INFLATION
UK borrowing hits record
Borrowing costs for blue-chip British companies have risen past a key threshold for the first time in more than a decade, as runaway inflation hammers the UK’s corporate sector. An index of top-rated sterling securities, the bulk of which belong to companies based in the UK, was quoted at a yield of 5.007 percent on Wednesday, the highest level since May 2012. The surge in yields widened the gap between sterling and euro notes, driving the increase in costs last month for short-dated UK corporate credit to the biggest in 13 years, Bloomberg indices show. With lackluster wage growth and soaring energy prices hitting households, investors are concerned that Britain is in for a rough ride.
FINANCE
IMF deputy joins Goldman
Goldman Sachs Group Inc is tapping a former IMF No. 2 official and veteran of the administration of former US president Donald Trump to bolster its ties with international governments. Geoffrey Okamoto, 37, who stepped down as the IMF’s first deputy managing director shortly after the start of this year, begins work for the New York-based firm in the coming weeks, people with knowledge of the matter said. He will report to Michael Paese, who in his role running government affairs is helping to bolster ties between the Wall Street titan and government regulators it deals with around the world. Okamoto was instrumental during Trump’s trade dispute with China.
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
Uber sets sights on London
Uber Technologies Inc said it would partner with a financial technology start-up to boost the number of electric vehicles in London by an additional 10,000 over the next few years. Mobility fintech Moove is expanding its vehicle financing business to the UK after previously launching in countries such as India and Nigeria. Moove is already Uber’s largest vehicle supply partner across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Amid skyrocketing energy prices, Moove is also experiencing a rise in demand for its electric vehicles, co-CEO Ladi Delano said. He said the most popular car model financed by Moove is Tesla Inc’s Model 3.
SINGAPORE
Bank deal to help workers
Standard Chartered PLC’s joint venture with an arm of Singapore’s biggest trade union is starting digital banking services in the city-state, adding to rivalry in the space where tech giants are also seeking to make their mark. Trust Bank, in which the UK firm holds 60 percent, is offering savings accounts, credit cards and insurance products that target workers and their families with benefits aimed at cushioning the pain of rising inflation, a statement by the firms said yesterday. Fairprice Group, which runs supermarkets and food courts across Singapore, holds the remaining stake in the venture.
WALL STREET
ECB expected to rise quickly
Some of Wall Street’s biggest banks boosted their forecasts for European Central Bank (ECB) interest rates, saying faster-than-expected inflation is likely to convince officials to react with even more aggression. Economists at Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase & Co now predict a 75-basis-point increase at next week’s meeting, which hawkish Governing Council members had floated as an option in recent days. Investors are also fully pricing such a move by October.
ENERGY ISSUES: The TSIA urged the government to increase natural gas and helium reserves to reduce the impact of the Middle East war on semiconductor supply stability Chip testing and packaging service provider ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控) yesterday said it planned to invest more than NT$100 billion (US$3.15 billion) in building a new advanced chip testing facility in Kaohsiung to keep up with customer demand driven by the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. That would be included in the company’s capital expenditure budget next year, ASE said. There is also room to raise this year’s capital spending budget from a record-high US$7 billion estimated three months ago, it added. ASE would have six factories under construction this year, another record-breaking number, ASE chief operating officer Tien Wu
The EU and US are nearing an agreement to coordinate on producing and securing critical minerals, part of a push to break reliance on Chinese supplies. The potential deal would create incentives, such as minimum prices, that could advantage non-Chinese suppliers, according to a draft of an “action plan” seen by Bloomberg. The EU and US would also cooperate on standards, investments and joint projects, as well as coordinate on any supply disruptions by countries like China. The two sides are additionally seeking other “like-minded partners” to join a multicountry accord to help create these new critical mineral supply chains, which feed into
For weeks now, the global tech industry has been waiting for a major artificial intelligence (AI) launch from DeepSeek (深度求索), seen as a benchmark for China’s progress in the fast-moving field. More than a year has passed since the start-up put Chinese AI on the map in early last year with a low-cost chatbot that performed at a similar level to US rivals. However, despite reports and rumors about its imminent release, DeepSeek’s next-generation “V4” model is nowhere in sight. Speculation is also swirling over the geopolitical implications of which computer chips were chosen to train and power the new
TECH WINNERS: Taiwan and South Korea reported robust trade, which suggests that they have critical advantages in the rapidly expanding AI supply chain, an official said Exports last month surged to a new high, as booming demand tied to artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure fueled shipments of advanced technology components, underscoring the nation’s pivotal role in the global semiconductor supply chain. Outbound shipments climbed to US$80.18 billion, the highest ever for a single month, rising 61.8 percent from a year earlier and marking the 29th consecutive month of growth, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. “The surge was driven primarily by global investment in AI infrastructure,” Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) said. The mass production of next-generation AI computing systems has accelerated procurement across the semiconductor supply
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