BANKING
Draghi hints at stimulus
European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi said at the institution’s annual forum in Sintra, Portugal, yesterday that if the outlook does not improve and inflation does not strengthen, “additional stimulus will be required.” He said the ECB can amend its forward guidance, that rate cuts remain “part of our tools” and asset purchases are also an option. Draghi added that risks from geopolitical factors, protectionism and vulnerabilities in emerging markets have not dissipated and are weighing in particular on manufacturing. The Governing Council will in the coming weeks review how their tools can be used to tackle risks to price stability, he said.
CHINA
New home prices up 0.71%
New home price growth in China quickened last month after government measures to spur demand in smaller cities took effect. The average value of new homes in 70 major cities in Asia’s biggest economy — excluding government-subsidized housing — rose 0.71 percent, according to data released by the statistics bureau yesterday. That was faster than an increase of 0.62 percent in April and a lift of 0.61 percent in March. Last month, 12 cities saw price gains of more than 1 percent, versus six in April.
FINANCIALS
China cuts Treasury holdings
China cut its US Treasury holdings to the lowest in almost two years as the months-long trade conflict dragged on between the world’s two largest economies. The nation’s holdings of notes, bills and bonds declined by US$7.5 billion in April to US$1.11 trillion, according to US Department of Treasury data released on Monday in Washington. The latest numbers were collected before tensions between Washington and Beijing escalated to a new level last month.
VEHICLES
Germany drives EU growth
European car registrations ended a nine-month losing streak to rise marginally last month, helped by a jump in deliveries in Germany. Deliveries rose 0.04 percent to 1.44 million cars compared with a year ago, the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association said yesterday. Sales in Germany, the biggest European auto market, surged 9.1 percent to counteract an ongoing pullback in the UK, where uncertainty over Brexit continues to put off consumers from purchasing new vehicles. Spain also declined.
FOOD
Beyond Meat continues rally
Beyond Meat Inc shares yesterday closed at their highest price yet as short sellers felt the burn to the tune of half a billion US dollars. The shares rose 12 percent to US$169.96, extending a rally that has added almost 600 percent to the stock price since its initial public offering (IPO) last month. That has cost short sellers US$560 million in mark-to-market losses since the IPO, including US$97.5 million in Monday’s session alone, said Ihor Dusaniwsky, managing director of predictive analytics at financial analytics firm S3 Partners.
UNITED KINGDOM
GDP forecast to be flat: poll
The UK economy is likely to flatline in the second quarter and the Bank of England would not raise interest rates until well into next year, a Bloomberg survey showed yesterday. Analysts do not expect the economy to grow at all in the second quarter. They also pushed back expectations for a rate hike to the third quarter of next year from the first quarter.
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],”
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
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