SOUTH KOREA
Export gains cooling
Early trade data showed signs of cooling export gains this month as the global economy adjusts to fallout from the war in Ukraine and China’s COVID-19 lockdowns weigh on supply chains. While exports advanced 24.1 percent in the first 20 days of the month from a year earlier, helped by a rebound in auto shipments, figures for average daily shipments showed just a 7.6 percent increase, for the smallest gain in preliminary data since the end of 2020. Exports to China continued to show weakness. Overall imports rose 37.8 percent, resulting in a trade deficit of US$4.8 billion, as energy costs stay high.
SOLAR POWER
China triples investment
China tripled investment in solar power projects in the first four months, putting the nation on track to install record amounts of new clean energy capacity. Investment in solar was 29 billion yuan (US$4.35 billion) from January through last month, about 204 percent higher than in the same period a year earlier, a National Energy Administration statement said. That compares with 51.3 billion yuan invested in solar in the first 11 months of last year. The nation is forecast to add a record 220 gigawatts of total power capacity this year, the agency said.
UNITED KINGDOM
Inflation concerning: Clarke
The inflation picture is hugely concerning, but the British government has confidence in the Bank of England to get it right, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Simon Clarke said yesterday. Inflation surged last month to its highest annual rate of 9 percent since 1982. “The inflation picture is what is hugely concerning and is making waves across both America and Europe as well. And that’s because this is a truly global problem,” Clarke told LBC Radio. “We absolutely have confidence in the independent Bank of England to get this right and it’s vitally important that we don’t compromise their independence.”
CRYPTOCURRENCIES
CoinSwitch urges regulation
India must establish rules on cryptocurrencies to resolve regulatory uncertainty, protect investors and boost its crypto sector, CoinSwitch CEO Ashish Singhal said on Sunday. Although the Reserve Bank of India has backed a ban on cryptocurrencies over risks to financial stability, a federal government move to tax income from them has been interpreted by the industry as a sign of acceptance by New Delhi. “Users don’t know what will happen with their holdings — is government going to ban, not ban, how is it going to be regulated?” Singhal told Reuters at the World Economic Forum in Davos. “Regulations will bring peace ... more certainty,” he added.
FOOD
Some Jif products recalled
J. M. Smucker Co is recalling some Jif peanut butter products sold in the US and Canada because of potential salmonella contamination. The Orrville, Ohio-based company on Saturday expanded its recall of the popular brand of peanut butter products to Canada, a day after announcing a voluntary recall in the US. Consumers who have various crunchy, creamy and squeeze products should dispose of them immediately, the company said. Salmonella is a bacterial disease that causes fever, diarrhea and vomiting, and J.M. Smucker is working with the Food and Drug Administration on the recall. The financial impact is not yet known.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure