JAPAN
Motor vehicle sales down
Motor vehicle sales last month dropped for the first time in five months, in the latest sign of fallout from the global shortage of semiconductors. Sales of cars, trucks and buses slid 2.2 percent from a year earlier, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association reported yesterday. Economist Koya Miyamae at SMBC Nikko Securities Inc said he expects pent-up demand to increase vehicle sales once semiconductors supplies allow automakers, including Nissan Motor Co, Honda Motor Co and Subaru Corp, to crank up factory lines again. “It’s a supply-side problem,” he said, adding that he sees Japanese consumers continuing to buy about 5.2 million vehicles a year once the chip bottleneck eases.
AEROSPACE
Rocket Lab nears IPO deal
Rocket Lab USA is nearing a deal to go public through a merger with special-purpose acquisition company Vector Acquisition that would value the small-satellite launch firm at US$4.1 billion, including debt, the Wall Street Journal reported. The deal could be finalized yesterday, the newspaper reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Vector Acquisition is backed by technology-focused private-equity company Vector Capital and raised US$300 million in an initial public offering (IPO) in September last year. Vector Acquisition and Rocket Lab did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday.
CHINA
Bond sales to be cut
The country is set to reduce local government bond sales and rein in its budget deficit this year, scaling back the COVID-19 pandemic stimulus measures that fueled debt, while helping the economy recover. The government is likely to reduce its quota for special local bonds — mostly used for infrastructure spending — to 3.5 trillion yuan (US$541 billion) from 3.75 trillion yuan last year, according to the median estimate of 10 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The fiscal deficit target is forecast to be cut to 3 percent of GDP from 3.6 percent last year. Beijing is set to unveil its major economic goals on Friday.
TURKEY
GDP bests all but China
The country’s economy outperformed all but one major competitor in the final quarter of last year, as rate cuts and a spending-and-credit binge beat back COVID-19 pandemic restrictions even as the lira collapsed. GDP rose 5.9 percent from a year earlier, more than all G20 nations except China. The median of 20 forecasts in a Bloomberg survey was for 6.9 percent growth. The seasonally and working day-adjusted figures showed an expansion of 1.7 percent in the last quarter from the previous three months. The economy grew 1.8 percent last year. The growth push weakened the currency by 20 percent last year and kept headline inflation in double digits for the entire year.
DUBAI
Population drops on virus
The emirate’s population last year dropped by 8.4 percent, the steepest decline in the Persian Gulf region, as expatriate workers were forced to leave amid the economic upheaval wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic, S&P Global Ratings said. The drop — compares with a 4 percent decline for the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, according to S&P estimates. Job losses accelerated in the region last year as the pandemic spread. Expatriates make up the majority of the population in the United Arab Emirates, of which Dubai is a part.
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
China yesterday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from Taiwan, the US, the EU and Japan. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s findings conclude a probe launched in May last year, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc, and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the Chinese ministry has said. In January, it said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary
CUSTOMERS’ BURDEN: TSMC already has operations in the US and is a foundry, so any tariff increase would mostly affect US customers, not the company, the minister said Taiwanese manufacturers are “not afraid” of US tariffs, but are concerned about being affected more heavily than regional economic competitors Japan and South Korea, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said. “Taiwan has many advantages that other countries do not have, the most notable of which is its semiconductor ecosystem,” Kuo said. The US “must rely on Taiwan” to boost its microchip manufacturing capacities, Kuo said in an interview ahead of his one-year anniversary in office tomorrow. Taiwan has submitted a position paper under Section 232 of the US Trade Expansion Act to explain the “complementary relationship” between Taiwan and the US
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