■FUTURES
CFTC set to impose limits
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) was yesterday due to consider setting trade limits on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) to keep fund managers and other “speculative” investors from wielding too much influence in the market. The limits proposed by the CFTC would cap how many contracts traders could buy. Violators likely would be told to get rid of especially large positions. Speculators have flooded the NYMEX in recent years. They got most of the blame when crude soared above US$147 a barrel in 2008.
■GOLD
GFMS predicts record prices
Gold prices will likely hit new historic peaks this year, thanks to a wave of investment money that will pour into the market, consultancy GFMS predicted on Wednesday. “A growing weight of investment money is poised to enter the gold market in the first half of 2010 and is likely to push gold prices to fresh records,” the London-based group said in an update to its annual survey. Gold, whose two main drivers are jewelry and investment buyers, hit a record pinnacle of US$1,226.56 an ounce on Dec. 3.
■UNITED STATES
Economy sees improvement
The US economy is seeing a broader improvement in activity even if conditions are still sluggish, the Federal Reserve said in its Beige Book report on Wednesday. The report, to be used by policymakers at the Federal Open Market Committee meeting from Jan. 26 to Jan. 27, said data from the 12 Federal Reserve districts showed modest improvement in key areas such as consumer spending, manufacturing and housing. Ten districts reported some increased activity or improvement in conditions, while the remaining two — Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Richmond, Virgina — reported “mixed conditions.”
■SOUTH KOREA
Trade surplus hits high
South Korea’s trade surplus hit a record high of US$40.4 billion last year as exports recovered faster than expected from the global recession while imports shrank, the customs service said yesterday. Exports totalled US$363.5 billion last year, down 13.9 percent from a year earlier, while imports dropped 25.8 percent to US$323.1 billion, the service said. Exports led by ships and flat panels for TVs recovered fast in the latter part of last year, the customs service said.
■AUSTRALIA
Unemployment falls
Australia yesterday said unemployment dropped to an eight-month low of 5.5 percent, stunning analysts and boosting confidence that the economy’s recovery is on track. Last month’s seasonally adjusted figure was down 0.1 points from the revised 5.6 percent in November, smashing economists’ forecasts of a rise to 5.8 percent. The better-than-expected result was driven by a 27,900 rise in part-time jobs, while another 7,300 people found full-time work, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said.
■japan
Core machinery orders fall
Japan’s core machinery orders, a leading indicator of corporate capital spending, fell 11.3 percent in November from the previous month, official data showed yesterday. The figure was worse than the monthly drop of 4.5 percent in October and was below market expectations of a small rise. The core orders are seen as a key barometer of business investment.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)