SOUTH KOREA
GDP grew 3.1% last year
The economy last year grew at its fastest pace in three years, the central bank said yesterday, thanks to robust exports of technology products, including semiconductors, and growing consumer spending. The economy expanded 3.1 percent, up from 2.8 percent in 2016 and the fastest since 2014’s 3.3 percent, the Bank of Korea said. Production in the country’s manufacturing sector expanded 4.2 percent last year, the highest since 2011, and investment in corporate infrastructure jumped 14.6 percent, the fastest since 2010. Consumer spending also rose 2.6 percent, the fastest pace since 2011.
MALAYSIA
Policy rate raised to 3.25%
The central bank raised its benchmark interest rate for the first time in more than three years, becoming the first in Southeast Asia to tighten monetary policy after years of low rates. Bank Negara Malaysia increased the overnight policy rate to 3.25 percent from 3 percent, it said in a statement yesterday, as predicted by 16 of the 20 economists in a Bloomberg survey. The central bank signaled in November last year that it might adjust its stance given the strength of the economy. The government is forecasting growth of as much as 5.5 percent this year, buoyed by a global trade recovery and rising domestic spending.
GERMANY
Consumer confidence rising
Consumer confidence is expected to inch up next month, a closely watched survey forecast yesterday, as political gears grinding in Berlin fail to slow the tempo of Europe’s biggest economy. Market research firm GfK said its forward-looking poll of about 2,000 people climbed 0.2 points to 11 for next month, slightly higher than analysts’ expectations. Consumers “clearly see the German economy in a boom” and expect it to benefit them personally, the firm said in a statement.
AUTOMAKERS
Ford says tough times ahead
Ford Motor Co said that its full-year earnings jumped 65 percent to US$7.6 billion last year due to tax and pension changes, but added that this year would be tougher. The adjusted earnings of US$1.78 per share fell just short of analysts’ predictions of earnings of US$1.79 per share, a FactSet poll showed. The company’s automotive revenue rose slightly to US$145.7 billion, although its global sales remained flat at 6.6 million cars and trucks. That was higher than the US$144 billion analysts had forecast. The automaker has said it expects to earn between US$1.45 and US$1.70 per share this year.
FINANCE
GE insurance unit probed
General Electric Co (GE) is being investigated by US federal regulators for a US$15 billion hit it took to cover miscalculations made by an insurance unit. The company revealed last week that it would take a US$6.2 billion charge in its fourth quarter after a subsidiary, North American Life & Health, underestimated how much it would cost to pay for the care of people who lived longer than projected. During a conference call on Wednesday to discuss its fourth-quarter earnings report, GE Transportation chief executive Jamie Miller said that the company had been notified that the US Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating the process that led to the mishap at the insurance unit.
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