Hong Kong chief executive John Lee announced on 25th that public consultation on the next Policy Address will begin next Monday (29th) and will simultaneously seek public views on Hong Kong’s first five-year plan.

US current account deficit widened to $226.8 bln in Q1, up $5.8 bln (2.6%) from a revised $221.1 bln in Q4, and rose to 2.9% of GDP from 2.8%. The increase was not trade-driven: the goods trade deficit narrowed and goods and services exports jumped $50 bln to $1.38 tln. The main drag was primary (investment) income, which swung from a Q4 surplus to a Q1 deficit, signalling changes in relative returns between US residents’ foreign assets and foreigners’ US assets and higher financing costs for an increasingly imbalanced international balance sheet. Annual revisions were large: Q4’s deficit was revised from an initial -$190.7 bln to -$221.1 bln, and the net international investment position was adjusted by nearly $6 tln.

IBM (IBM.N) said the transistor architecture for its sub-1nm chip technology has reached the 7-angstrom node.