UNITED KINGDOM
Strikes slow economy
The British economy stalled unexpectedly in February, when strikes crippled public services, but is still likely to perform better than the Bank of England has forecast. GDP was unchanged from January instead of eking out the 0.1 percent growth analysts had expected, the British Office for National Statistics said yesterday. The figure for January was revised upward to 0.4 percent. Together, the readings bring output in the UK above its pre-2020 level and suggest that the economy is unlikely to shrink in the first quarter. That further reduces the risk of a recession, but leaves the UK on track for an extended period of stagnation. Weak February figures reflect the effect of widespread strikes during the month. Services output fell 0.1 percent, hit by walkouts by teachers and civil servants.
GERMANY
Measures tame inflation
Inflation in Germany eased to 7.4 percent last month, mainly due to government measures to bring down energy prices, data showed yesterday. A downward trend was charted by the German Federal Statistical Office since annual inflation peaked at 10.4 percent in Europe’s biggest economy in October last year — revised to 8.8 percent by new methodology. The slowdown has been helped by easing energy prices as a result of European efforts to source liquefied natural gas and a huge government relief package. Berlin has committed 200 billion euros (US$220.5 billion) to help bring energy prices down until next year, including a cap on gas and electricity prices. Energy prices rose by only 3.5 percent year-on-year last month, after jumping by 19.1 percent in February and 23.1 percent in January. However, food prices rose by 22.3 percent, up from 21.8 percent in February and 20.2 percent in January.
SEMICONDUCTORS
Merck to boost US industry
The electronics subsidiary of German multinational pharmaceutical company Merck KGaA on Wednesday said it would spend US$300 million to expand its specialty gas production facility in eastern Pennsylvania in a step that state officials said would boost the area’s appeal to the fast-growing semiconductor industry. The subsidiary, EMD Electronics, said the expansion would create the world’s largest integrated specialty gas facility as part of its program to invest more than US$3.5 billion on projects by 2025, including at sites in Arizona, Texas and California. The state has pledged more than US$1 million for the expansion.
LUXURY BRANDS
China lifts LVMH sales
Chinese shoppers helped LVMH bounce back from the world’s strictest COVID-19 lockdowns and splashed out on luxury handbags and jewelry. The shares rose to a record. Organic sales at the group’s biggest unit, which sells fashion and leather goods, rose 18 percent in the first quarter, LVMH said on Wednesday. That is almost twice the gain that analysts were expecting from Europe’s most valuable company. The division’s growth in China hit a double-digit percentage, LVMH chief financial officer Jean-Jacques Guiony told analysts, adding that the company is “extremely optimistic” for China this year. Demand grew in every region in the first three months as shoppers snapped up luxury items from Christian Dior handbags to Tiffany rings. Japan saw the strongest quarterly growth, rising 34 percent on an organic basis, followed by a 24 percent uplift in Europe and a 14 percent jump in Asia outside of Japan.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
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