“It could be appropriate” for the US central bank to begin tapering its bond-buying program before the end of the year, Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams said on Wednesday.
“Assuming the economy continues to improve as I anticipate, it could be appropriate to start reducing the pace of asset purchases this year,” Williams said in remarks prepared for a virtual event. “I will be carefully assessing the incoming data on the labor market and what it means for the economic outlook, as well as assessing risks such as the effects of the Delta variant” of SARS-CoV-2.
The US Federal Reserve cut its benchmark interest rate to nearly zero and aggressively bought bonds last year at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
It has said that it would continue the purchases at the current pace of US$120 billion per month until the US economy has made “substantial further progress” toward its maximum employment and price stability goals, which many officials have said would likely be achieved this year.
“I think it’s clear that we have made substantial further progress on achieving our inflation goal,” Williams said. “There has also been very good progress toward maximum employment, but I will want to see more improvement before I am ready to declare the test of substantial further progress being met.”
US employers added just 235,000 workers to payrolls last month, the US Department of Labor said in its monthly jobs report on Friday last week.
The weak hiring figure was well below what was expected by forecasters polled by Bloomberg, following two straight months of job creation closer to 1 million in June and July.
“Probably some of that is the Delta variant having some effects, but it’s hard to really know,” Williams said after the speech.
He added that judging “substantial further progress” was ultimately about assessing cumulative job creation since December last year, when that marker was laid out.
“Some months come in stronger. Some, not so strong,” he said. “It’s really about the accumulation of that.”
The domestic unit of the Chinese-owned, Dutch-headquartered chipmaker Nexperia BV will soon be able to produce semiconductors locally within China, according to two company sources. Nexperia is at the center of a global tug-of-war over critical semiconductor technology, with a Dutch court in February ordering a probe into alleged mismanagement at the company. The geopolitical tussle has disrupted supply chains, with some carmakers reportedly forced to cut production due to chip shortages. Local production would allow Nexperia’s domestic arm, Nexperia Semiconductors (China) Ltd (安世半導體中國), to bypass restrictions in place since October on the supply of silicon wafers — etched with tiny components to
Singapore-based ride-hailing and delivery giant Grab Holdings Ltd has applied for regulatory approval to acquire the Taiwan operations of Germany-based Delivery Hero SE's Foodpanda in a deal valued at about US$600 million. Grab submitted the filing to the Fair Trade Commission on Friday last week, with the transaction subject to regulatory review and approval, the company said in a statement yesterday. Its independent governance structure would help foster a healthy and competitive market in Taiwan if the deal is approved, Grab said. Grab, which is listed on the NASDAQ, said in the filing that US-based Uber Technologies Inc holds about 13 percent of
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Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday received government approval to deploy its advanced 3-nanometer (3nm) process at its second fab currently under construction in Japan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a news release. The ministry green-lit the plan for the facility in Kumamoto, which is scheduled to start installing equipment and come online in 2028 with a monthly production capacity of 15,000 12-inch wafers, the ministry said. The Department of Investment Review in June 2024 authorized a US$5.26 billion investment for the facility, slated to manufacture 6- to 12nm chips, significantly less advanced than 3nm process. At a meeting with
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