Wolf Money(world market review 5-11 April 2021)

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+ Fed’s policymaking committee voted in March to continue bond purchase and keep near-zero interest rate 

- US jobless claims rose to 744,000 last week as layoffs continue, up by 16,000 from previous week  

+ Biden says his US$2.25 trillion infrastructure plan would create 19m jobs  

+ US exports to China early 2021 up 43% from pre-Covid 2019, overall exports to the world down US$8.47bn   

- Yellen said a global minimum corporate tax rate will ensure firms pay out and prevent companies from fleeing to countries with lower tax rates 

+ US PPI up 1% in March, in the 12 mths through March, PPI surged 4.2%, biggest YoY rise since Sept 2011

+ Biden administration mulls cutting US greenhouse gas emissions 50% or more by 2030 

- White House summit on global chip shortage with MNCs excludes all key players from Chinese mainland 

- US added Chinese supercomputing entities to an economic blacklist 

- US in talks to appoint special envoy to lead negotiations on halting construction of Russia-Germany Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline 

- US auto group wants the govt to allocate funds for chip makers to expand production to cater to auto sector 

- Boeing calling for dozens of planes to be grounded over issues with electrical system 

- US could tax 25% tariffs imports from 6 nations in response to digital service taxes targeting US tech giants

+ US likely surpass Ukraine as China’s top source of corn this year first time since 2015

+ Elon Musk’s brain-chip startup released footage shows monkey with brain-chip playing videogame by thinking 

+ Amazon workers in Alabama voted against unionizing 

- Peter Thiel, PayPal co-founder: Chinese govt may be supporting Bitcoin to undermine foreign and monetary policy of US 

+ GM and Chinese JV partner sold >780,000 vehicles in China in Q1, up 69% YoY  

+ Coinbase reported record US$1.8bn revenue for Q1 ahead of Nsadaq listing 

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- China asks banks to curtail credit for rest of the year 

- China’s forex reserves fall to US$3.17 trillion at end March from US$3.205 trillion in end Feb 

+ China CPI rose 0.4% YoY in March, reversing from -0.2% drop in Feb 

+ China’s PPI up 4.4% YoY in March, highest level since July 2018, amid steady recovery in domestic demand 

+ China central bank conducted 10 bn yaun (US$1.53bn) of reverse repos to maintain reasonably ample liquidity 

+ China’s once-a-decade census due out in days expected to show further fall in percentage of young people 

+ China’s anti-trust regulator adding staff and other resources, ramps up efforts to crack down anti-competitive behavior 

- Alibaba hit with record US$2.75bn for antitrust violations 

+ IMF raised 2021 growth forecast for China to 8.4%  

+ Shenzhen to stage another round of stepped-up digital yuan test, enlarging test population by 500,000 

+ China’s auto sales rose 75.6% from Jan-Mar period YoY to 6.48m units 

+ China’s tourism revenue will reach US$1.28 trillion yuan in H1, up 102% YoY: Tourism Academy

+ Chinese research team successful trial for drilling world-record depth of 231 meters on seabed of South China Sea 

+ China State Shipbuilding Corp won its biggest ever contract worth >US$1.5bn to build skyscraper-sized cargo ships 

+ China major ports reported container throughput growth in March up by 10.9% YoY 

+ China speeding up production single-dose Covid-19 vaccine in Shanghai with annual production capacity of about 200m units 

+ China saw total 9.66m newly registered motor vehicles in Q1, a record high for the same period in any year 

+ Shanghai launched new global investment partnership programs, will open 14 new industrial parks

+ Huawei launched HarmonyOS-based new products cater to smart home experiences 

+ Nio’s 100,000th vehicle rolled off the production this week, took 1064 days to complete with average US$65,000 per unit

+ Nio to inject another 5 bn yuan in R&D in 2021 

- ByteDance challenged in Mumbai court that India’s move to freeze its local bank accounts is illegal 

+ HK adopts 4 e-payment platforms to operate HK$36bn digital vouchers scheme, estimated to add 0.7% pts to the economy 

+ HKEX funds raised through IPOs hit HK$132.8bn (US$17.07m) in Q1, up by 822% YoY as more Chinese firms head home  

+ HK Chief Executive Carrie Lam supports proposals to relax listing requirements on HK stock exchange 

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+ Equity funds attracted more than half a trillion dollars past 5 mths than last 12 years: BoA

- IMF expects global economy to grow by 6% in 2021, up from its 5.5% forecast in Jan 

- Global food prices continue to surge, hitting 7-year high: UN 

- Global air passenger demand plunged 88.7% in Feb with pre-Covid levels of Feb 2019

+ Cryptocurrencies combined market capitalization surpassed US$2 trillion for the first time in history  

+ Ether, world 2nd largest cryptocurrency breaks past US$2000, surged by 170% this year alone 

+ Japan began studying feasibility of issuing its own digital currency

- Japanese retail giant Aeon reported record gp net loss of ¥71bn, first loss in 12 years 

+ Japan corporate bankruptcies hit 30-year low in 2020, owing to govt subsidies 

+ Russia’s economic growth forecast has been upgraded by IMF 2nd time this year to 3.8%  

- Russia slashing estimates for domestic crude oil, gas and local production for 2021 and 2022 

+ Russia tested its first post-Soviet large domestic airliner MC-21-300 in freezing conditions 

+ Russia may allocate extra metal profits to budget in order to stablise prices for metal products used in construction 

+ Canadian M&A activity in Q1 soared to all-time high on cross-border deals, easy financing conditions 

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+ EU suggested 6-mth mutual tariff freeze with US to solve Boeing-Airbus brawl  

+ European equities post longest weekly winning streak in 17 mths 

- EU natural gas production plunged 23% last year 

+ EU approved US$4.7bn in state aid for national carrier Air France 

- EU regulator found possible links between AstraZenca vaccine and rare blood clots 

+ Germany aims to extend aid for Covid-hit businesses 

+ BMW delivered total 636,606 BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce vehicles in Q1, up by 33.5% YoY at new all time high for Q1

+ BMW recorded best-ever Q1 in China with sales increased by 97.3% YoY to 229,748 units BMW and Mini Brand vehicles 

+ UK will confirm early whether to allow int’l travel to resume  in May

- French lawmakers voted to abolish domestic flights on routes that can be covered by train in under 2.5 hrs 

- Spain allocated funds for a 3-year experiment to compensate businesses that choose a shortened week 

+ Sweden house prices jumped 17% in March from a year earlier to highest, with record number of home sold in Q1

- Credit Suisse expects Q1 loss of US$960.4m slashes bonuses, ousts top execs amid US$4.7bn losses from Archegos meltdown 

+ Turkey is committed bringing inflation and interest rates down to single digits: Erdogan 

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- Australia central bank cautions about housing boom as rates held at record lows

+ NZ agreed to open travel corridor with Australia

- India’s daily Covid-19 cases rise to record for 5th time this week  

- India court reportedly rejected ByteDance’s plea to unblock its bank accounts, frozen amid probe of possible tax evasion 

- LG to shut down its loss-making smartphone unit after failing to find a buyer 

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+ Indonesia promoting later marriages, family planning and contraception to lower fertility rate to 2.1 children by 2025

+ Jokowi doubles wealth fund goal, known as Indonesia Investment Authority to US$200bn 

+ Gojek and Tokopedia are close to sealing proposed merger as preparing to seek formal shareholder approval 

- Thailand Airlines urging govt to shut down domestic travel during Songkran holiday period to prevent 3rd wave Covid

- Thailand consumer spending expected to decline up to 50bn baht a mth due to new outbreak of Covid-19

- Cambodia unlikely to reach previously anticipated output between 7000-7500 bpd, would make it hardly profitable 

+ Malaysia agreed to increase the cost in China-backed East Coast Rail Link to US$12.08bn, takes the length back up to 665km

+ Axiata Gp and Norwegian Telenor in advanced talks to merge Malaysia mobile operations

+ Malaysia 385,251 individuals completed both doses of Covid-19 vaccine  

- DPM Heng Swee Keat no longer Sg next PM, to relinquish Finance portfolio at Cabinet reshuffle  

+ Sg PMI climbed to 50.8 in March, highest since March 2019 

+ Sg unemployment fell to 3% in Feb, continued to decline for 4th straight mth  

+ Sg and US will deepen bilateral cooperation in transport sector, work to revive air travel 

- Sg expects domestic interest rates to rise in tandem with climbing US rates: Tharman 

- MAS will probably wait until next year to normalize its currency settings, although have not ruled out tightening in Oct 

+ HDB resale prices rise for 9th straight mth in March, volume up by 25.6% 

- Sg 85% of all ongoing BTO projects delayed, 43,000 households affected

+ Sg will begin accepting visitors with digital travel pass from May onwards 

+ Sg to provide additional amount of S$65.8m to Tourism Development Fund 

- Sg has 15% of residents aged 65 and over in 2020, one of the fastest ageing populations in Asia 

+ Frasers Logistic & Commercial Trust will join FTSE Straits Times Index (STI) on Apr 13

Contribution by Derek@valueinvestments chat group. Thank you.

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