China’s tourism rebounded above pre-COVID levels during the five-day May Day holiday, official data showed on Wednesday. China’s factory activity shrank in April. The manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) dropped to 49.2 from 51.9 in March.
The Federal Reserve raised interest rates to the highest level in 16 years on Wednesday. The European Central Bank slowed the pace of its interest rate hike on Thursday and raised its three key interest rates by 0.25%. JPMorgan Chase has taken up the troubled First Republic Bank.
The IFF organized on Friday its first high-level conference in Hong Kong.
IFF organises high-level conference in Hong Kong
The International Finance Forum (IFF) together with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and the Hong Kong Academy of Finance hosted on Friday a major conference on multilateralism and globalization as the world faces increased risks in the finance sector and fragmentation. As part of the 20th anniversary global conference series of the IFF, the conference invited political dignitaries, financial authorities, academics as well as executives from the finance sector to join two sessions in discussing topics including enhancing global cooperation, monetary polices, the challenges and opportunities for Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area in an era of strategic competition.
The IFF also launched its Hong Kong Centre during the conference.
Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) John Lee Ka-chiu, IFF Co-Chair and Chairperson of the Council of Presidents of the UN General Assembly Han Seung-soo and Financial Secretary of HKSAR Paul Chan Mo-po addressed the conference.
China's holiday tourism rebounds above pre-COVID levels
China’s tourism rebounded above pre-COVID levels during the five-day May Day holiday, official data showed on Wednesday.
Domestic tourism surged 70.8% from a year earlier and grew 19.1% from the same holiday period in 2019, data from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism showed.
According to the Ministry, 274 million Chinese travelled during the holiday, who spent 148 billion yuan.
China's factory activity drops in April
China’s factory activity shrank in April, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Sunday.
The manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) dropped to 49.2 from 51.9 in March. The 50-mark separates growth from contraction.
The activity was affected by insufficient market demand and the high-base effect from quick recovery in the first quarter, according to senior statistician Zhao Qinghe of the NBS.
New orders dropped 4.8% to 48.8 while production index fell 4.4% to 50.2%.
The non-manufacturing PMI fell to 56.4 from March’s 58.2 with PMI in the service sector edging down to 55.1 from March’s 56.9.
Profits of China's internet firms surge in Q1
Large internet companies and related services companies registered robust profit growth in the first quarter of 2023, according to data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).
Profits of these companies jumped 55.2% from the same period last year, MIIT data showed.
The combined business revenue of these companies rose 1.6% from a year earlier to 302 billion yuan.
Large internet companies and related services companies are those with an annual business revenue of at least 20 million yuan.
Profits of the country’s software and information technology service industry grew 15.1% in the first quarter compared to a year ago, data from the MIIT showed.
Railway trips hit record on 1st day of May Day holiday
Railway trips hit record high on Saturday, the first day of the five-day May Day holiday, according to data from the national railway operator.
The country reported 19.66 million passenger trips on Saturday with 12,064 trains in operation, the China State Railway Group said.
Outstanding loans of China's micro-lenders shrink
Outstanding loans of China’s micro-lenders shrank by 38.5 billion yuan in the first quarter of the year, data from the country’s central bank showed.
The outstanding loans of the micro-credit companies stood at 872.2 billion yen by the end of March.
The country had 5,801 micro-lenders by the end of March. These lenders target small companies and low-income groups in need of capital.
China's Guizhou invests 8 bln yuan in big data in Q1
Guizhou Province in Southwest China invested 8.07 billion yuan in big data in the first quarter of the year, Xinhua reported.
The province is China’s major big data hub.
Nearly 1.5 billion yuan went into channeling more computing resources from China’s eastern regions to the less developed western regions.
The province boasted 10 large and eight ultra-large data centers by the end of March.
US Fed raises interest rates to highest in 16 years
The Federal Reserve raised interest rates to the highest level in 16 years on Wednesday.
The Fed raised its key interest rate by 0.25% to between 5% and 5.25%, the US central bank announced on Wednesday.
The central bank hinted that it may pause rate hikes.
Bank of Japan keeps negative rates
The Bank of Japan kept its interest rates unchanged in Governor Kazuo Ueda’s first policy meeting.
The central bank also kept the range for 10-year Japanese government bonds unchanged at 0.5 percentage points above and below its target of 0%.
The Japanese yen edged up after the announcement.
US economy expands 1.1% in Q1
US economy rose in an annualized rate of 1.1% in the first quarter of the year, according to the Commerce Department.
The growth rate fell from a 2.6% expansion in the fourth quarter of 2022.
Consumer spending, which accounts for 70% of US economic activity grew at a 3.7% annual pace.
European central bank slows pace of rate hikes
The European Central Bank slowed the pace of its interest rate hike on Thursday.
The ECB decided to raise its three key interest rates by 0.25%. After the raise, the interest rates on the main refinancing operations, marginal lending facility and the deposit facility stayed at 3.75%, 4% and 3.25%.
Christine Lagarde, President of the ECB, said the inflation outlook continued to be too high for too long.
“Our future decisions will ensure that the policy rates will be brought to levels sufficiently restrictive to achieve a timely return of inflation to our 2% medium-term target and will be kept at those levels for as long as necessary,” said Lagarde.
JPMorgan Chase snaps up First Republic
JPMorgan Chase has taken over First Republic Bank after regulators seized the troubled bank on Monday.
JPMorgan Chase said it would pay $10.6 billion to the Federal Insurance Deposit Corp (FIDC).
As part of the purchase, JPMorgan is assuming both insured and uninsured deposits.
“Our government invited us and others to step up, and we did,” said Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase.
