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.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”