Beset by discouraging economic data such as exports and manufacturing output, people have a dismal view of the nation’s economic prospects this month, compared with the generally neutral outlook of last month, according to a survey released yesterday by Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控).
About 30.8 percent of respondents said they expect the economy to see a moderate decline over the next six months and 18.9 percent said the economy would worsen seriously over the period, Cathay Financial said.
In this month’s survey, the economic optimism index dropped to minus-46.6, compared with minus-10.5 last month, while the index measuring economic optimism over the next six months slid from minus-10.5 to minus-33.3, representing the most severe decline since the capital gains tax on securities transactions was introduced in 2012.
The survey followed the government announcement last week that it lowered its economic growth forecast for this year to 1.56 percent from the previous estimate of 3.28 percent, after the second-quarter GDP rose 0.64 percent from a year earlier on sluggish exports, far short of the government’s forecast of 3.05 percent.
Downbeat economic prospects have driven investment outlooks on the local stock market to a new low, as the benchmark TAIEX has corrected about 17 percent over the past three months.
The index closed 0.10 percent higher at 8,029.81 points yesterday.
The survey showed that 54.7 percent of respondents expect the TAIEX to decline over the next six months, compared with 39.7 percent last month, while the proportion of investors looking to reduce their portfolios rose from 24.4 percent to 34.2 percent, it showed.
The survey also indicated that investors are concerned over increasing political risk, with 35.2 percent concerned about next year’s presidential and legislative elections, 17.9 percent concerned about the eurozone crisis and 17.2 percent mentioning the downturn in developing economies, with 16.5 percent uneasy about the tumble of Chinese stocks.
Only 13.2 of respondents said they were concerned about the anticipated interest rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve, according to the survey.
Dwindling economic confidence also affected the optimism index in wage growth over the next six months, which dipped from 3.9 to minus-4.8 last month.
Expectations for employment also plummeted from 19.9 to minus-34.1, and willingness to purchase big-ticket items dropped from 7.2 to minus-5.2, the lowest since June last year, the survey showed.
Cathay Financial’s monthly survey, which collected 15,994 valid responses from its banking and insurance customers, was conducted from Aug. 1 to Aug. 7.
KEEPING UP: The acquisition of a cleanroom in Taiwan would enable Micron to increase production in a market where demand continues to outpace supply, a Micron official said Micron Technology Inc has signed a letter of intent to buy a fabrication site in Taiwan from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion to expand its production of memory chips. Micron would take control of the P5 site in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼) and plans to ramp up DRAM production in phases after the transaction closes in the second quarter, the company said in a statement on Saturday. The acquisition includes an existing 12 inch fab cleanroom of 27,871m2 and would further position Micron to address growing global demand for memory solutions, the company said. Micron expects the transaction to
Vincent Wei led fellow Singaporean farmers around an empty Malaysian plot, laying out plans for a greenhouse and rows of leafy vegetables. What he pitched was not just space for crops, but a lifeline for growers struggling to make ends meet in a city-state with high prices and little vacant land. The future agriculture hub is part of a joint special economic zone launched last year by the two neighbors, expected to cost US$123 million and produce 10,000 tonnes of fresh produce annually. It is attracting Singaporean farmers with promises of cheaper land, labor and energy just over the border.
US actor Matthew McConaughey has filed recordings of his image and voice with US patent authorities to protect them from unauthorized usage by artificial intelligence (AI) platforms, a representative said earlier this week. Several video clips and audio recordings were registered by the commercial arm of the Just Keep Livin’ Foundation, a non-profit created by the Oscar-winning actor and his wife, Camila, according to the US Patent and Trademark Office database. Many artists are increasingly concerned about the uncontrolled use of their image via generative AI since the rollout of ChatGPT and other AI-powered tools. Several US states have adopted
A proposed billionaires’ tax in California has ignited a political uproar in Silicon Valley, with tech titans threatening to leave the state while California Governor Gavin Newsom of the Democratic Party maneuvers to defeat a levy that he fears would lead to an exodus of wealth. A technology mecca, California has more billionaires than any other US state — a few hundred, by some estimates. About half its personal income tax revenue, a financial backbone in the nearly US$350 billion budget, comes from the top 1 percent of earners. A large healthcare union is attempting to place a proposal before
RSS