Industries in the US boosted production last month for a fifth consecutive month and housing starts rebounded, showing the world’s largest economy is picking up speed heading into next year, economists said before reports this week.
A 0.5 percent gain in output last month, based on the median estimate of 62 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News ahead of a Federal Reserve report tomorrow, would follow a 0.1 percent October advance. Builders may have broken ground on 579,000 houses at an annual pace, up 9.5 percent.
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke last week said the economy faces “formidable headwinds,” signaling policy makers may reiterate a pledge to keep interest rates low following their last meeting of the year this week. Gains in consumer spending and lean inventories are prompting companies such as Ford Motor Co to rev up assembly lines, giving the expansion a lift.
“Businesses are scrambling to slow the considerable pace of inventory decline against a backdrop of expanding sales, including rising exports and some pickup in domestic demand,” said Aaron Smith, a senior economist at Moody’s Economy.com in West Chester, Pennsylvania. “Part of manufacturing with ties to housing and the consumer will take the handoff from autos and drive manufacturing gains this quarter.”
The Fed’s industrial production figures may show the proportion of plant capacity in use probably rose to 71.1 percent from 70.7 percent, according to the survey median.
Auto sales are climbing again after plunging in September, the month after the government’s “cash-for-clunkers” plan expired. The seasonally adjusted sales rate was 10.9 million vehicles, up from 10.45 million in October, industry figures released this month showed.
Ford, the only major US automaker to avoid bankruptcy, plans to boost first-quarter North American production by 58 percent from a year earlier to 550,000 vehicles.
Manufacturers are benefiting from rising foreign demand as the global economy recovers from the worst slump since World War II. A 12 percent drop in the value of the dollar from a four-year high on March 3 against its major trading partners is making US goods more competitive. Exports have risen for six consecutive months since reaching a three-year low in April.
A report from the Commerce Department on Wednesday may show housing starts rebounded last month after dropping 11 percent in October. Concern over the looming expiration of a government tax credit and the wettest October in more than a century of record-keeping held back builders that month, economists said.
A federal tax credit for first-time homebuyers, due to expire on Nov. 30, was extended last month until April 30 and expanded to include current owners. The incentive had helped boost sales and construction, marking stabilization in the housing market from the worst slump since the 1930s.
The rebound in global growth and the drop in the dollar have also pushed fuel costs up. Consumer prices probably rose 0.4 percent last month on higher gasoline prices, the survey median before a Labor Department report on Wednesday said. Core consumer prices, which exclude food and energy, rose 0.1 percent after a 0.2 percent October gain, the survey showed.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS