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.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday obtained the government’s approval to inject an additional US$7.5 billion into its US subsidiary, the Department of Investment Review said in a statement. The department approved TSMC’s application of investing in TSMC Arizona Corp, which is engaged in the manufacturing, sales, testing and design of IC and other semiconductor devices, it said. The latest capital injection follows a US$5 billion investment for TSMC Arizona approved in June. The chipmaker has broken ground on two advanced fabs in Arizona with aggregated investments approved by the department totaling US$24 billion thus far. According to TSMC, the first Arizona
The lethal hack of Hezbollah’s Asian-branded pagers and walkie-talkies has sparked an intense search for the devices’ path, revealing a murky market for older technologies where buyers might have few assurances about what they are getting. While supply chains and distribution channels for higher-margin and newer products are tightly managed, that is not the case for older electronics from Asia where counterfeiting, surplus inventories and complex contract manufacturing deals can sometimes make it impossible to identify the source of a product, analysts and consultants say. The response from the companies at the center of the booby-trapped gadgets that killed 37
FRIENDLY TAKEOVER: While Qualcomm Inc’s proposal to buy some or all of Intel raises the prospect of other competitors, Broadcom Inc is staying on the sidelines Qualcomm Inc has approached Intel Corp to discuss a potential acquisition of the struggling chipmaker, people with knowledge of the matter said, raising the prospect of one of the biggest-ever merger and acquisition deals. California-based Qualcomm proposed a friendly takeover for Intel in recent days, said the sources, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information. The proposal is for all of the chipmaker, although Qualcomm has not ruled out buying some parts of Intel and selling off others. It is uncertain whether the initial approach would lead to an agreement and any deal is likely to come under close antitrust scrutiny
SECURITY CONCERNS: The proposed ban on Chinese autonomous vehicle software and hardware would go into effect with the 2027 and 2030 model years respectively The US Department of Commerce today is expected to propose prohibiting Chinese software and hardware in connected and autonomous vehicles on US roads due to national security concerns, two sources said. US President Joe Biden’s administration has raised concerns about the collection of data by Chinese companies on US drivers and infrastructure as well as the potential foreign manipulation of vehicles connected to the Internet and navigation systems. The proposed regulation would ban the import and sale of vehicles from China with key communications or automated driving system software or hardware, said the two sources, who declined to be identified because the