UNITED STATES
IMF raises GDP tip
The IMF on Thursday raised its GDP growth projection for this year to 7.0 percent from a 4.6 percent forecast issued in April, due to unprecedented fiscal and monetary support. The IMF, in its annual “Article IV” assessment of the nation’s economic policies, said that the revised forecast represents the fastest pace of growth in a generation. It raised its GDP growth forecast for next year to 4.9 percent, up from its previous 3.5 percent April forecast. The new forecasts assume that the Congress will pass infrastructure, social spending and tax plans known as the American Jobs Plan and the American Families Plan this year at a similar size and composition to their original proposals, the IMF said. “Indicators suggest significant labor market slack remains, which should serve as a safety valve to dampen underlying wage and price pressures,” the IMF said in its review statement.
AUTOMAKERS
US sales jump
Automakers on Thursday reported huge jumps in second-quarter US sales, but face a challenging summer as a global semiconductor shortage continues to plague the industry. General Motors Co (GM) and Toyota Motor Corp had impressive increases compared with the same quarter last year, when large parts of the US economy remained under tight COVID-19 restrictions. GM said that US sales soared 40 percent this spring to 688,236 units. “The US economy is accelerating, consumer spending is robust and jobs are plentiful,” GM lead economist Elaine Buckberg said. “Consumer demand for vehicles is also strong, but constrained by very tight inventories. We expect continued high demand in the second half of this year and into 2022.” Toyota scored a 73 percent increase in US auto sales to 688,813 compared with the second quarter. Michelle Krebs of Cox Automotive said that GM and Toyota have low inventories of popular models, prompting some consumers to defer purchases because they could not find what they wanted, or were put off by elevated prices.
REAL ESTATE
China’s outlook downgraded
Morgan Stanley on Thursday downgraded its outlook on China’s property sector amid risks that policymakers might take steps to cool down the overheated market and further prompt developers to cut their debt levels. The US brokerage lowered its recommendation on the real-estate sector China to “in-line” from “attractive” in a note published. Strong sales continue and land sales “haven’t cooled off yet, therefore policy risk is still to the downside,” analysts led by Elly Chen (陳鐸) wrote.
SOUTH KOREA
Pace of inflation eases
The pace of inflation slowed for the first time in six months, according to data that supports the Bank of Korea’s view of recent price pressures as temporary. Consumer prices rose 2.4 percent from a year earlier, slowing from a 2.6 percent pace in May, data from Statistics Korea showed yesterday. Economists had expected the pace would decelerate only to 2.5 percent. The slowdown adds support to the central bank’s argument that recent price data have been boosted by comparison with last year’s dismal figures and some inflationary pressures are likely to fade going forward. The Bank of Korea said it expects inflation to fluctuate around its 2 percent target for the rest of the year before sliding lower next year.
TECH RACE: The Chinese firm showed off its new Mate XT hours after the latest iPhone launch, but its price tag and limited supply could be drawbacks China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為) yesterday unveiled the world’s first tri-foldable phone, as it seeks to expand its lead in the world’s biggest smartphone market and steal the spotlight from Apple Inc hours after it debuted a new iPhone. The Chinese tech giant showed off its new Mate XT, which users can fold three ways like an accordion screen door, during a launch ceremony in Shenzhen. The Mate XT comes in red and black and has a 10.2-inch display screen. At 3.6mm thick, it is the world’s slimmest foldable smartphone, Huawei said. The company’s Web site showed that it has garnered more than
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進) and Episil Technologies Inc (漢磊) yesterday announced plans to jointly build an 8-inch fab to produce silicon carbide (SiC) chips through an equity acquisition deal. SiC chips offer higher efficiency and lower energy loss than pure silicon chips, and they are able to operate at higher temperatures. They have become crucial to the development of electric vehicles, artificial intelligence data centers, green energy storage and industrial devices. Vanguard, a contract chipmaker focused on making power management chips and driver ICs for displays, is to acquire a 13 percent stake in Episil for NT$2.48 billion (US$77.1 million).
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