UNITED STATES
Slowdown ‘required’: Fed
A slowdown of economic growth and the job market will be “required” to bring down inflation, the Federal Reserve said in notes released on Wednesday, adding that prices remain “unacceptably high.” Fed officials also said inflation has “not yet responded” to increased interest rates, according to minutes of the central bank’s meeting last month, and that “a significant reduction in inflation would likely lag that of aggregate demand.” However, some of the Fed officials cited in the minutes also said that “it would be important to calibrate the pace of further policy tightening with the aim of mitigating the risk of significant adverse effects on the economic outlook.”
NEW ZEALAND
Houses taking longer to sell
Houses are taking longer to sell as rising interest rates put off buyers and listings decline, resulting in the lowest number of completed transactions in more than a decade. The median time to sell a house last month was 47 days, Real Estate Institute of New Zealand data showed yesterday. That is up from 37 days a year earlier and as little as 28 days early last year. House sales fell below 16,000 in the three months through June, the weakest quarter since 2010, CoreLogic New Zealand data showed. Prices have dropped by 12.6 percent from a peak in November last year.
UNITED KINGDOM
Minister blames BOE
Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng said that the Bank of England (BOE) would be responsible if British markets suffer renewed volatility after its bond-buying program ends today. Speaking on the sidelines of the IMF’s annual meetings in Washington, Kwarteng told Sky News that any turmoil after the central bank withdraws support “is a matter for the governor.” BOE Governor Andrew Bailey this week underlined his commitment to halting government debt purchases today as planned, both to draw a line under a program that is complicating his efforts to tame inflation and to encourage pension funds to get on with closing their positions.
APPAREL
Fast Retailing issues outlook
Uniqlo owner Fast Retailing Co issued an outlook for profit and sales ahead of analysts’ projections for the current fiscal year, thanks to better demand for its cheap casual apparel in Japan and a weaker yen bolstering profits brought back home from overseas. Operating profit for the year ending August next year is forecast to reach ￥350 billion (US$2.4 billion), the clothing retailer said in a statement yesterday. Net sales are seen at ￥2.65 trillion, compared with analysts’ prediction for ￥2.48 trillion. For the year ended August, operating profit rose to ￥297 billion on net sales of ￥2.3 trillion, the company said, exceeding projections.
FRANCE
Tax hike bill approved
Lawmakers in the National Assembly late on Wednesday voted in favor of an amendment that would raise taxes on large corporation’s dividends paid out on windfall profits. The amendment was voted through by lawmakers from the left, far-right, but also by some of French President Emanuel Macron’s allies in the centrists, who originally proposed it. The government could still block the temporary tax increase with special constitutional powers to quash amendments before a final vote on the whole 2023 budget bill in both houses of parliament.
POWERING UP: PSUs for AI servers made up about 50% of Delta’s total server PSU revenue during the first three quarters of last year, the company said Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) reported record-high revenue of NT$161.61 billion (US$5.11 billion) for last quarter and said it remains positive about this quarter. Last quarter’s figure was up 7.6 percent from the previous quarter and 41.51 percent higher than a year earlier, and largely in line with Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co’s (元大投顧) forecast of NT$160 billion. Delta’s annual revenue last year rose 31.76 percent year-on-year to NT$554.89 billion, also a record high for the company. Its strong performance reflected continued demand for high-performance power solutions and advanced liquid-cooling products used in artificial intelligence (AI) data centers,
SIZE MATTERS: TSMC started phasing out 8-inch wafer production last year, while Samsung is more aggressively retiring 8-inch capacity, TrendForce said Chipmakers are expected to raise prices of 8-inch wafers by up to 20 percent this year on concern over supply constraints as major contract chipmakers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and Samsung Electronics Co gradually retire less advanced wafer capacity, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. It is the first significant across-the-board price hike since a global semiconductor correction in 2023, the Taipei-based market researcher said in a report. Global 8-inch wafer capacity slid 0.3 percent year-on-year last year, although 8-inch wafer prices still hovered at relatively stable levels throughout the year, TrendForce said. The downward trend is expected to continue this year,
Vincent Wei led fellow Singaporean farmers around an empty Malaysian plot, laying out plans for a greenhouse and rows of leafy vegetables. What he pitched was not just space for crops, but a lifeline for growers struggling to make ends meet in a city-state with high prices and little vacant land. The future agriculture hub is part of a joint special economic zone launched last year by the two neighbors, expected to cost US$123 million and produce 10,000 tonnes of fresh produce annually. It is attracting Singaporean farmers with promises of cheaper land, labor and energy just over the border.
A proposed billionaires’ tax in California has ignited a political uproar in Silicon Valley, with tech titans threatening to leave the state while California Governor Gavin Newsom of the Democratic Party maneuvers to defeat a levy that he fears would lead to an exodus of wealth. A technology mecca, California has more billionaires than any other US state — a few hundred, by some estimates. About half its personal income tax revenue, a financial backbone in the nearly US$350 billion budget, comes from the top 1 percent of earners. A large healthcare union is attempting to place a proposal before
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