EUROPE
Manufacturing plunges
The bloc’s manufacturing activity shrank this month at the fastest pace since the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered factories three years ago. An index based on surveys of purchasing managers across the region unexpectedly dropped to 44.6, further below the 50-point level that indicates contraction, S&P Global reported. A similar gauge of services also fell, although its reading of 55.9 still signals robust expansion. Meanwhile, the UK’s service sector companies reported the fastest increase in cost pressures in three months as S&P Global’s composite UK purchasing managers’ index for services eased slightly to 53.9 from 54.9 last month.
SINGAPORE
Inflation tops expectations
Inflation — core and headline measures — came in faster than expected last month, as higher business costs continue to feed through to consumer prices. The core measure, which excludes private transport and accommodation, and a key gauge watched by the central bank, rose 5 percent from a year earlier, the Department of Statistics said in a statement yesterday. That was faster than the 4.7 percent estimate in a Bloomberg survey and compares with the 5 percent level in March. Headline inflation last month at 5.7 percent from a year earlier was also quicker than the 5.5 percent median estimate.
AUTOMAKERS
Tesla China expands exports
Tesla Inc is listing China-made Model 3 and Model Y models for sale in Canada, the company’s Web site showed yesterday, confirming that the electric vehicle maker has completed its first shipments to North America from its Shanghai factory. The Web site said that both rear-wheel drive Model Y vehicles and the long-range, all-wheel drive version of the Model 3 are available for immediate delivery in British Columbia, with codes showing they were manufactured at Tesla’s Gigafactory Shanghai. The models qualify for federal incentives of C$5,000 (US$3,694) in Canada, which, unlike the US, does not link electric-vehicle subsidies to the location of the plant that made the product.
SEMICONDUCTORS
China buys from Singapore
Singapore is benefiting from the US-China discord in at least one respect: semiconductor sales. China imported US$407 million of chipmaking machinery from Singapore last month, Chinese customs data showed. It was the highest amount since August last year, up 9.6 percent from March and going against the wider trend of diminishing semiconductor exports to China. The country overall imported 27 percent less chipmaking gear last month than it did a year earlier. Singapore’s shipments to China of integrated circuit chips last month increased 3.5 percent from March.
BANKING
Mizuho to sell bonds
Mizuho Financial Group Inc is set to become the third major Japanese bank to sell Additional Tier 1 (AT1) bonds after Credit Suisse Group AG’s near-collapse set off a global fire sale, in the latest sign of a resilient local credit market and improved investor mood. The lender is planning a yen-denominated two-part AT1 note, with pricing expected as early as July. The size of the issuance has yet to be determined. Mizuho’s AT1 announcement follows hot on the heels of news that the Japanese lender is boosting its presence in US investment banking via the purchase of boutique firm Greenhill & Co. Mizuho is planning to use the bond proceeds for working capital, a bank spokesman said.
‘DECENT RESULTS’: The company said it is confident thanks to an improving world economy and uptakes in new wireless and AI technologies, despite US uncertainty Pegatron Corp (和碩) yesterday said it plans to build a new server manufacturing factory in the US this year to address US President Donald Trump’s new tariff policy. That would be the second server production base for Pegatron in addition to the existing facilities in Taoyuan, the iPhone assembler said. Servers are one of the new businesses Pegatron has explored in recent years to develop a more balanced product lineup. “We aim to provide our services from a location in the vicinity of our customers,” Pegatron president and chief executive officer Gary Cheng (鄭光治) told an online earnings conference yesterday. “We
It was late morning and steam was rising from water tanks atop the colorful, but opaque-windowed, “soapland” sex parlors in a historic Tokyo red-light district. Walking through the narrow streets, camera in hand, was Beniko — a former sex worker who is trying to capture the spirit of the area once known as Yoshiwara through photography. “People often talk about this neighborhood having a ‘bad history,’” said Beniko, who goes by her nickname. “But the truth is that through the years people have lived here, made a life here, sometimes struggled to survive. I want to share that reality.” In its mid-17th to
LEAK SOURCE? There would be concern over the possibility of tech leaks if TSMC were to form a joint venture to operate Intel’s factories, an analyst said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday stayed mum after a report said that the chipmaker has pitched chip designers Nvidia Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc and Broadcom Inc about taking a stake in a joint venture to operate Intel Corp’s factories. Industry sources told the Central News Agency (CNA) that the possibility of TSMC proposing to operate Intel’s wafer fabs is low, as the Taiwanese chipmaker has always focused on its core business. There is also concern over possible technology leaks if TSMC were to form a joint venture to operate Intel’s factories, Concord Securities Co (康和證券) analyst Kerry Huang (黃志祺)
‘MAKE OR BREAK’: Nvidia shares remain down more than 9 percent, but investors are hoping CEO Jensen Huang’s speech can stave off fears that the sales boom is peaking Shares in Nvidia Corp’s Taiwanese suppliers mostly closed higher yesterday on hopes that the US artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer would showcase next-generation technologies at its annual AI conference slated to open later in the day. The GPU Technology Conference (GTC) in California is to feature developers, engineers, researchers, inventors and information technology professionals, and would focus on AI, computer graphics, data science, machine learning and autonomous machines. The event comes at a make-or-break moment for the firm, as it heads into the next few quarters, with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s (黃仁勳) keynote speech today seen as having the ability to
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