Stock market falls; Globe defies downtrend

debt ceiling standoff.

Top Gainers

STOCKS fell for a second day after the Philippine Statistics Authority reported that both exports and imports registered year-on-year declines in April.

The PSE index, the 30-company bellwether of the Philippine Stock Exchange, shed 43 points, or 0.49 percent, to close at 6,507.15, as three of the six subsectors ended in the red.

The index representing all shares also lost 8 points, or 0.24 percent, to settle at 3,476.18 on a value turnover of P5.66

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Most Active

SELF-DRIVING CARS.

Chevrolet Cruise autonomous vehicles sit parked in a staging area on June 8, 2023, in San Francisco, California. Autonomous vehicle companies Cruise and Waymo have been testing their vehicles throughout San Francisco, and residents are not happy with the problems that the cars are bringing to the city. The cars frequently stop in the middle of roads for no reason, have driven through police crime tape and most recently struck and killed a dog. AFP billion. Gainers led losers, 92 to 80, while 52 issues were unchanged. Five of the 10 most active stocks ended in the green, led by Globe Telecom Inc. which climbed 3.78 percent to P1,785.00. Meanwhile, the peso gained 0.11 percent Friday to close at 56.05 against the US dollar from 56.11 Thursday.

Most Asian markets advanced Friday, fired by renewed optimism that the Federal Reserve will hold off lifting interest rates next week as fresh data indicated further tightening in the US labor market. Expectations the central bank will stand pat next week -- for the first time since starting its hiking cycle last year -have pushed equities higher for most of the month, helped by the end of the US

“The Fed is the price-setter here, the others are the price-takers, and we should not confuse the two,” Evercore ISI’s Krishna Guha said.

The Bank of Canada and the Reserve Bank of Australia “are raising rates in part because they think the Fed will hike once more and if they fail to match this they risk forex depreciation”.

Analysts said a pick-up in industrial stocks indicated a broadening of the rally while others said the United States could even avoid a recession, which many had feared would happen because of the surge in interest rates over the past year.

In Asian trade, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo, Seoul, Sydney, Taipei, Mumbai

China inflation stays low as growth sputters on weak demand

BEIJING, China—Chinese inflation

came in flat again in May, official figures showed Friday, as the country’s economy sputters owing to softening demand and falling exports, leading to calls for a rate cut and a bigger government stimulus.

The consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.2 percent on-year, from 0.1 percent in April, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), said.

The figure was in line with expectations of analysts polled by Bloomberg.

Beijing has kept interest rates low compared to other major economies, but the near-zero inflation highlights challenges faced by policymakers as they try to stimulate the economy.

Top economist and government adviser Liu Yuanchun on Thursday called for regulators to cut borrowing costs further to ease the financing burden of small and medium-sized private businesses.

Private companies’ borrowing costs exceeded that of large state-owned enterprises, Liu said, according to Bloomberg News.

Large state-owned enterprises enjoyed loan rates lower than 1.8 percent but many private firms had to pay nearly nine percent, he said on the sidelines of the Lujiazui Forum in Shanghai.

“It’ll be better if the rate cut comes as a part of a package of support policies,” he said.

China’s six largest state-owned commercial banks cut interest rates for savers on Thursday to boost spending, according to announcements on their websites, after being asked by the cen- tral bank.

The country’s producer price index (PPI)—which measures prices paid by wholesalers—dropped a bigger-thanexpected 4.6 percent in May, from a 3.6 percent decline in April, and the biggest drop since 2016.

PPI has fallen for eight consecutive months because of sluggish domestic demand and lower commodity costs.

Other economic data released recently also signal weakness in the world’s second-largest economy, despite the lifting of strict pandemic rules at the end of last year.

Exports sank in May for the first time since February, state media reported earlier in the week, breaking a two-month growth streak as a post-Covid rebound faded. AFP

Meta’s Zuckerberg shakes off Apple Vision Pro, pushes metaverse

and Jakarta were all in positive territory. But Singapore, Bangkok and Wellington dipped, while London, Paris and Frankfurt skidded in the morning.

Traders are now awaiting the release of the key US consumer price index next week, which comes ahead of the Fed policy decision, but with bets on a pause growing, observers said the July meeting was already in focus.

“Early days, but the June non-farm payrolls report is building to be a particularly interesting one—on the wages front in particular—given that money markets continue to price some 21 basis points of Fed tightening over the combined June and July (policy) meetings,” said National Australia Bank’s Ray Attrill. With AFP

US, UK announce new partnership in face of China

WASHINGTON, USA—The US and British leaders on Thursday announced a new economic partnership that will boost industry ties on defense and renewable energy in the face of growing competition from China.

On a White House visit, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak adopted an “Atlantic Declaration” with President Joe Biden, who has dashed UK hopes for a wider free trade agreement between post-Brexit Britain and the world’s largest economy.

“We face new challenges to international stability—from authoritarian states such as Russia and the People’s Republic of China (PRC); disruptive technologies; non-state actors; and transnational challenges like climate change,” the declaration says.

The document raises one key concern raised by US allies with Biden —his Inflation Reduction Act, which massively expands US commitment to green energy, hoping for the United States to take the lead over China, by promoting domestic industry.

Under the agreement with Sunak, the two countries will launch “immediate” negotiations on the US treatment of critical minerals that are used in electric batteries in Britain.

Biden also agreed to ask Congress to designate Britain as a domestic source for defense procurement, to speed up development of next-generation weapons such as hypersonic missiles.

“The UK and US have always pushed the boundaries of what two countries can achieve together,” Sunak said in a statement.

“So it’s natural that when faced with the greatest transformation in our economies since the industrial revolution, we would look to each other to build a stronger economic future together.” AFP

SAN FRANCISCO, USA—Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday told employees that while Apple’s mixed reality gear may be nice, it is not his vision of the future, according to US media reports.

Zuckerberg’s comments came during the first all-hands gathering at its Silicon Valley campus since the pandemic, and just days after Apple unveiled Vision Pro mixed reality headsets.

“I mean, that could be the vision of the future of computing, but like, it’s not the one that I want,” Zuckerberg reportedly said while assessing what he has seen of Apple Vision Pro.

“There’s a real philosophical difference in terms of how we’re approaching this.”

Meta makes Quest virtual reality headsets and has invested heavily in Zuckerberg’s belief that internet life will one day play out in virtual worlds referred to as the metaverse.

“Our vision for the metaverse and presence is fundamentally social,” Zuckerberg said, according to a transcript of remarks posted by tech news website The Verge.

“By contrast, every demo that (Apple) showed was a person sitting on a couch by themself.”

Meta was so confident it could create the metaverse—an idea of a 3D immersive internet—that it changed its name from Facebook in 2021 and began funneling billions into the project.

But the idea has been hampered by botched launches, dodgy graphics, no clear path to profitability, and a general feeling that few people know what it is.

Meta’s Reality Labs, the division helming its metaverse effort, has lost $4 billion so far and Zuckerberg has been increasingly talking up artificial intelligence rather than the metaverse.

Zuckerberg was quoted by CNBC as saying at the all-hands gathering that Meta planned to build generative artificial intelligence into “every single one” of its products.

Apple this week unveiled a sleek Vision Pro “spatial reality display” packed with technology and priced at $3,499.Vision Pro is to be available early next year. It allows users to communicate, work, watch movies, listen to music—and even choose whether to be immersed or to keep an eye on the outside world.

Meanwhile, a new-generation Quest 3 with improved performance and slimmed design will be available later this year at a starting price of $500.

Zuckerberg described the coming model as Meta’s “most powerful headset yet” and promised it would provide the best wireless way to experience mixed and virtual reality. AFP facilities and ancillary services.

Final notice is hereby given to eligible and interested Private Sector Proponents (PSPs) to tender their notarized Expressions of Interest (EOIs) to Submit Comparative Proposals to Bataan Public-Private Partnership and Investment Center, 6th Floor, The Bunker, Capitol Compound, Balanga City on or before 5:00 in the afternoon of June 23,2023.

The EOI must and can only be submitted by the PSP that will apply for eligibility and will submit a comparative proposal, if eligible. It must state that the PSP has undertaken and completed a similar development project under a similar arrangement.

Further, the EOI must contain an undertaking by the PSP that the latter will: (a) adhere to the Ordinance, policies, pronouncements of and qualification criteria set by the PPPSC; (b) not seek and obtain a writ of injunction or prohibition or restraining order against the PPPSC, the Province and its officials to prevent or restrain the Competitive Challenge process, the award of the Project, and the carrying out the Project; and (c) not institute any criminal, civil and/or administrative cases against the officials of the PPPSC and the Province.

PSPs that will participate must acknowledge the right of the original proponent to match the best qualified proposal submitted in this Competitive Challenge, upon which the PPP Project shall still be awarded to the original proponent under the terms and conditions of the said best qualified proposal.

If no notarized EOI from a proper entity is received within the above-prescribed period, the Project will be awarded to the OP and Stage 3 of the Competitive Challenge process will be deemed terminated.

PSPs which have filed their EOIs may obtain the forms for pre-qualifications and eligibility, and submit the eligibility requirements on or before 5:00 PM, July 21, 2023. Tender documents shall be issued only to eligible private proponents upon payment of a non-refundable fee of Philippine Pesos: Fifty Thousand Pesos (Php 50,000.00) and must submit their comparative proposals on or before 5:00 PM, September 20, 2023. If no PSP qualifies as eligible and/or procures the tender documents and/or submits compliant comparative proposals, the Project will be awarded to the OP and Stage 3 of the Competitive Challenge process will be terminated.

The PPP-SC reserves the right to reject any and all application for qualification and eligibility found not in conformity with the aforesaid Ordinance, relevant issuances, and this Notice.