Economy

TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan’s core consumer inflation quickened to 2.8% in August to hit the fastest annual pace in nearly eight years, data showed on Tuesday, as pressures from higher raw material costs and a weak yen broadened.While core consumer inflation has exceeded the central bank’s 2% target for five straight months, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) is unlikely to raise interest rates any time soon as wage and consumption growth remain weak, analysts say.The data highlights the dilemma the BOJ faces as it tries to underpin a fragile economy by maintaining ultra-low interest rates, which in turn are fuelling an unwelcome slide in the yen that is driving up households’ cost of living.The rise in the nationwide core consumer price index (CPI), which excludes volatile fresh food but includes fuel costs, was slightly bigger than a median market forecast for a 2.7% increase and followed a 2.4% gain in July. It was the fastest pace of rise since October 2014.The so-called “core core” index, which strips away both fresh food and energy costs, rose 1.6% in August from a year earlier, accelerating from a 1.2% gain in July and marking the fastest annual pace since 2015.The core core index is closely watched by the BOJ as a gauge on how much of the inflationary pressure is driven by domestic demand.Headline inflation hit 3.0% in August, the highest since 1991, underscoring the pain consumers are suffering from rising living costs.”Headline inflation jumped in August to yet another high since 1991 and it still has a stretch higher to climb. That said, the Bank of Japan will remain steadfast in maintaining its ultra-easy monetary policy,” said Darren Tay, Japan economist at Capital Economics.Once welcomed for giving exports a boost, the yen’s weakness has become a headache for Japanese policymakers because it hurts retailers and consumers by inflating the already rising prices of imported fuel and food.The world’s third-largest economy expanded an annualised 3.5% in the second quarter, stronger than the preliminary estimate. But its recovery has been slower than many other countries as a resurgence in COVID-19 infections, supply constraints and rising raw material costs weighed on consumption and output.While inflation is still modest compared with many other advanced nations, a global slowdown and high energy prices are clouding the outlook. The BOJ has pledged to keep interest rates ultra-low and remain an outlier in a global wave of monetary policy tightening. More

Britain’s 19% corporation tax rate – the lowest in the Group of Seven (G7) large, rich nations – had been due to rise to 25% in 2023 under plans announced last year by former finance minister Rishi Sunak.However, opposing the rise formed a major part of Liz Truss’s successful campaign to defeat Sunak in the contest to succeed Boris Johnson as Conservative Party leader and Britain’s prime minister.New finance minister Kwasi Kwarteng is expected to confirm this in an emergency fiscal statement on Friday, where he gives more details about Truss’s plan to support the economy in the face of surging energy bills.Truss said during her campaign that keeping corporation tax low was vital to attract investment, but a report from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) showed past reductions in the tax rate had not led to more investment.Britain cut its headline rate of corporation tax rate from 30% in 2007 to 19% in 2017, but in 2020 private-sector investment was the lowest in the G7 at 9.8% of gross domestic product. Across 31 mostly wealthy nations in the OECD, Britain had the fourth-lowest business investment in 2020.”Slashing corporation tax is just a continuation of a failed race to the bottom that hasn’t delivered for the UK economy,” said George Dibb, head of the Centre for Economic Justice at the IPPR, which describes itself as a progressive think tank.Headline corporation tax rates do not always give a clear sense of the overall business tax burden in a country, and some countries with high rates offer widespread exemptions.Before he resigned as finance minister last month, Sunak had been working on measures to reshape business taxation to promote investment.Low business investment is one of the main reasons economists give for poor productivity and very slow growth in living standards since the late 2000s.Weak demand after the global financial crisis, followed by years of uncertainty over the consequences of Brexit, are among the reasons economists give for Britain’s poor investment performance, alongside difficulties measuring investment in some services industries Britain specialises in. More

Annual investments of about $1tn in renewable power and up to $130bn in hydrogen by 2030 are needed to avoid the catastrophic effects of climate change, a landmark report on behalf of 45 world leaders concludes.The report calculated the world would need to add four times the amount of renewable energy that was deployed in 2021 every year by 2030, and drastically scale up hydrogen production to reach net zero emissions and stem global warming from burning fossil fuels.Up to 8TW of additional renewable capacity will be required by 2030, from about 3TW last year, according to the research jointly published by the International Energy Agency, the International Renewable Energy Agency and the UN, ahead of the COP27 climate summit in November. The supply of “renewable” and “low carbon” hydrogen, the latter using carbon capture technology to trap emissions, would also need to increase to about 150 Mt by 2030 — implying a doubling each year from 2023.The paper was commissioned by the 45 governments making up 70 per cent of the global economy that signed a commitment, dubbed the “breakthrough agenda” at the UN climate summit, to make clean technologies affordable and accessible by 2030. They include the US, the EU bloc countries, Australia, Egypt and Nigeria.The findings were focused on the five key areas of power, road transport, steel, hydrogen and agriculture, that together account for more than 50 per cent of current global emissions.Recommendations for how to reach the goals included the negotiation of international standards for “low-carbon” hydrogen, higher minimum energy performance standards for energy-intensive appliances, and common target dates by which all new road vehicles must be zero emission.Presently, a piecemeal approach is being taken by countries, and even within states and regions, towards these goals. “Progress is not yet fast enough to meet the goals that countries have agreed under the breakthrough agenda,” it added.Countries and companies must work together to create and scale markets for clean technologies, the report said, including through purchase commitments and processes to channel finance and technical assistance to coal-producing countries to shift away from the fossil fuel.Among the biggest impediments was a “collaboration gap” that threatened to delay reaching net zero “by decades”, it warned.While the global energy crisis as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has escalated the demand for renewable energy, the tough economic conditions have pushed countries to adopt protectionist stances. “We are entering the first truly global energy crisis . . . [which is] affecting almost everybody around the world,” said Fatih Birol, IEA executive director. “It’s important to separate facts from fiction . . . clean energy is not a driver but a lasting solution to the current and the next energy crisis to come.” Developing countries have branded as hypocritical the clamouring by European nations for alternative gas supplies to replace those no longer being imported from Russia, given that rich nations have urged poorer ones not to develop fossil fuel reserves to curb global warming. “We cannot leave Africa to have only renewable energies,” said Macky Sall, the president of Senegal, at the Africa Adaptation Summit this month. “No country has managed to develop with only renewable energies.” Urging international collaboration on clean energy, Francesco La Camera, director-general of Irena, said that, while it was “needed more than ever”, the energy, food and inflation crises meant the “very concept of co-operation is challenged”. More

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Credit Suisse Group AG reached a $32.5 million settlement to resolve a lawsuit accusing the Swiss bank of misleading shareholders about how well it managed risk, including its exposure to “high-risk” clients such as Archegos Capital Management.A preliminary settlement of the proposed class action was filed on Friday with the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, and requires a judge’s approval.The bank was accused of playing “a kind of high-finance game of Russian roulette” by letting hedge funds and other “prime” customers make risky, multi-billion dollar bets with its credit, despite publicly pledging a “core commitment” to managing its risk limits, risk oversight and credit exposure.Credit Suisse’s “laissez-faire” approach led to at least $5.5 billion of losses, including from the collapses of Archegos and British financier Greensill Capital, causing shareholders to lose money as the price of its American depositary shares fell, court papers alleged.The bank denied wrongdoing in agreeing to settle. It said in a statement that it was pleased to resolve the lawsuit.Credit Suisse has dubbed 2022 a “transition” year as it reduces risk-taking, and installed restructuring expert Ulrich Koerner as chief executive.Archegos’ collapse caused about $10 billion of losses at banks and wiped out more than $100 billion of shareholder value.Friday’s settlement covers ADR investors from Oct. 29, 2020 to March 31, 2021.The lead plaintiff is the Sheet Metal Workers Pension Plan of Northern California. Its lawyers plan to seek up to 27.5% of the settlement amount, or about $8.9 million, for legal fees.The case is City of St. Clair Shores Police & Fire Retirement System v Credit Suisse Group AG, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 21-03385. More

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Goldman Sachs Group Inc won the dismissal of a proposed class action by tens of thousands of employees over its alleged imprudent use of high-cost, underperforming in-house mutual funds as investment options in their retirement plan.U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos in Manhattan found no proof that Goldman’s 401(k) retirement committee’s decision to use five funds managed by Goldman Sachs Asset Management created a conflict of interest because the affiliate received management fees.He also found no duty for Goldman to have more quickly removed poorly performing funds from the plan, which had about three dozen investment options, and called it speculative to suggest the committee would have “acted differently” if it had more formal criteria to assess fund performance.”The mere possibility that committee members may have been influenced by a desire to benefit Goldman Sachs is not enough to show a breach of the duty of loyalty,” Ramos wrote in a 34-page decision made public late Thursday.Lawyers for the employees did not immediately respond on Friday to requests for comment. Goldman did not immediately respond to similar requests.The lawsuit covered an estimated 29,000 to 35,000 Goldman employees who invested as much as $7.5 billion in their 401(k)s between Oct. 25, 2013 and June 6, 2017, when the last of the five challenged funds was removed from the plan.It was one of a series of lawsuits challenging companies’ management of defined contribution plans under the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act, or ERISA.The case is Falberg v Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS), U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 19-09910. More

President Joe Biden said the US would defend Taiwan from a Chinese attack, in a strong warning to Beijing one month after China held large-scale military exercises in response to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei. Asked in an interview on Sunday with CBS News’s 60 Minutes whether he would deploy US forces to defend Taiwan from Chinese military action, Biden replied: “Yes, if in fact there was an unprecedented attack”. When pressed again on whether the US would send forces to defend Taiwan, in contrast to the situation in Ukraine, the president said: “Yes”. On Monday, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said Beijing “deplores and rejects” Biden’s comments and had registered “solemn complaints” with the US, according to Associated Press. Biden has issued three similar warnings in the past, but Sunday was the first time he has done so since China reacted furiously to Pelosi’s visit with the unprecedented move of firing ballistic missiles over Taiwan.More from Biden’s interview: Investors wiped more than $10bn off the market value of the main Covid-19 vaccine makers yesterday after US president Joe Biden told 60 Minutes, “the pandemic is over”.Do you think the US should step in to defend Taiwan if there was a Chinese attack? Tell me what you think at [email protected]. Thank you for reading FirstFT Asia — EmilyFive more stories in the news1. Queen Elizabeth’s state funeral ends UK period of mourning Queen Elizabeth II has completed the journey to her final resting place at Windsor after a momentous state funeral at Westminster Abbey, as world leaders joined Britons in mourning the country’s longest-serving monarch.The FT View: For all its grief of past days, Britain may yet come to miss its departed monarch even more than it realises.Related read: An official Chinese delegation was barred from attending the Queen’s lying-in-state in Westminster Hall.2. Iranians protest woman’s death after dress code arrest Protesters clashed with security forces in Iran’s biggest cities and across its Kurdish region yesterday as anger mounted over the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian who was on a visit to Tehran, after she was detained by the Islamic republic’s morality police. 3. South Korea prosecutors seek to cancel passport of crypto boss The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday that it asked Seoul’s foreign ministry to cancel the passport of Do Kwon, the co-founder of collapsed cryptocurrency operator Terraform Labs, alleging that he is refusing to co-operate with an investigation into the $40bn implosion of the terraUSD and luna tokens.4. Turkish banks suspend Russian Mir cards İşbank and DenizBank, two of Turkey’s largest banks, have halted the use of the Russian Mir payment system after warnings from Washington over the risk of falling foul of US sanctions on Moscow.More from the war in Ukraine: Russian forces carried out a missile strike that narrowly missed a nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, officials in Kyiv said.5. Typhoon Nanmadol kills at least one in Japan A powerful typhoon tore through south-western Japan, bringing violent winds and torrential rain that left at least one dead, dozens injured and more than 300,000 households without power.

A woman struggles against strong wind and rain in Miyazaki after the typhoon pounded southern Japan © Kyodo News/AP

The day aheadReserve Bank of Australia minutes The minutes from policymakers’ last meeting will shed light on the rate hike put in place earlier this month. Japan CPI figures When the August consumer price index is released today, economists expect the data to show that Japan’s core consumer inflation last month rose to a near eight-year high. (Reuters) What else we’re reading Indians mark the Queen’s passing with respectful indifference For Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata party, actively shedding the trappings of the British Raj is part of a broader ideological project. Indians have collectively absorbed their past and are, as Modi has said, “filling new colours to the portrait of tomorrow” in which Britain matters less.America needs a proper risk strategy for China In Washington, fears that Beijing is planning a military invasion are growing, and America is in danger of becoming embroiled in sparring between Beijing and Taipei in the Taiwan Strait. But what would happen if supply chains and financial flows between the US and China were cut off tomorrow? What’s the day-one plan? asks Rana Foroohar. Putin, Xi and the limits of friendship Earlier this year Russian president Vladimir Putin and Chinese president Xi Jinping touted their nations’ friendship that “has no limits”. But as the protracted conflict continues in Ukraine, a seriously weakened and embarrassed Russia is already a much less useful partner for China, writes Gideon Rachman. Middle managers — on the new front line of office life Middle managers have had to deal with upheavals wrought by the pandemic, and the staff turnover through the so-called Great Resignation, which caused gaps in headcount. Now, many are charged with overseeing hybrid work plans and managing teams’ pay expectations in a period of high inflation.The lawless world of crypto scams Fraudsters are taking advantage of a boom in cryptocurrencies to prey on individuals, with about $6.2bn stolen worldwide in 2021. The rise has exposed a gaping hole in financial regulations and consumer protections, but tracing the international networks behind crypto fraud presents huge challenges for investigators.Your feedbackAs millions tuned in to watch the funeral of Queen Elizabeth, thank you to FirstFT readers from around the world who shared their thoughts about the late monarch with us: “Tested in so many different times — always a rock, pledging her entire life to service until the day she died. Just remarkable, especially today when viewed against our (US in particular) environment of divisiveness, hatefulness and lack of civility. One American’s view: I feel we have lost this wonderful role model of how one should lead and behave.” — Deborah Kelly, Denver, Colorado“I am anxious about the future and what it means for the country both at home, and in the eyes of the world. At the same time, I am excited about Charles taking the throne. I am a sustainability person and the world needs to change. Charles has been banging that drum for years.” — Wayne McCance, Hampshire, England “With her passing, what will the course for Britain be? And what of its traditions that hold a country together, give it meaning, purpose and the will of its people?” — Beatrice, New York City More

BRASILIA (Reuters) – Former Brazilian central bank chief Henrique Meirelles, who served under former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, said on Monday he had not discussed joining the government if the leftist leader wins a third term in October’s election.”There’s nothing (on the table),” he told Reuters after endorsing Lula at a campaign event, while emphasizing his strong relations with him.Asked if he would accept an eventual invitation, he said he would not “waste time deciding on a hypothesis,” adding that in 2002 when Lula first won the presidency the offer to run the central bank came only after the election.Meirelles, who developed a market-friendly track record at the central bank and ran for president himself in 2018, took part in an event on Monday with other former candidates endorsing Lula. Lula leads right-wing incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in opinion surveys.The ringing endorsement from Meirelles contributed to a strong day for Brazilian markets, traders said, with the currency gaining 1.8% and the benchmark stock index rising 2.3%.”I gave a strong speech precisely because I am a man who in my career and in my life believes in facts. And both (Lula) terms were very positive for the country,” he said, highlighting success controlling inflation, creating jobs, cutting poverty and building foreign reserves. Meirelles said he was invited to the campaign event by Lula’s centrist running mate and former rival, Geraldo Alckmin, whose name is also in the mix to run economic policy in an eventual Lula government.Asked whether the presence of Alckmin, a former governor of São Paulo, on the ticket with Lula had a role in garnering the support of Meirelles, the former central banker said it “helps,” but he also stressed his own “excellent relations” with Lula.Brazil’s longest-serving central bank governor (2003-2010), Meirelles is remembered for his role managing the 2008 financial crisis and raising interest rates aggressively to fight inflation.He also led the Finance Ministry during former President Michel Temer’s 2016-2018 term, when he proposed two reforms considered crucial for fiscal sustainability: the constitutional spending cap and the TLP rate for loans from the development bank BNDES, which pushed the cost of state credit closer to market rates. Both have already been criticized by some economists close to Lula. More

Investors do not appear to be waiting for the barrage of central bank meetings this week before making moves.While holidays in Tokyo and London may have meant global trading was somewhat subdued, that did not stop rates from continuing to ascend to new peaks on Monday. The yield on the U.S. benchmark 10-year note hit its highest level since 2011, touching 3.518% although it then pulled back. Despite the fresh milestone for bonds, stocks managed gains, with the S&P 500 lodging a 0.7% increase and bouncing back after shedding 4.8% last week.Euro Zone bond yields also were rising with the German 10-year yield hitting its highest since June. Investors are girding for central bank action. The Fed’s meeting starts Tuesday, although the big news will come on Wednesday with its statement and Chair Jerome Powell’s press conference. A rate hike of 75 basis points is expected, with markets pricing in roughly one-in-five odds of a full percentage point hike.Meanwhile in Japan, the BoJ is seen keeping its loose policy when it meets later this week, which could further pressure the weakening yen. The currency has recently slid to 24-year lows against the dollar.Focus in Asia on Tuesday turns to China, where a decision is due on benchmark lending rates. In a Reuters poll, 75% of market participants predicted no change to either the one-year loan prime rate or the five-year.Authorities are seen holding off monetary easing in order to avoid more depreciation pressure on the yuan. The currency ended at a fresh 26-month low on Monday and traded below the psychologically critical 7-per-dollar level. Key developments that should provide more direction to markets on Tuesday: China 1-yr, 5-yr loan prime rate decision Japan CPI (August)Taiwan Export orders (August)US housing starts (August) More