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.
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
Minister of Finance Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) yesterday told lawmakers that she “would not speculate,” but a “response plan” has been prepared in case Taiwan is targeted by US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, which are to be announced on Wednesday next week. The Trump administration, including US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, has said that much of the proposed reciprocal tariffs would focus on the 15 countries that have the highest trade surpluses with the US. Bessent has referred to those countries as the “dirty 15,” but has not named them. Last year, Taiwan’s US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US
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