SINGAPORE
Demand weighs on outlook
The economic outlook has turned more uncertain, as tighter financial conditions weigh on global demand and China’s reopening is doing little more than boosting tourism, the central bank said. “The risks to growth in the global economy and in Singapore are tilted to the downside,” the central bank said yesterday in its biannual Macroeconomic Review. “Given the increase in banking industry stresses across global markets since March, lending conditions are expected to tighten even further, translating to a sharper slowdown in credit growth and weaker economic activity in the period ahead,” it said.
AUSTRALIA
Core inflation falls in Q1
Core inflation decelerated in the first three months of this year, lending weight to the Reserve Bank of Australia’s view that prices would steadily come down and supporting the case for it to extend an interest-rate pause. The local currency fell, and swaps traders boosted bets that the central bank would stand pat next week after official data showed that the central bank’s preferred trimmed mean gauge slowed to 6.6 percent from a year earlier, compared with 6.9 percent in the final three months of last year. On a quarterly basis, core inflation also slowed more than expected. The headline consumer price index advanced 7 percent from a year earlier, down from 7.8 percent in the previous quarter, the central bank’s data showed.
GERMANY
Consumer outlook brightens
Consumer morale rose sharply heading into next month, a key survey showed yesterday, as concerns eased about the impact of high inflation on Europe’s largest economy. Pollster GfK said its forward-looking survey of about 2,000 people climbed 3.6 points to reach minus-25.7 points, the seventh consecutive monthly increase. Improving sentiment was driven by lower energy prices, government relief measures aimed at tackling high costs and recent wage deals struck between various industries and workers, GfK said. The survey found respondents were more optimistic about their income prospects and the broader economy.
SWEDEN
Interest rate raised to 3.5%
The central bank yesterday raised its key interest rate, saying inflation “is still far too high and underlying inflation has been much higher than expected.” Riksbanken raised its policy rate by half a percentage point to 3.5 percent, saying that it would ”probably” be raised further by a quarter-point in June or September. ”The high inflation affects in particular households that have small margins to begin with, but the development is negative for the whole economy,” the central bank said in a statement. Annual inflation last month hit 10.6 percent, down from 12 percent in February.
UNITED STATES
Confidence at 9-month low
Consumer confidence dropped to a nine-month low this month as worries about the future mounted. The Conference Board’s survey on Tuesday showed that the consumer confidence index fell to 101.3, the lowest reading since July last year, from 104.0 last month. The present situation index, based on consumers’ assessment of current business and labor market conditions, increased to 151.1 from 148.9 last month. The expectations index, drawn from consumers’ short-term outlook for income, business and labor market conditions, fell to 68.1 from 74.0 in March.
EXTRATERRITORIAL REACH: China extended its legal jurisdiction to ban some dual-use goods of Chinese origin from being sold to the US, even by third countries Beijing has set out to extend its domestic laws across international borders with a ban on selling some goods to the US that applies to companies both inside and outside China. The new export control rules are China’s first attempt to replicate the extraterritorial reach of US and European sanctions by covering Chinese products or goods with Chinese parts in them. In an announcement this week, China declared it is banning the sale of dual-use items to the US military and also the export to the US of materials such as gallium and germanium. Companies and people overseas would be subject to
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) founder Morris Chang (張忠謀) yesterday said that Intel Corp would find itself in the same predicament as it did four years ago if its board does not come up with a core business strategy. Chang made the remarks in response to reporters’ questions about the ailing US chipmaker, once an archrival of TSMC, during a news conference in Taipei for the launch of the second volume of his autobiography. Intel unexpectedly announced the immediate retirement of former chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger last week, ending his nearly four-year tenure and ending his attempts to revive the
WORLD DOMINATION: TSMC’s lead over second-placed Samsung has grown as the latter faces increased Chinese competition and the end of clients’ product life cycles Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) retained the No. 1 title in the global pure-play wafer foundry business in the third quarter of this year, seeing its market share growing to 64.9 percent to leave South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co, the No. 2 supplier, further behind, Taipei-based TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said in a report. TSMC posted US$23.53 billion in sales in the July-September period, up 13.0 percent from a quarter earlier, which boosted its market share to 64.9 percent, up from 62.3 percent in the second quarter, the report issued on Monday last week showed. TSMC benefited from the debut of flagship
TENSE TIMES: Formosa Plastics sees uncertainty surrounding the incoming Trump administration in the US, geopolitical tensions and China’s faltering economy Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團), Taiwan’s largest industrial conglomerate, yesterday posted overall revenue of NT$118.61 billion (US$3.66 billion) for last month, marking a 7.2 percent rise from October, but a 2.5 percent fall from one year earlier. The group has mixed views about its business outlook for the current quarter and beyond, as uncertainty builds over the US power transition and geopolitical tensions. Formosa Plastics Corp (台灣塑膠), a vertically integrated supplier of plastic resins and petrochemicals, reported a monthly uptick of 15.3 percent in its revenue to NT$18.15 billion, as Typhoon Kong-rey postponed partial shipments slated for October and last month, it said. The
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