CHINA
Factories boost production
Factory activity last month expanded at its fastest pace for eight months, official data showed yesterday, as demand at home and overseas improved, despite brewing trade tensions with the US. The purchasing managers index came in at 51.9, up from 51.4 the previous month, the National Bureau of Statistics said, in line with a Bloomberg News survey. The reading was well above the 50-point mark that separates expansion from contraction. The bureau said that high-tech manufacturing and improved export orders contributed to the growth.
JAPAN
Industrial output slows
Factory output in April rose less than forecast, adding to concerns about the strength of the economy following a contraction in growth during the first quarter. A sharp drop in production of electronic components and devices was cited as a factor. Government data showed that industrial production rose 0.3 percent from March, when it gained 1.4 percent. April output grew 2.5 percent year-on-year, compared with a 2.4 percent rise in March.
UNITED STATES
Manufacturing accelerates
The Federal Reserve’s latest survey of business conditions found manufacturing activity accelerating in many parts of the nation in late April and early last month, even as some businesses expressed concern about uncertainty caused by rising trade tensions. The Fed said in the Beige Book survey released on Wednesday that the economy is expanding at a moderate pace. More than half of the central bank’s 12 regions reported a pickup in industrial activity and a third of the districts described manufacturing conditions as “strong.”
SWITZERLAND
Firms upbeat on growth
The economy started the year with faster-than-expected growth, and investment figures suggest that companies are upbeat about their prospects. The expansion of 0.6 percent in GDP exceeded economists’ 0.5 percent median estimate. Consumer-spending growth rose at its fastest pace since 2016, while investment in equipment hit a six-year high. Risks related to Italian politics and US foreign policy have fueled a renewed appreciation of the Swiss franc, which might undermine one support for the economy, economists said.
UNITED KINGDOM
Property market still slowing
House prices last month rose less than expected, figures from mortgage lender Nationwide showed yesterday, adding to evidence of a slowing property market since the 2016 Brexit vote. House prices were up by 2.4 percent in the year to last month, down from a rise of 2.6 percent in April and below all forecasts in a Reuters poll of economists. Prices fell by 0.2 percent from April, the third time this year that they have declined on a monthly basis, Nationwide figures showed.
RUSSIA
Investors dump ruble bonds
Foreign investors offloaded about 200 billion rubles (US$3.23 billion) worth of local-currency bonds since fresh US sanctions imposed in April created uncertainty about how vulnerable the market is to more penalties. Non-residents now own about 31 percent of the government’s outstanding ruble securities, known as OFZs, Bank of Russia First Deputy Governor Ksenia Yudaeva told a news briefing in Moscow on Wednesday. That is down from a record of more than 34 percent earlier this year.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure