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.
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
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI
Qualcomm Inc, the world’s biggest seller of smartphone processors, gave an upbeat forecast for sales and profit in the current period, suggesting demand for handsets is increasing after a two-year slump. Revenue in the three months ended in June will be US$8.8 billion to US$9.6 billion, the company said in a statement Wednesday. Excluding certain items, earnings will be US$2.15 to US$2.35 a share. Analysts had projected sales of US$9.08 billion and earnings of US$2.16 a share. The outlook signals that the smartphone market has begun to bounce back, tracking with Qualcomm’s forecast that demand would gradually recover this year. The San