GERMANY
Consumer confidence robust
Confidence among consumers should resist fears of a trade war between Washington and Brussels next month, a survey published yesterday showed. A forward-looking barometer by pollsters GfK stood at 10.7 points for next month, the same level as this month and 0.1 points lower than last month. However, there are signs that Europe’s largest economy has lost momentum since the unexpectedly strong growth seen late last year.
NEW ZEALAND
Low interest rate maintained
The New Zealand Reserve Bank yesterday held interest rates at a record low, but signaled it is prepared to cut them if needed as economic growth slows and inflation remains below target. “The official cash rate will remain at 1.75 percent for now,” bank Governor Adrian Orr said in a statement in Wellington. “However, we are well positioned to manage change in either direction — up or down — as necessary.”
RETAIL
Japanese sales fell in May
Japanese retail sales fell last month by the most in nearly two years, pointing to weaker consumption that could restrain any rebound in the economy following a contraction in the first quarter. Retail sales fell 1.7 percent last month from April, but increased 0.6 percent from a year earlier, government data showed. Sales at department stores and supermarkets fell 2 percent from the previous year. Sales of automobiles fell 2.8 percent from a year earlier, while clothing and apparel sales dropped 4.1 percent on year.
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
BP to buy charging network
BP PLC plans to acquire the UK’s largest electric vehicle charging company, the latest in a string of acquisitions by major oil companies in the growing market for greener transport. The British oil major entered into an agreement to buy Chargemaster, which has 6,500 charging points across the UK. It did not disclose terms of the deal, but BP has previously said it plans to spend about US$500 million a year on clean energy. Customers will see the new chargers in its forecourts over the next 12 months.
RETAIL
H&M profits disappoint
Hennes & Mauritz AB (H&M) reported profit that missed analyst expectations and said that its inventory levels increased further as the Swedish retailer suffered from logistics issues that snarled shipments. Pretax profit slumped 22 percent to 6.01 billion kronor (US$666.7 million) in the three months through last month, H&M said yesterday. “The first half of the year has been somewhat more challenging than we initially thought, but we believe that there is a gradual improvement and that we will see a stronger second half,” chief executive Karl-Johan Persson said.
ENERGY
Togo launches new policy
The Togolese government on Wednesday launched a new energy policy that aims to provide universal access to electricity in the small West African country by 2030. The “electrification strategy,” which relies heavily on renewable energy, is to unroll in three phases over 12 years and cost 1,000 billion CFA francs (US$1.76 billion), of which half will come from private investment. African Development Bank Vice President Amadou Hott said that the bank pledged 20 billion CFA francs to finance private operators.
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
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six