GERMANY
Industrial orders plummet
Industrial orders data for March showed the biggest fall since 2020, fueling fears that Europe’s biggest economy is entering a sharp downturn. New orders, which give a foretaste of industrial output, posted a surprise drop of 10.7 percent from February, provisional figures from federal statistics authority Destatis showed yesterday. It was the biggest decline since April 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic had just started, prompting lockdowns and border closures. Orders had been rising in the past few months, bolstering hopes that the economy had weathered the fallout from the Ukraine war and resulting energy crisis better than feared. Landesbank Baden-Wurttemberg economist Jens-Oliver Niklasch called the plunge a warning for investors. “This figure destroys what had been a good start to the year for German industry, and is a real recession signal,” he said.
INDONESIA
Consumption boosts GDP
The economy accelerated last quarter as it likely benefitted from strong domestic consumption, even as exports took a knock from slowing global demand. GDP rose 5.03 percent in the three months through March from a year earlier, official data showed yesterday. That was faster than the median estimate of 4.97 percent in a Bloomberg survey of economists. Compared with the three months ended December last year, the economy shrank 0.92 percent in the first quarter, still better than economists’ median estimate for a 1 percent contraction. As slowing global demand saps exports that make up about one-quarter of Southeast Asia’s largest economy, focus is to turn to domestic consumption to shore up expansion.
CRYPTOCURRENCIES
Coinbase slows downtrend
Coinbase Global Inc posted a narrower loss and a smaller-than-estimated revenue decline, as the biggest US digital-asset trading platform saw first-quarter results stabilize somewhat during a rebound in cryptocurrency prices. The loss narrowed to about US$79 million from US$430 million a year earlier. It was the fifth consecutive quarterly loss. Revenue fell about 34 percent to US$772.5 million, although it increased from the fourth quarter of last year, when token prices tumbled amid a series of industry scandals and bankruptcies. The average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg for revenue was about US$654 million. The cryptoindustry “continues to be volatile, as evidenced most recently by the disruptions in the banking sector and ongoing regulatory uncertainty,” Coinbase said.
AIRLINES
Companies eyeing surge
British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (IAG) and Air France-KLM reported bumper summer bookings as travelers pressed ahead with holiday plans despite a cost-of-living crisis, although IAG’s CEO said strikes and lack of staff could disrupt major airports. European airlines and airports are under pressure to avoid a repeat of last summer’s chaotic scenes that marred the return to mass travel after the freeze caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. IAG, which also owns Iberia, Vueling and Aer Lingus, yesterday said that robust ticket sales for the summer and a winter season that beat expectations meant this year’s profit would come in above its previous forecasts. IAG called the outlook for the summer “encouraging” and said capacity in its key North Atlantic and Latin American markets was back at pre-pandemic levels, with demand from leisure travelers driving bookings.
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