The economic downturn and market instability have increased financial pressure on an overwhelming majority of people and many have cut back on investments and spending to cope, a survey by Bank SinoPac (永豐銀行) found.
In the survey, released yesterday, more than 90 percent of respondents said they were feeling the pinch of the financial crisis, with 16.1 percent describing the pressure as “heavy” and another 48.4 percent as “sizable.” The remaining 26.6 described the added pressure as “minor.”
TIGHTENED BELTS
To deal with financial difficulties, 51.4 percent of respondents said they had cut back on spending, 12.5 percent had sought extra employment and 40 percent had adopted conservative investment strategies, said Spencer Kao (高國興), vice president of the bank’s personal loan department.
Kao said 2.7 percent had started their own business.
Though the government has introduced a series of economic stimulus programs, 26.9 percent of respondents believed the downturn would persist until after next year and 20.7 percent expected the economy to recover in the second half of this year.
Only 11.4 percent voiced optimism that the economy would pick up in the first half of the year as predicted by the government, Kao said.
NOT INVESTING
About 54 percent of respondents said they had set aside less money for investment amid the drab climate, while 7.3 percent had increased investment, the survey said.
Thirty-eight percent reported that their investment plans remained unchanged.
Just over 46 percent of respondents said they expected investment gains of less than 5 percent for this year, while 32.7 percent hoped for 10 percent.
The survey found that low-risk investments that guarantee one’s principal if the promised returns are not met topped investors’ lists, followed by investment options that promise flexibility. Options that promise stable yields ranked third.
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) expects its addressable market to grow by a low single-digit percentage this year, lower than the overall foundry industry’s 15 percent expansion and the global semiconductor industry’s 10 percent growth, the contract chipmaker said yesterday after reporting the worst profit in four-and-a-half years in the fourth quarter of last year. Growth would be fueled by demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers, a moderate recovery in consumer electronics and an increase in semiconductor content, UMC said. “UMC’s goal is to outgrow our addressable market while maintaining our structural profitability,” UMC copresident Jason Wang (王石) told an online earnings
Gudeng Precision Industrial Co (家登精密), the sole extreme ultraviolet (EUV) pod supplier to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), is aiming to expand revenue to NT$10 billion (US$304.8 million) this year, as it expects the artificial intelligence (AI) boom to drive demand for wafer delivery pods and pods used in advanced packaging technology. That suggests the firm’s revenue could grow as much as 53 percent this year, after it posted a 28.91 percent increase to NT$6.55 billion last year, exceeding its 20 percent growth target. “We usually set an aggressive target internally to drive further growth. This year, our target is to
The TAIEX ended the Year of the Dragon yesterday up about 30 percent, led by contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電). The benchmark index closed up 225.40 points, or 0.97 percent, at 23,525.41 on the last trading session of the Year of the Dragon before the Lunar New Year holiday ushers in the Year of the Snake. During the Year of the Dragon, the TAIEX rose 5,429.34 points, the highest ever, while the 30 percent increase in the year was the second-highest behind only a 30.84 percent gain in the Year of the Rat from Jan. 25, 2020, to Feb.
Cryptocurrencies gave a lukewarm reception to US President Donald Trump’s first policy moves on digital assets, notching small gains after he commissioned a report on regulation and a crypto reserve. Bitcoin has been broadly steady since Trump took office on Monday and was trading at about US$105,000 yesterday as some of the euphoria around a hoped-for revolution in cryptocurrency regulation ebbed. Smaller cryptocurrency ether has likewise had a fairly steady week, although was up 5 percent in the Asia day to US$3,420. Bitcoin had been one of the most spectacular “Trump trades” in financial markets, gaining 50 percent to break above US$100,000 and
RSS