CHINA
Services PMI outperforms
Services activity beat expectations last month and jumped to the highest level in nearly a year, a private survey showed in the latest sign that easing COVID-19 outbreaks and restrictions have boosted consumer sentiment. The Caixin Services Purchasing Managers’ Index soared to 54.5 from 41.4 in May, Caixin and S&P Global said in a statement yesterday. That is the highest reading since July last year, and far surpassed the median estimate of 49.6 in a Bloomberg poll of economists. A reading above 50 indicates expansion. Several cities, including Shanghai, scaled back COVID-19 restrictions last month as cases fell, allowing more shops to open, consumers to spend and supply jams to ease.
INDIA
Jobless rate rises to 7.8%
Employment last month fell, likely due to patchy monsoon rains, which delayed deployment of agriculture labor in rural areas. Data released by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy Pvt showed that the unemployment rate climbed to 7.8 percent of the total workforce, from 7.12 percent in May. The fall was entirely led by the rise in rural unemployment, which increased to 8.03 percent from 6.62 percent in May, while urban unemployment shrank to 7.3 percent from 8.21 percent a month earlier. Overall, employment fell by 13 million to 390 million last month against a gain of 8 million jobs in April and May, data from the center showed.
ENERGY
Uniper in bailout talks
German gas giant Uniper SE is in talks with the government over a potential bailout package of as much as 9 billion euros (US$9.3 billion), a person familiar with the situation said. The government is looking at applying a set of measures, including loans, taking an equity stake and passing part of the surge in costs onto customers, two people familiar with the talks said. Uniper declined to comment. The company, which is one of the biggest importers of Russian gas, last week said it was in talks with the government to secure liquidity.
UNITED KINGDOM
Bill to curb disinformation
Changes to a proposed online safety bill would force owners of apps such as social media and search engines to curb “state-linked disinformation” or face fines, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said in a statement on Monday. Owners of platforms where people can post their own content will have a legal duty to pro-actively curtail posts backed by overseas governments aimed at “interfering with the UK,” it said. If they do not, the Office of Communications will have the power to impose fines of as much as 10 percent of their annual global sales, in powers granted by the bill.
RETAIL
Sainsbury sticks to forecast
J Sainsbury PLC held its profit forecast for the full year even as it warned that rising inflation means pressure on household budgets would intensify this year. Britain’s second-largest supermarket chain stuck to its forecast for the full year of underlying profit before tax of ￡630 million to ￡690 million (US$758 million to US$830 million). The grocer’s comparable sales, excluding fuel, fell 4 percent in the first quarter, but were better than expected, it said in a statement yesterday. Sainsbury, which controls about 15 percent of the UK grocery market, said it would invest more than ￡500 million over two years to March next year to keep product prices low.
FALLING BEHIND: Samsung shares have declined more than 20 percent this year, as the world’s largest chipmaker struggles in key markets and plays catch-up to rival SK Hynix Samsung Electronics Co is laying off workers in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand as part of a plan to reduce its global headcount by thousands of jobs, sources familiar with the situation said. The layoffs could affect about 10 percent of its workforces in those markets, although the numbers for each subsidiary might vary, said one of the sources, who asked not to be named because the matter is private. Job cuts are planned for other overseas subsidiaries and could reach 10 percent in certain markets, the source said. The South Korean company has about 147,000 in staff overseas, more than half
TECH PARTNERSHIP: The deal with Arizona-based Amkor would provide TSMC with advanced packing and test capacities, a requirement to serve US customers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is collaborating with Amkor Technology Inc to provide local advanced packaging and test capacities in Arizona to address customer requirements for geographical flexibility in chip manufacturing. As part of the agreement, TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, would contract turnkey advanced packaging and test services from Amkor at their planned facility in Peoria, Arizona, a joint statement released yesterday said. TSMC would leverage these services to support its customers, particularly those using TSMC’s advanced wafer fabrication facilities in Phoenix, Arizona, it said. The companies would jointly define the specific packaging technologies, such as TSMC’s Integrated
An Indian factory producing iPhone components resumed work yesterday after a fire that halted production — the third blaze to disrupt Apple Inc’s local supply chain since the start of last year. Local industrial behemoth Tata Group’s plant in Tamil Nadu, which was shut down by the unexplained fire on Saturday, is a key linchpin of Apple’s nascent supply chain in the country. A spokesperson for subsidiary Tata Electronics Pvt yesterday said that the company would restart work in “many areas of the facility today.” “We’ve been working diligently since Saturday to support our team and to identify the cause of the fire,”
Sales RecORD: Hon Hai’s consolidated sales rose by about 20 percent last quarter, while Largan, another Apple supplier, saw quarterly sales increase by 17 percent IPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) on Saturday reported its highest-ever quarterly sales for the third quarter on the back of solid global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) globally, said it posted NT$1.85 trillion (US$57.93 billion) in consolidated sales in the July-to-September quarter, up 19.46 percent from the previous quarter and up 20.15 percent from a year earlier. The figure beat the previous third-quarter high of NT$1.74 trillion recorded in 2022, company data showed. Due to rising demand for AI, Hon Hai said its cloud and networking division enjoyed strong sales
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