JAPAN
Jobless rate hits 26-year low
The jobless rate last month slumped to a 26-year low, while the jobs-to-applicants ratio hit a new record high as the nation struggles with labor shortages, official figures showed yesterday. The unemployment rate fell to 2.2 percent from 2.5 percent in the previous three months, according to a survey by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the lowest level since August to October of 1992. The jobs-to-applicants ratio stood at its highest rate in 44 years, with 160 job offers going for every 100 job hunters, the Ministry Health, Labor and Welfare said in separate data.
UNITED STATES
<>bGDP growth revised down
Economic growth in the first quarter was revised down to a lackluster 2 percent — a sharp deceleration and the poorest showing in a year. The Department of Commerce on Thursday said in its final estimate for the first quarter that GDP was even weaker than previously thought. Lower numbers from consumer spending and business inventories helped trim 0.2 percentage points off last month’s estimate that GDP had grown 2.2 percent in the period, but recent economic reports, including consumer spending, have looked strong and point to far better growth in the second quarter.
VIETNAM
Economy grows 6.8 percent
The economy posted steady growth in the second quarter, underpinned by solid foreign investment and exports. GDP rose 6.8 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier, the General Statistics Office said in Hanoi yesterday. The economy expanded 7.1 percent in the six months through this month compared with a year earlier, the office said.
TOBACCO
Australia not inhibiting trade
A WTO dispute body has ruled that Australia did not unfairly inhibit trade by requiring plain packaging for tobacco products, sending a message that tough-on-tobacco rules do not necessarily contravene fair trade rules. The WTO’s dispute settlement body said complainants did not successfully demonstrate that Australia had contravened its obligations to ensure fair trade following its adoption of path-breaking legislation in 2012 requiring plain packaging as a way to reduce health risks.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Novartis to spin off Alcon
Novartis AG is to spin off eye-care company Alcon as the company’s new chief executive officer refocuses the Swiss drugmaker on prescription pharmaceuticals. Novartis is also to buy back up to US$5 billion of shares, using proceeds from the sale of its consumer-health joint venture with GlaxoSmithKline PLC, the Basel-based company said in a statement yesterday. The spinoff of Alcon is subject to final approval by the board and by shareholders at next year’s annual meeting.
APPAREL
Nike earnings up 12.8%
Nike Inc shares on Thursday surged as the company reported higher earnings, announced a new share buyback program and talked up its ambitious digital investment program that emphasizes direct selling to consumers. Nike reported earnings of US$1.1 billion in its fiscal fourth quarter, up 12.8 percent from a year earlier. Revenue also rose 12.8 percent to US$9.8 billion. The company beat analyst expectations in both earnings per share and revenue. China was the firm’s strongest region in terms of revenue, where sales jumped 35 percent.
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],”