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.
Contract chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) yesterday said it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Polar Semiconductor LLC to collaborate on the production of 8-inch wafers in the US. The collaboration aims to strengthen 8-inch wafer manufacturing in the US amid Washington’s efforts to increase onshore manufacturing of semiconductors, contribute to supply chain resilience against shifting geopolitical dynamics, and ensure a secure domestic supply of power semiconductors critical to automotive, electric grids, robotic manufacturing and data centers, the companies said in a joint statement. Under the MOU, Polar and UMC will identify devices for Polar to manufacture at
TARIFF TALKS: The US secretary of commerce is eyeing more than US$300 billion in investments and said Taiwan would train US workers, but Taipei has denied the latter US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said the US is expecting a large investment pledge from Taiwan in trade talks, while President William Lai (賴清德) listed areas that need improvement in order for projects to be completed. “We’re in the midst of discussions,” Lutnick said on Wednesday. “But the fact is, this administration’s goal is to bring semiconductor manufacturing to America.” Lai on Wednesday said Taiwan is supportive of US President Donald Trump’s goal of reindustrializing the US, including efforts to ramp up semiconductor production. Such a goal would require the US to reduce its reliance on Taiwan as a key source
The demise of the coal industry left the US’ Appalachian region in tatters, with lost jobs, spoiled water and countless kilometers of abandoned underground mines. Now entrepreneurs are eyeing the rural region with ambitious visions to rebuild its economy by converting old mines into solar power systems and data centers that could help fuel the increasing power demands of the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. One such project is underway by a non-profit team calling itself Energy DELTA (Discovery, Education, Learning and Technology Accelerator) Lab, which is looking to develop energy sources on about 26,305 hectares of old coal land in
Netflix on Friday faced fierce criticism over its blockbuster deal to acquire Warner Bros Discovery. The streaming giant is already viewed as a pariah in some Hollywood circles, largely due to its reluctance to release content in theaters and its disruption of traditional industry practices. As Netflix emerged as the likely winning bidder for Warner Bros — the studio behind Casablanca, the Harry Potter movies and Friends — Hollywood’s elite launched an aggressive campaign against the acquisition. Titanic director James Cameron called the buyout a “disaster,” while a group of prominent producers are lobbying US Congress to oppose the deal,
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