JAPAN
Export gains slow
Exports gained at the slowest pace in eight months last month as vehicle shipments continued to slump, adding to signs that global supply constraints are still weighing on the economy after it contracted by more than expected last quarter. The value of Japan’s overseas shipments increased 9.4 percent from a year earlier, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The data showed that the volume of exports fell for the first time in eight months from a year earlier. Imports gained 26.7 percent last month due partly to rising oil prices, the ministry said.
UNITED KINGDOM
Inflation hits 10-year high
Inflation surged to a 10-year high last month, data showed yesterday, bolstering expectations that the Bank of England would raise interest rates next month. Consumer prices rose by 4.2 percent in annual terms last month, accelerating from a 3.1 percent increase in September. “The main upward pressure came from electricity, gas and other fuels,” the Office for National Statistics said. On Monday, Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said that he was “very uneasy” about the inflation outlook and that his vote to keep rates on hold earlier this month, which shocked financial markets, had been a very close call.
UNITED STATES
Retail, online sales rise
People largely shrugged off higher prices last month and stepped up their spending at retail stores and online, providing a boost to the economy. Retail sales rose a seasonally adjusted 1.7 percent from September, the Department of Commerce said on Tuesday. That is the biggest gain since March and up from 0.8 percent in the previous month. A lot of the sales increase also reflected higher prices. The solid spending last month suggests that the holiday shopping season is off to a strong start. Tuesday’s retail sales figures are not adjusted for inflation, which rose 0.9 percent last month, the government said on Wednesday last week.
ECONOMY
Biden to announce Fed head
US President Joe Biden on Tuesday said that he would make an announcement on who is to head the US Federal Reserve likely by the start of next week. “You’re gonna hear that in about four days,” Biden told reporters during a trip to New Hampshire. The White House has been tight lipped about Biden’s intentions for the Fed’s top job. Some bets are on Biden reappointing Jerome Powell, who has won praise from officials in the administration. US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen, who was also Fed chair, has signaled her support for Powell, her former deputy, to serve a second term.
AUTOMAKERS
Lucid overtakes Ford, GM
Lucid Group Inc’s rally on Tuesday added more than US$17 billion to the electric vehicle (EV) start-up’s valuation, pushing its market cap above that of Ford Motor Co and General Motors Co (GM). Shares of the EV company closed up 24 percent in New York, bringing its value to more than US$91 billion. That eclipsed Ford’s US$79 billion market capitalization and surpassed GM’s, which is just below US$91 billion. The surge in the shares came after Lucid on Monday said it remained confident in its ability to produce 20,000 vehicles next year. Retail investors have bought US$378 million of shares of electric vehicle automakers over the past week.
Japanese technology giant Softbank Group Corp said Tuesday it has sold its stake in Nvidia Corp, raising US$5.8 billion to pour into other investments. It also reported its profit nearly tripled in the first half of this fiscal year from a year earlier. Tokyo-based Softbank said it sold the stake in Silicon Vally-based Nvidia last month, a move that reflects its shift in focus to OpenAI, owner of the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT. Softbank reported its profit in the April-to-September period soared to about 2.5 trillion yen (about US$13 billion). Its sales for the six month period rose 7.7 percent year-on-year
CRESTING WAVE: Companies are still buying in, but the shivers in the market could be the first signs that the AI wave has peaked and the collapse is upon the world Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reported a new monthly record of NT$367.47 billion (US$11.85 billion) in consolidated sales for last month thanks to global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications. Last month’s figure represented 16.9 percent annual growth, the slowest pace since February last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 11 percent. Cumulative sales in the first 10 months of the year grew 33.8 percent year-on-year to NT$3.13 trillion, a record for the same period in the company’s history. However, the slowing growth in monthly sales last month highlights uncertainty over the sustainability of the AI boom even as
AI BOOST: Next year, the cloud and networking product business is expected to remain a key revenue pillar for the company, Hon Hai chairman Young Liu said Manufacturing giant Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday posted its best third-quarter profit in the company’s history, backed by strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers. Net profit expanded 17 percent annually to NT$57.67 billion (US$1.86 billion) from NT$44.36 billion, the company said. On a quarterly basis, net profit soared 30 percent from NT$44.36 billion, it said. Hon Hai, which is Apple Inc’s primary iPhone assembler and makes servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s AI accelerators, said earnings per share expanded to NT$4.15 from NT$3.55 a year earlier and NT$3.19 in the second quarter. Gross margin improved to 6.35 percent,
BUST FEARS: While a KMT legislator asked if an AI bubble could affect Taiwan, the DGBAS minister said the sector appears on track to continue growing The local property market has cooled down moderately following a series of credit control measures designed to contain speculation, the central bank said yesterday, while remaining tight-lipped about potential rule relaxations. Lawmakers in a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee voiced concerns to central bank officials that the credit control measures have adversely affected the government’s tax income and small and medium-sized property developers, with limited positive effects. Housing prices have been climbing since 2016, even when the central bank imposed its first set of control measures in 2020, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Ting-wei (羅廷瑋) said. “Since the second half of
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