Anticipating a slowing of the US economy, Pacific Investment Management Co (PIMCO) yesterday downgraded its expectations for US interest rates hikes this year from one-to-two times to just once, and said it expected Asian central banks to be cautious about raising their rates.
The US Federal Reserve is likely to become very data dependent, PIMCO chief investment officer Dan Ivascyn told a news conference in Taipei.
“It would not surprise us at all if the Fed does not raise rates, and that would be the case if we continue to see a general weakening not only in US growth, but also in global growth,” Ivascyn said.
Like the US central bank, central banks in Asia and Europe are likely to be much more cautious in tightening monetary policies as their economies are also facing challenges and potential slowdowns, he said.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has said several times that the US central bank would be “patient” in deciding whether to continue raising rates.
It is forecasting a slight growth rate of 2.75 to 3.25 percent for the global economy this year, with inflation likely to stand below 2.25 percent, PIMCO said.
The odds that the US economy would enter a recession are low, less than 20 percent, it said.
However, there is likely to be more volatility in Asia, especially China, but China’s GDP growth is forecast to remain above 6 percent, relatively higher than other economies, Ivascyn said.
Hong Kong and Taiwan might grow at decelerating paces from last year, to below 3 percent, but would remain healthy, he added.
PIMCO said it does not foresee an imminent resolution to the US-China trade dispute in the next few months, but the two nations are likely to reach partial agreements to curb the tensions, which would made markets more comfortable, he said.
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
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],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy