JAPAN
Retail sales maintain growth
The country’s retail sales marked an eighth successive month of annual growth last month, data showed yesterday. However, there was little growth from September, as households were squeezed by inflation running at its fastest pace in 40 years. Retail sales were 4.3 percent higher than a year earlier, government data showed. The rise was lower than economists’ median forecast of 5 percent. On a seasonally adjusted basis, retail sales gained 0.2 percent from a month earlier. It marked the fourth month of increase, but was much smaller than a 1.5 percent rise in September.
RATINGS
S&P cuts forecast
S&P Global Ratings yesterday lowered its growth forecast for emerging economies for next year, citing persistent pressures from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a lingering COVID-19 pandemic and tight monetary policy conditions. The ratings agency projected real GDP growth of 3.8 percent next year, down from its previous forecast of a 4.1 percent expansion. Its forecasts for 2024 and 2025 remain broadly unchanged, averaging at 4.3 percent. The inflation in emerging markets is still poised to remain above central banks’ targets in many economies, forcing monetary policies to stay restrictive, the agency said.
EUROZONE
Inflation yet to peak: Lagarde
European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde on Monday said that she does not believe inflation has peaked after reaching the highest levels on record. There is too much uncertainty to know whether inflation, which hit 10.6 percent last month, would come down soon in the 19 countries that use the euro currency, Lagarde told the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs. Following its third major rate hike last month, the bank expects “to raise rates further to the levels needed to ensure that inflation returns to our 2 percent medium-term target in a timely manner,” she said.
UNITED STATES
Biden warns over rail strike
President Joe Biden on Monday called on Congress to intervene urgently to prevent a strike by railroad workers that he said would “devastate our economy.” Biden asked Congress to deploy rarely used legislative powers to force adoption of a preliminary deal that freight rail companies and workers had struck in September before some of the trade unions backed off, returning to their threat to go on strike. If an agreement is not reached by Friday next week, the world’s largest economy could see nearly 7,000 freight trains grind to a halt, at a cost of more than US$2 billion a day, according to the American Association of Railroads.
AUTOMAKERS
Toyota production down
Toyota Motor Corp produced 771,382 vehicles last month, down from a record of 887,733 the previous month, and warned of an uncertain outlook due to COVID-19 and semiconductor shortages. Output was up 23 percent from a year earlier, when supply chains were disrupted by the spread of COVID-19 in Southeast Asia, Toyota said yesterday. Toyota’s global sales also rose 23 percent from a year earlier, reaching a total of 832,373 vehicles. Including subsidiaries Daihatsu Motor Co and Hino Motors Ltd, output and sales totaled 924,132 and 918,756 vehicles respectively, Toyota said.
Gudeng Precision Industrial Co (家登精密), the sole extreme ultraviolet pod supplier to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), yesterday said it has trimmed its revenue growth target for this year as US tariffs are likely to depress customer demand and weigh on the whole supply chain. Gudeng’s remarks came after the US on Monday notified 14 countries, including Japan and South Korea, of new tariff rates that are set to take effect on Aug. 1. Taiwan is still negotiating for a rate lower than the 32 percent “reciprocal” tariffs announced by the US in April, which it later postponed to today. The
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said its materials management head, Vanessa Lee (李文如), had tendered her resignation for personal reasons. The personnel adjustment takes effect tomorrow, TSMC said in a statement. The latest development came one month after Lee reportedly took leave from the middle of last month. Cliff Hou (侯永清), senior vice president and deputy cochief operating officer, is to concurrently take on the role of head of the materials management division, which has been under his supervision, TSMC said. Lee, who joined TSMC in 2022, was appointed senior director of materials management and
MAJOR CONTRIBUTOR: Revenue from AI servers made up more than 50 percent of Wistron’s total server revenue in the second quarter, the company said Wistron Corp (緯創) on Tuesday reported a 135.6 percent year-on-year surge in revenue for last month, driven by strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers, with the momentum expected to extend into the third quarter. Revenue last month reached NT$209.18 billion (US$7.2 billion), a record high for June, bringing second-quarter revenue to NT$551.29 billion, a 129.47 percent annual increase, the company said. Revenue in the first half of the year totaled NT$897.77 billion, up 87.36 percent from a year earlier and also a record high for the period, it said. The company remains cautiously optimistic about AI server shipments in the third quarter,
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Thursday met with US President Donald Trump at the White House, days before a planned trip to China by the head of the world’s most valuable chipmaker, people familiar with the matter said. Details of what the two men discussed were not immediately available, and the people familiar with the meeting declined to elaborate on the agenda. Spokespeople for the White House had no immediate comment. Nvidia declined to comment. Nvidia’s CEO has been vocal about the need for US companies to access the world’s largest semiconductor market and is a frequent visitor to China.
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