GERMANY
Industrial orders jump 4.8%
Industrial orders rose sharply and unexpectedly in February, official data showed yesterday, adding to signs that Europe’s biggest economy was rebounding from the fallout from the Russia-Ukraine war. New orders, which give a foretaste of industrial output, rose 4.8 percent on the previous month, federal statistics office Destatis said. It was the third consecutive monthly increase. Analysts surveyed by financial data firm FactSet had expected a mild drop in orders for February. Destatis said the increase was driven by an 8.9 percent rise in orders from the eurozone, while domestic orders were up by 5.6 percent. Orders from the rest of the world increased by just 1.4 percent. The automaking sector saw strong demand in February, as did metal products and chemicals, Destatis said. However, orders for electrical equipment and pharmaceuticals declined, it said.
UNITED KINGDOM
Business confidence rises
Business confidence climbed in the first quarter of the year, despite only one-third of firms seeing an increase in sales, a survey conducted by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) showed. About 52 percent of businesses surveyed said they thought their sales would rise over the next 12 months, up from 44 percent in the third quarter of last year. However, just 34 percent saw sales tick up over the first three months of this year, while 47 percent of hospitality businesses reported a drop in cash flow. The figures indicated “an improvement in business sentiment, as political turmoil and inflationary pressures show some signs of easing,” BCC research head David Bharier said. “However, this comes from a very weak base, and while confidence has improved, this is yet to translate into an overall improvement of business conditions.”
PHILIPPINES
Inflation slows to 7.6%
Overall inflation last month cooled to the slowest in six months, while the month-on-month measure fell, suggesting that the central bank has scope to ease up on its most aggressive tightening cycle in two decades. Headline consumer prices rose 7.6 percent year-on-year last month, slowing from a near 14-year-high of 8.6 percent in February and the lowest since September last year. The print was below all 21 estimates in a Bloomberg survey where the median was for an 8 percent gain. The central bank forecast was for 7.4 percent to 8.2 percent. Compared with February, the price index last month declined 0.2 percent, the first contraction since September 2021. The core gauge, which strips out volatile food and fuel costs, accelerated to 8 percent from a year earlier to a fresh 24-year high.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Twitter sued over layoffs
Twitter Inc on Tuesday faced a lawsuit accusing the social media giant of illegally laying off contract workers without notice after Elon Musk bought the company last year, the latest action stemming from its massive job cuts. The proposed class action, filed in San Francisco federal court, claims Twitter in November last year laid off numerous workers employed by staffing firm TEKsystems Inc without the 60 days of advance notice required by US and California law. Five other cases are pending in the same court accusing Twitter of breaching those laws, targeting female workers for layoffs and discriminating against employees with disabilities. Twitter has denied wrongdoing.
JITTERS: Nexperia has a 20 percent market share for chips powering simpler features such as window controls, and changing supply chains could take years European carmakers are looking into ways to scratch components made with parts from China, spooked by deepening geopolitical spats playing out through chipmaker Nexperia BV and Beijing’s export controls on rare earths. To protect operations from trade ructions, several automakers are pushing major suppliers to find permanent alternatives to Chinese semiconductors, people familiar with the matter said. The industry is considering broader changes to its supply chain to adapt to shifting geopolitics, Europe’s main suppliers lobby CLEPA head Matthias Zink said. “We had some indications already — questions like: ‘How can you supply me without this dependency on China?’” Zink, who also
At least US$50 million for the freedom of an Emirati sheikh: That is the king’s ransom paid two weeks ago to militants linked to al-Qaeda who are pushing to topple the Malian government and impose Islamic law. Alongside a crippling fuel blockade, the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) has made kidnapping wealthy foreigners for a ransom a pillar of its strategy of “economic jihad.” Its goal: Oust the junta, which has struggled to contain Mali’s decade-long insurgency since taking power following back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021, by scaring away investors and paralyzing the west African country’s economy.
Tax revenue from securities transactions last month increased 41.9 percent from a year earlier to NT$30.3 billion (US$975.8 million), rising on an annual basis for the third consecutive month and marking the highest for the month of October as Taiwanese stocks continued to perform strongly, data released by the Ministry of Finance showed yesterday. Last month, the TAIEX surged 2,412.81 points, or 9.34 percent, marking its largest-ever monthly rise for October as market sentiment was buoyed by a nearly 15 percent gain in contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which accounts for more than 40 percent of the
BUST FEARS: While a KMT legislator asked if an AI bubble could affect Taiwan, the DGBAS minister said the sector appears on track to continue growing The local property market has cooled down moderately following a series of credit control measures designed to contain speculation, the central bank said yesterday, while remaining tight-lipped about potential rule relaxations. Lawmakers in a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee voiced concerns to central bank officials that the credit control measures have adversely affected the government’s tax income and small and medium-sized property developers, with limited positive effects. Housing prices have been climbing since 2016, even when the central bank imposed its first set of control measures in 2020, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Ting-wei (羅廷瑋) said. “Since the second half of
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