UNITED KINGDOM
Jobless rate slips to 3.7%
The unemployment rate fell to its lowest since 1974 in the first three months of this year, but soaring inflation led to the biggest annual fall in real earnings excluding bonuses since 2013, official figures showed yesterday. The jobless rate dropped to 3.7 percent from 3.8 percent, and the 1.257 million people out of work was less than the 1.295 million job vacancies on offer for the first time on record. Total pay in the first quarter rose 7 percent from a year earlier, while regular pay excluding bonuses rose only slightly more than expected by 4.2 percent. Adjusted for inflation, regular pay was 2 percent lower than a year earlier, the biggest fall since the three months to September 2013, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement.
UNITED STATES
White House slams Bezos
The White House on Monday uncharacteristically lashed out at Amazon.com Inc founder Jeff Bezos, after he openly criticized the fiscal and economic policies of President Joe Biden’s administration. “It doesn’t require a huge leap to figure out why one of the wealthiest individuals on Earth opposes an economic agenda for the middle class,” deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said. “It’s also unsurprising that this tweet comes after the president met with labor organizers, including Amazon employees,” he added. Bates was referring to Biden’s recent White House meeting with Amazon Labor Union president Christian Smalls, which caused a shock last month when it became the company’s first labor union in the US. Biden has recently encouraged increasing taxes on wealthy corporations as a means of fighting rampant US inflation, an idea which seemed to irk the Amazon billionaire. “Raising corp taxes is fine to discuss. Taming inflation is critical to discuss. Mushing them together is just misdirection,” Bezos wrote on Twitter.
INDIA
Wholesale prices hit 15.08%
Wholesale inflation soared to the highest in more than three decades last month as Russia’s war in Ukraine and supply-chain disruptions pushed up input costs for producers. Wholesale prices rose 15.08 percent from a year earlier, the highest since September 1991, data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry showed yesterday. “The high print is mainly because of fuel and power, but it will take some time for this component to come down,” State Bank of India chief economist Soumya Kanti Ghosh said. “High oil prices would likely continue even after the war comes to an end.” Figures last week showed retail inflation for the same month jumped to an eight-year high.
CHINA
Bond reporting suspended
The nation’s main bond trading platform for foreign investors has quietly stopped providing data on their transactions, a move that might heighten concerns about transparency in the US$20 trillion debt market after record outflows. Daily trades by overseas investors were last provided for May 11 by the China Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS), people familiar with the matter said. The data showed sizable net foreign outflows that day, with some selling also seen for most days last month April, the people said. It is unclear why CFETS stopped publishing the figures, which are typically updated one day later, the people said. There was also no indication of whether the move was temporary or related to the lockdown of Shanghai.
Zhang Yazhou was sitting in the passenger seat of her Tesla Model 3 when she said she heard her father’s panicked voice: The brakes do not work. Approaching a red light, her father swerved around two cars before plowing into a sport utility vehicle and a sedan, and crashing into a large concrete barrier. Stunned, Zhang gazed at the deflating airbag in front of her. She could never have imagined what was to come: Tesla Inc sued her for defamation for complaining publicly about the vehicles brakes — and won. A Chinese court ordered Zhang to pay more than US$23,000 in
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday held its first board of directors meeting in the US, at which it did not unveil any new US investments despite mounting tariff threats from US President Donald Trump. Trump has threatened to impose 100 percent tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, prompting market speculation that TSMC might consider boosting its chip capacity in the US or ramping up production of advanced chips such as those using a 2-nanometer technology process at its Arizona fabs ahead of schedule. Speculation also swirled that the chipmaker might consider building its own advanced packaging capacity in the US as part
‘NO DISRUPTION’: A US trade association said that it was ready to work with the US administration to streamline the program’s requirements and achieve shared goals The White House is seeking to renegotiate US CHIPS and Science Act awards and has signaled delays to some upcoming semiconductor disbursements, two sources familiar with the matter told reporters. The people, along with a third source, said that the new US administration is reviewing the projects awarded under the 2022 law, meant to boost US domestic semiconductor output with US$39 billion in subsidies. Washington plans to renegotiate some of the deals after assessing and changing current requirements, the sources said. The extent of the possible changes and how they would affect agreements already finalized was not immediately clear. It was not known
A move by US President Donald Trump to slap a 25 percent tariff on all steel imports is expected to place Taiwan-made steel, which already has a 25 percent tariff, on an equal footing, the Taiwan Steel & Iron Industries Association said yesterday. Speaking with CNA, association chairman Hwang Chien-chih (黃建智) said such an equal footing is expected to boost Taiwan’s competitive edge against other countries in the US market, describing the tariffs as "positive" for Taiwanese steel exporters. On Monday, Trump signed two executive orders imposing the new metal tariffs on imported steel and aluminum with no exceptions and exemptions, effective