Wolf Money(world market review 10-16 May 2021)

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Market Summary 10-16 May 2021

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- US inflation soared at its fastest pace since 2008 with consumer prices 4.2% higher than in April 2020

- US economy remains “long way“ from central bank’s inflation n employment goals: Fed Vice Chair

- US Producer Price Index spiked 6.2% for the 12 mths ended in April from a year ago 

+ US retail sales stalled in April but acceleration likely in coming mths amid record savings and reopening economy  

- US consumer sentiment falls in early May to 82.8 from 88.3 in April: University of Michigan 

- US household debt climbs to US$14.64 trillion due to jump in mortgages and car loans 

- US thousands of gas stations are running out of gas as panic buyers rush to full up their vehicles 

+ US jobless claims fell to 473,000 last week from revised 507,000 a week earlier, lowest since mid-Mar 2020 

- US budget deficit surged to record US$1.9 trillion first 7th mths of budget year, 30% higher than US$1.48 trillion YoY

- US is weighing concerns about commodity shortages and inflation as it reviews trade tariff policy: top official 

- US pipeline cyberattack came from gang in Russia: Biden  

- Colonial Pipeline paid hackers US$5m to get fuel flowing: sources 

+ US biggest fuel pipeline said back to delivering “millions of gallons per hour” following last week’s cyberattack

- US firms still face more restrictions in China than Chinese firms face in US: American Chamber of Commerce in China 

+ US trade chief Tai says ‘time is of the essence’ in China trade review 

- US audit watchdog moves closer to enforcing law that could make it easier to delist Chinese firms 

+ US less than 3% of small businesses could face tax hikes under Biden plan: White House 

+ US Senate approved tech bill of >US$110bn for basic and advance tech research over 5 years to address China 

+ US, Canada, Mexico will hold first formal talks on continental trade deal next week 

- Boeing must inspect older 737 jets after Indonesia crash: FAA

+ US announced to remove Xiaomi from its blacklist 

+ US could announce a deal with Iran as early as end of May, could lead to lifting of oil and energy sanctions 

- FB faces “devastating” EU-to-US data transfer ban 

- Elon Musk said company has halted vehicle purchases using Bitcoin due to concerns over mining emissions 

- Tesla halted plans to buy land to expand Shanghai plant and make it global export hub due to uncertainty China-US relations

- Cathie Wood’s ETF assets fall below US$40bn, down from >US$60bn at peak in Feb: Bloomberg data

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+ China’s population grew to 1.412bn as of 1 Nov 20, slowest growth rate since 1950s, could peak at 1.45bn by 2030  

+ PBOC said will continue to maintain proactive monetary policy, flexible, target and lends support to real economy 

+ PBOC to introduce financial instruments to help cut carbon emissions, encourage private lending to facilitate carbon neutrality 

- China has sent clear signal about its plans to push forward with long-awaited property tax 

+ China has successfully landed its first solar-powered rover on Mars

+ China’s trade with Central and Eastern European 17 countries surged 50% to US$30.13bn in Q1 

+ China’s regulator vowed to probe stock price manipulation cases, protect investors 

+ China’s local govts issued US$263.5bn worth of bonds to support economy 

+ China’s private space company planning to launch foreign satellite in 2022

+ China’s brands show incredible resilience amid Covid-19 pandemic challenges: Brand Finance 

+ China remains priority market for companies from US: American Chamber of Commerce 

+ China called for advancing economic inclusion through trade, investment in Asia Pacific region 

+ China production and sales of new-energy vehicles hit new high in April monthly record: CAAM

- Chinese Airlines may suspend cargo flights to India 

+ China’s Sinovac shot found highly effective in real world study: Bloomberg 

+ China’s Jan-Apr direct foreign investment up 38.6% YoY to US$61.55bn: commerce ministry 

+ China FDI expected to grow at strong pace due to expansion of domestic market and robust growth of services sector

+ Chinese Yuan reaches strongest level against US dollar since 2018 

+ China’s real estate firms’ net borrowing through bonds turned positive 1st time in 9th mths in April

+ Yuan bonds owned by overseas investors reached 3.22 trillion yuan (>US$500bn) as end last mth

+ Alibaba’s  MYbank backed by Ant Gp has been officially included and activated in digital yuan wallet 

- Alibaba reports loss of US$1.7bn, after paying US$2.8bn antitrust fine, first quarterly loss since IPO  

- Tencent reshuffles cloud services Arm after poor pandemic performance 

+ SMIC reported 22% YoY growth in revenue to US$1.1bn in Q1, slightly higher than market expectations 

+ HK to implement economic transformation program to reduce carbon emissions and cut local unemployment rate

+ HK saw an increase of 7.9% in Q1, maintained GDP 2021 forecast of 3.5-5.5% in latest outlook update

- Taiwan raised Covid-19 alert level in Taipei and surrounding cities; imposing 2 weeks restrictions after reported surged in cases

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+ Japan’s exports likely grew >30% YoY in April, largest monthly gain since 2010 considerate 

+ Tokyo’s theaters and theme parks begin to reopen with conditions 

- Japan Q2 economic growth forecasts cut sharply to 1.7% on Covid-19 restrictions: Reuters poll 

+ SoftBank broke record-high net profit for Japan firm in 2020 

- Toshiba unit in Europe hit with ransomware, same hacking gp said to be involved in Colonial Pipeline attack 

+ Russia-China bilateral trade reached US$40.21bn in first 4-mth, up by 20% YoY

+ Russia considers buyback of floating-rate ruble bonds sold to boost emergency funds amid pandemic 

+ Russia stock market reached historic high on weaker dollar and higher oil prices 

+ Russia projected to produce 85m tons of wheat in next agricultural season, one of best harvests in post-Soviet history: USDA 

+ Russian-born Ethereum creator Vitalik donated US$1.5bn worth of cryptocurrencies to Covid relief fund in India 

- Global car manufacturers could lose up to US$110bn in revenue due to ongoing shortage of chips: AlixPartners

+ Dogecoin jumped after Elon Musk said “working with Doge devs to improve system transaction efficiency” on Twitter 

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+ EU upgrades outlook for economic growth as lives are gradually return to normal 

+ EU aims for zero pollution in air, water and soil, a vision set out for 2050 

+ EU-US set to reach temporary tariff truce over metals 

+ European Commission revised its economic forecast upward for next 2 years on accelerated vaccination program 

+ Germany’s green plan to cut jet fuel subsidies 

- Markel rejects brining forward Germany’s exit from coal 

+ German aims for carbon neutrality by 2045 

+ UK economy will bounce back best after being among hardest hit: S&P 

- Air France, Airbus face trial over 2009 crash killed 228 ppl 

+ Spain’s economy expected to bounce back in H2 and could expand by 6% this year and 5.3% in 2022: Bank of Spain 

- Greece is opening its tourist industry to the world: Tourism Minister 

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- Australia sticking to plans to start re-opening borders only from middle of next year 

- Australia’s wine shipments to China fell 96% YoY from Dec-Mar to just A$12m 

+ NZ will explore opening more travel bubbles as Covid-10 vaccinations accelerate: PM

- Asian Development Bank to end coal, oil and gas financing: Draft statement 

- India’s trade deficit in goods at US$15.1bn in April: ministry 

- India some ports feared to face shutdowns that may affect shipments of emergency items like medical equipment and cargo 

+ South Korea unveiled US$450bn push to seize global chipmaking crown 

+ South Korea’s exports expected to jump 41% in April YoY 

+ Korea Development Institute revised up growth outlook to 3.8% from previous 3.1% 

+ South Korea, Shanghai bourses agreed to let investors trade in each other’s ETFs

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+ Indonesia launched first-ever unemployment benefit scheme 

- Indonesia suspends 450,000 AstraZeneca vaccine doses over post-vaccination death 

- Thailand about 47% of hotels fear closing in >3 mths as running out of cash: survey by hotel industry  

- Thailand number of foreigners buying condos fell 34% annually  

- Vietnam VinSmart quits production of own smartphone brand, to focus on EVs and smart solutions for households n cities 

- Philippines GDP fell 4.2% in March Qtr YoY, more than expected on prolonged lockdowns 

- Malaysia entered nationwide lock down from May 12, eve of Hari Raya amid 3rd waive of infections 

- Malaysia’s GDP shrank 0.5% in Q1 YoY, beating expectations for 0.6% growth 

- Malaysia has no plans to offer blanket loan moratorium for latest nationwide MCO from May 12 to June 7 

- Malaysia suing units of Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan, Coutts etc to recover some more parts of losses from 1MDB debacle 

- Sg moves back toward lockdown as Vocid-19 cases rise, dining-in banned, social gatherings limited to 2 per gp

+ Sg condo resale volumes hit 11-year high, prices up 1.5% in April SRX 

+ Sg condo, HDB rents climb 1.3% in April: SRX

- Sg restrictions on inflow of foreign workers from higher-risk countries to persist for some time: minister 

+ Sg construction firms to be able to seek relief for increased foreign manpower costs 

+ Sg life insurance sector new sales up 29% to S$1.25bn in Q1 

- Sg unlikely to meet criteria to resume air travel with HK on May 26: Minister 

+ Singaporeans spike in snapping up posh residential properties priced at S$5m and above, jumped by 44% in Q1  

Contribution by Derek@valueinvestments chat group. Thank you.

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