Intel Adds Synopsys IP To The Manufacturing Mix
Chip design toolmaker Synopsys (SNPS.O) has signed a deal to bring its technical building blocks to the advanced contract manufacturing Intel (INTC.O) offers, the companies declared yesterday.
Argentina Devalues Peso
Argentina’s government devalued its currency by nearly 18% on Monday while the benchmark interest rate was raised by 21 percentage points to 118%, the central bank said, as financial markets reeled the day after a shock primary election result.
Oil Prices Decline Ahead Of China’s Key Economic Data
Oil prices fell in an early trade today, ahead of a slew of economic data from China. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was down by 11 cents, or 0.13%, at USD 82.40 a barrel while brent crude futures lost 8 cents to trade at USD 86.13 per barrel.
Today’s News
China’s central bank unexpectedly reduced a key interest rate by the most since 2020 to bolster an economy that’s facing fresh risks from a worsening property slump and weak consumer spending.
The People’s Bank of China lowered the rate on its one-year loans or medium-term lending facility by 15 basis points to 2.5% today, the second reduction since June. All but one of the 15 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had predicted that the rate would stay unchanged. A short-term policy rate was also cut by 10 basis points as ten-year bond yields fell to the lowest since 2020.
All eyes are on the Chinese economy as two major real estate and financial firms report sluggish performances as well.
Country Garden, one of the country’s top property developers, announced that it would suspend trading 11 of its onshore bonds yesterday, causing shares to plummet to an all-new record low. Meanwhile, three companies over the weekend reported that Zhongzhi Group, a secretive conglomerate, failed to make payments on multiple high-yield investment products.
Other related news includes:
Youth Jobless Data Halted As Unemployment Rate Soars
China will pause the publishing of its youth unemployment rate as it irons out complexities in the data, which has shown that more than a fifth of young people are unemployed in the world’s second-largest economy.
“The main reason is with the economic and social development, labor statistics that need further optimization,” said National Bureau of Statistics spokesperson Fu Linghui. “The main task is to study whether students looking for a job before graduation should be counted in the labor statistics.”
Yuan Falls On Implemented Rate Cut
The yuan slid to the weakest level since November and China’s sovereign bonds rallied after the central bank unexpectedly cut a key interest rate in an effort to boost its ailing economy.
China’s benchmark share index slipped for a third day, while equity gauges for Japan and Australia both gained. Treasuries were little changed in Asia after 10-year yields had climbed to the highest since November in US trading. The Australian dollar weakened after wage data missed estimates.
Yuan Fix Loses Its Grip As Bearish Sentiment Mounts
China’s yuan is plumbing fresh lows for the year with the central bank’s favorite tool for guiding the managed currency quickly losing its effectiveness.
The onshore yuan on Monday closed at the largest discount since December to the People’s Bank of China’s daily reference rate, a sign Beijing is failing to bolster worsening confidence caused by an unexpectedly weaker economic data which heightens credit risks altogether. Policymakers have been setting their daily fixing for the currency at stronger-than-forecast levels since late June.
