 15.7 percent.
INDONESIA
GDP to grow 5.4% next year
The country’s economy is in a stronger position as it enters a new year, bolstering President Joko Widodo as the nation gears up for elections. Having notched up growth above 5 percent in every quarter so far this year, the economy is forecast by the government to expand 5.4 percent next year, which would be the fastest pace in five years. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists is for growth of 5.3 percent.
FINANCE
Nippon Life invests in TCW
TCW Group gained a long-term partner as a Nippon Life Insurance Co investment enabled Carlyle Group LP to sell almost half of its stake in the US$200 billion asset manager. After the deal closed on Wednesday, TCW’s managers controlled a plurality — 44 percent — of the firm, as Nippon acquired 25 percent for about US$490 million. Carlyle, which bought 60 percent of the company in February 2013, reduced its stake to 31 percent, moving the remaining holding to a long-term fund. The transaction values TCW at about 150 percent more than Carlyle’s initial investment.
TAXES
Shell, Barclays warn of impact
Two major European companies, Royal Dutch Shell PLC and Barclays PLC, said that the US tax reform law would force them to take big charges in the final quarter of the year. Shell on Wednesday said it expects to book between US$2 billion and US$2.5 billion in charges in the fourth quarter as it adjusts its measurements of deferred taxes. Barclays said it expected a charge of £1 billion (US$1.34 billion.). The change in US tax law cuts the corporate income tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent, but also reduces companies’ ability to offset tax bills with past losses.
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
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
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],”