European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde on Monday said that economic growth “remains weak” in the 19 countries that use the euro, but gave no indication she is contemplating adding to the stimulus enacted by her predecessor, Mario Draghi.
Lagarde said in her first regular appearance before the European Parliament that manufacturing companies were hardest hit by a “sluggish and uncertain” global economy that lowers demand for goods from eurozone companies.
However, services companies were helping support growth and employment, she added.
She took over from Draghi on Nov. 1, after the bank decided in September to cut its main interest rate and restart a bond-buying stimulus program.
The eurozone economy grew only 0.2 percent in the third quarter.
Lagarde said that the ECB has “the tools to respond in case the situation does not improve,” but largely confined her remarks on the monetary stance to describing existing measures.
The bank committed to purchasing 20 billion euros (US$22 billion) in government and corporate bonds each month, a measure that pumps newly printed money into the economy in hopes of easing longer-term credit to companies.
The ECB also cut the rate on deposits from commercial banks to minus-0.5 percent from minus-0.4 percent, aiming to push them to lend excess cash.
Draghi’s package of stimulus measures might have given Lagarde a period of respite in her first months in office, analysts say.
The Sept. 12 decision was marked by disagreements over the bond purchases among an unusually vocal minority of officials on the 25-member governing council — a difference in policy views that Lagarde will have to manage as president.
She is to preside over her first policy meeting on Dec. 12.
SEMICONDUCTORS: The German laser and plasma generator company will expand its local services as its specialized offerings support Taiwan’s semiconductor industries Trumpf SE + Co KG, a global leader in supplying laser technology and plasma generators used in chip production, is expanding its investments in Taiwan in an effort to deeply integrate into the global semiconductor supply chain in the pursuit of growth. The company, headquartered in Ditzingen, Germany, has invested significantly in a newly inaugurated regional technical center for plasma generators in Taoyuan, its latest expansion in Taiwan after being engaged in various industries for more than 25 years. The center, the first of its kind Trumpf built outside Germany, aims to serve customers from Taiwan, Japan, Southeast Asia and South Korea,
Gasoline and diesel prices at domestic fuel stations are to fall NT$0.2 per liter this week, down for a second consecutive week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to drop to NT$26.4, NT$27.9 and NT$29.9 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to fall to NT$24.8 per liter at CPC stations and NT$24.6 at Formosa pumps, they said. The price adjustments came even as international crude oil prices rose last week, as traders
SIZE MATTERS: TSMC started phasing out 8-inch wafer production last year, while Samsung is more aggressively retiring 8-inch capacity, TrendForce said Chipmakers are expected to raise prices of 8-inch wafers by up to 20 percent this year on concern over supply constraints as major contract chipmakers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and Samsung Electronics Co gradually retire less advanced wafer capacity, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. It is the first significant across-the-board price hike since a global semiconductor correction in 2023, the Taipei-based market researcher said in a report. Global 8-inch wafer capacity slid 0.3 percent year-on-year last year, although 8-inch wafer prices still hovered at relatively stable levels throughout the year, TrendForce said. The downward trend is expected to continue this year,
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which supplies advanced chips to Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc, yesterday reported NT$1.046 trillion (US$33.1 billion) in revenue for last quarter, driven by constantly strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips, falling in the upper end of its forecast. Based on TSMC’s financial guidance, revenue would expand about 22 percent sequentially to the range from US$32.2 billion to US$33.4 billion during the final quarter of 2024, it told investors in October last year. Last year in total, revenue jumped 31.61 percent to NT$3.81 trillion, compared with NT$2.89 trillion generated in the year before, according to
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