A US Federal Reserve survey of business conditions across the nation has found modest economic gains at the start of the year, although some parts of the US saw slowdowns stemming from a renewed surge of COVID-19 cases.
The Fed report released on Wednesday said that the bulk of the central bank’s 12 regions in the past few weeks reported modest gains in economic activity.
However, three districts — New York, Philadelphia and Cleveland — said that activity had weakened, while two districts — St Louis and Kansas City — said that activity was generally unchanged since last month, the report said.
The Fed said that reports on consumer spending, which drives 70 percent of economic activity in the US, were mixed. Some districts reported declines in retail sales and demand for hospitality and leisure services, as local governments imposed stricter measures to contain the surge in COVID-19 cases.
“The prospect of COVID-19 vaccines has bolstered business optimism for 2021 growth, [but] this has been tempered by concern over the recent virus resurgence and the implications for near-term business conditions,” the Fed said.
The report, known as the “beige book,” is the basis for discussions at Fed meetings, the next of which is scheduled to start on Jan. 26.
The central bank in March last year pushed interest rates down to a record-tying low of zero to 0.25 percent. The expectation is that rates would remain at ultra-low levels through this year and beyond.
The beige book said that the demand for workers was the strongest in manufacturing, construction and transportation, but employers in those industries were reporting difficulties filling job openings.
“These hiring difficulties were exacerbated by the recent resurgence in COVID-19 cases and the resulting workplace disruptions in some districts,” the report said.
The leisure and hospitality sectors reported further layoffs due to stricter containment measures in response to a US-wide surge in COVID-19 infections.
From India to China to the US, automakers cannot make vehicles — not that no one wants any, but because a more than US$450 billion industry for semiconductors got blindsided. How did both sides end up here? Over the past two weeks, automakers across the world have bemoaned the shortage of chips. Germany’s Audi, owned by Volkswagen AG, would delay making some of its high-end vehicles because of what chief executive officer Markus Duesmann called a “massive” shortfall in an interview with the Financial Times. The firm has furloughed more than 10,000 workers and reined in production. That is a further blow
MOBILE SMART: The Dimensity 1200 is 22 percent better in terms of performance than its predecessor, and 25 percent more power-efficient, the handset chip designer said MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday unveiled its premium 5G processors — the Dimensity 1200 and Dimensity 1100 — as it vies for a larger slice of the world’s rapidly growing 5G smartphone market. Manufactured using Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (台積電) 6-nanometer process technology, the Dimensity 1200 processor performs 22 percent better than the previous generation Dimensity 1000+ processor, and is 25 percent more power-efficient, MediaTek said. Chinese smartphone brands Xiaomi Corp (小米) and Realme Mobile Telecommunications (Shenzhen) Co (銳爾覓移動通信) are to be the first adopters of the latest Dimensity chips, the companies said during a virtual media briefing. Xiaomi plans to equip its first
Answering to a reported request by Germany to help address a chip shortage in its auto industry, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) yesterday said that it was in talks with domestic chip suppliers. Foreign media over the weekend reported that German Minister of Economic Affairs Peter Altmaier had sent a request to Taipei to ask Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to cooperate more closely with German automakers to provide microchips and sensors, to bridge a shortage that has emerged over the past few months. The MOEA said that it had not yet received the request and could therefore not elaborate
FOCUS ON FOUNDRIES: An analyst said that some investors would be disappointed because they were expecting a larger announcement of a partnership with TSMC Intel Corp’s incoming chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger on Thursday pledged to regain the company’s lead in chip manufacturing, countering growing calls from some investors to shed that part of its business. “I am confident that the majority of our 2023 products will be manufactured internally,” Gelsinger said. “At the same time, given the breadth of our portfolio, it’s likely that we will expand our use of external foundries for certain technologies and products.” He plans to provide more details after officially taking over the CEO role on Feb. 15, but Gelsinger was clear that Intel is sticking with its once mighty
RSS