TSMC, the Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturing company, has reported a decline in profit and revenue for the second quarter. The company saw a 10% drop in revenue to NT$480.84 billion ($15.68 billion) and a 23.3% decrease in net income to NT$181.8 billion compared to the previous year. This marks TSMC’s first quarterly net income decline in four years. TSMC attributed the decrease to macroeconomic headwinds, which affected end market demand and led to customer inventory adjustments. Despite the decline, the results were better than market expectations.
In other news, China’s major state-owned banks were seen buying yuan and selling dollars in the offshore spot market in an attempt to slow the pace of yuan declines. The offshore yuan strengthened 0.66% against the greenback.
India’s smartphone market has stabilized in the second quarter, with shipments declining by only 1% compared to the previous year. This is a significant improvement from the 20% drop in the first quarter. Samsung continued to dominate the market with a market share of 18%.
Australia’s unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.5% in June, slightly lower than economists’ expectations. The employment rate is an important metric considered by the Reserve Bank of Australia when making rate decisions.
China is looking to shift to new high-end growth areas like IT to spur its economy. The country wants to move away from the old growth model of real estate and infrastructure investments and focus on high-end technology, renewables, and electric vehicles. Beijing’s policymakers are expected to unveil more details on these plans in the coming months.
In other news, China held its one-year and five-year loan prime rates unchanged, following its second quarter GDP growth coming in below expectations. Japan recorded a surprise trade surplus in June, marking the first time in almost two years that the country has posted a surplus.
Goldman Sachs has named two Chinese stocks that are likely to benefit from developments in generative artificial intelligence. The stocks are on the bank’s conviction list of buy-rated names.
Lastly, agricultural commodities such as wheat, corn, and soybeans saw an increase in prices due to concerns over dry weather forecasts in the US Midwest and Russian air strikes on the Black Sea port of Odessa.