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Tai-Ex opening
The Tai-Ex opened up 296-points this morning from yesterday's close, at 46,339 on turnover of 23.8-billion N-T.
The market plunged (暴跌) over 1,000 points on Wednesday after tech stocks suffered heavy losses on Wall Street overnight.
FSC closely monitoring growing personal loans amid equity boom
The Financial Supervisory Commission says it's closely monitoring expanding personal credit (個人信用貸款) as more and more retail investors (散戶投資人) are opting to borrow money to invest in the local stock market amid the current equity boom.
According to the commission's Financial Examination Bureau, it's now conducting regular reviews of the local banking sector and will continue monitoring
lending activity.
The statements come amid concerns over possible risks caused by retail investors using personal loans to buy stocks, and that once the stock market
faces volatility (波動), borrowers could fail to repay their loans, pushing up the number of non-performing loans shouldered by banks.
CWA issues heavy rain warnings
The Central Weather Administration has issued rain warnings today.
Extremely heavy rain or torrential rain (豪雨；暴雨) advisories (警示) are in effect for Kaohsiung, Pingtung and the Hengchun Peninsula.
Heavy rain or extremely heavy rain advisories have been issued for the North Coast area, Taipei, New Taipei and Tainan.
While a heavy rain advisory is in effect for Keelung, Yunlin both Chiayi city and county, mountainous area of Taitung, Penghu and Matsu.
All of the rain warnings are currently in effect through early tomorrow morning.
White House asks Congress for USD$87.6B in supplemental spending for Iran
War, farm aid, and ebola response
The White House has asked Congress for 87.6 billion US dollars in emergency spending, with the bulk of the money earmarked (指定用途) for the war in Iran.
Democrats have dismissed (駁回；不予理會) the request, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer calling it an attempt to paper over the damage of what he called a reckless war.
Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy said the package appeared designed not to pass.
The request comes a day after both chambers of Congress voted to rebuke (譴責) US President Donald Trump over the conflict.
Mitch Mccann reports from New York.
Powerful earthquake rattles Japan
A powerful earthquake has struck off Japan’s northern coast but there was no danger of a tsunami, the country’s meteorological agency said.
The Japan Meteorological Agency says the quake had a preliminary magnitude (初步規模) of 6.9 and occurred off the eastern coast of Iwate at a depth of about 50 kilometers.
The U.S. Geological Survey also reported a magnitude of 6.9.
The rattling (搖晃；震動) occurred in the area where strong earthquakes have repeatedly been reported in recent months.
The quake struck Japan’s northeastern region during rush hour this morning, and also mildly shook Tokyo.
Some bullet trains and other local lines have been suspended for safety checks.
Officials say nuclear power plants and facilities and a spent fuel reprocessing plant in Aomori, have not reported any abnormalities (異常) from Thursday's earthquake.