GERMANY
Output stalls, but rise intact
Industrial production stagnated in May, but the overall upward trend remains intact, the economy ministry said yesterday. Manufacturing output increased by 0.4 percent month-on-month, but energy output contracted by 3.1 percent and construction output fell by 0.5 percent. Taking April and May combined to iron out short-term fluctuations, industrial output was 0.5 percent higher than the average for the first three months, the ministry said.
AUSTRALIA
Central bank maintains rates
The central bank yesterday kept interest rates on hold at 2 percent for the second-straight month, saying accommodative monetary policy was needed with economic growth subdued. The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) last cut the cash rate by 25 basis points each in February and May. RBA Governor Glenn Stevens continued his call for a weaker exchange rate, despite the Australian dollar’s recent falls against its US counterpart, as investors pile into safe-haven currencies such as the greenback owing market ructions in Greece.
UNITED STATES
Service firms expand: ISM
The country’s service firms grew at a slightly faster pace last month, as business activity and new orders increased. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) on Monday said that its services index edged up to 56 last month from 55.7 in May. Any reading over 50 indicates that services firms are expanding. The ISM is a trade group of purchasing managers. The increase in the broader index points to increasing demand for services from consumers and companies.
CANADA
Business sentiment ‘weak’
Business sentiment remained “weak” in the second quarter as the energy industry struggles with an oil shock, a central bank survey found. The balance of opinion for sales over the next year rose to 8 percentage points, the Ottawa-based Bank of Canada reported on Monday, with 40 percent of those asked predicting faster sales growth and 32 percent calling for slower growth. The balance rose from 4 percentage points in the first quarter, which was the lowest since 2012.
TRADING COMPANIES
Noble to review valuations
Noble Group Ltd appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP to review how it values some of its assets after criticism of the Asian trading company’s accounting practices. PricewaterhouseCoopers will “conduct an assurance review of Noble’s mark-to-market models, valuations, and governance framework,” Noble said in a statement. Noble founder and chairman Richard Elman said in a public letter to shareholders on June 11 that the company is battling against rumors and inaccurate statements and pledged to “right the damage” to its share price.
RETAIL
Marks & Spencer sales down
British retailer Marks & Spencer yesterday said that underlying sales in its non-food business slipped in its first quarter, a setback for the group after a return to growth in the previous three months. The 131-year-old firm said sales of general merchandise, spanning clothing, footwear and homewares, at stores open over a year fell 0.4 percent in the 13 weeks to June 27. That compares to analysts forecasts in a range of flat to down 2.5 percent, with a consensus of down 1 percent, and growth of 0.7 percent in the fourth quarter of M&S’ 2014-2015 year, the division’s first growth in nearly four years.
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
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