JAPAN
Household spending falls
Households pared back their spending in January during the rapid spread of the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 and renewed restrictions on activity, adding to the risk that the economy will shrink this quarter. Outlays fell 1.2 percent from December last year for the sixth drop in the past nine months as people cut spending on entertainment, clothing and extra schooling, the Ministry of Internal Affairs reported yesterday. Compared with the low levels of a full state of emergency a year ago, spending rose 6.9 percent. Economists had forecast a 3.4 percent gain. The fall in spending from the prior month could contribute to the nation’s recovery slipping back into reverse this quarter. Household spending accounts for more than half of GDP.
UNITED KINGDOM
Economy beats expectations
The economy surged at the strongest pace in seven months in January, surpassing levels prevailing before the COVID-19 pandemic. GDP rose 0.8 percent, recovering from an 0.2 percent in December last year, Office for National Statistics figures showed yesterday. The gain was much stronger than the 0.1 percent pace expected by economists. The increase left output about 0.8 percent higher than in February 2020, with all parts of the economy expanding. The figures might embolden the Bank of England to raise interest rates for a third time next week to control inflation, which has leaped to its strongest pace in three decades.
COMMODITIES
Uranium spot prices soar
Uranium spot prices soared to the highest level since the 2011 Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear disaster on concern that potential sanctions aimed at Russia are poised to roil an already tight market. The price for benchmark Ux U3O8 uranium jumped to US$59.75 per pound on Thursday, data compiled by UxC LLC showed. That is the highest since March 2011, when meltdowns at the Fukushima facility shut Japan’s fleet of nuclear plants, sent a shockwave across the atomic industry and dashed demand for uranium — the fuel used in reactors. The White House is considering sanctions on Russia’s state-owned atomic energy company, Rosatom Corp, intensifying concerns over disruptions to uranium exports from Russia. Rosatom is a delicate target, because the company and its subsidiaries account for more than 35 percent of global uranium enrichment. Russia accounted for 16.5 percent of the uranium imported into the US in 2020.
RIDE HAILING
Didi HK listing denied
Didi Global Inc (滴滴) has suspended preparations for its planned Hong Kong listing after failing to appease Chinese regulators’ demands that it overhaul its systems for handling sensitive user data, people familiar with the matter said. The Cyberspace Administration of China informed Didi executives that their proposals to prevent security and data leaks had fallen short, the people said. Its main apps, removed from local app stores last year, will remain suspended for the time being, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is private. The company and its bankers have halted work on the Hong Kong listing by way of introduction originally slated for around the summer of this year, the people said. In addition to dealing with the cyberspace agency’s review, Didi is also working to finalize its fourth-quarter results as required for a listing prospectus, they said. Didi’s American depositary shares plunged as much as 20 percent in US pre-market trading yesterday.
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort