Wolf Money(world market review 3-9 May 2021)

 

U Ngwe Gaing Myanmar 1901-1967

Portrait of General Aung San circa 1950-67

National Gallery Singapore 

Market Summary 03-09 May 2021

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+ Biden said corporate tax rate between 25% and 28% could help pay for badly needed infrastructure 

- US payrolls increased 266,000 in April after downwardly revised 770,000 March increase, jobless rate edged up to 6.1%

- US employers hired far fewer workers than expected in April amid labour shortages 

+ US reported robust growth in business activity in April 

- Yellen said the nation could exhaust its ability to borrow this summer even if Treasury takes extraordinary actions  

+ Yellen said not forecasting interest rate increases to rein in any inflation, sees no inflation problem   

- Treasury sell off in Feb highlights ongoing liquidity risk: Fed 

+ Digital Dollar Project announced to launch 5 pilot programmes to test potential uses of US central bank digital currency 

+ US allocates US$21.6bn in emergency rental assistance to help prevent evictions of ppl lost jobs during pandemic 

- US federal judge thrown out pandemic-related moratorium on evictions 

+ NYC may freeze rent again for 2 million tenants

- US Chamber of Commerce called for end US$300-a-week jobless aid to ease labour shortage

- US auto sector urged US Congress to help fund its computer chip needs 

- US auto parts suppliers warned more production cuts at major automakers as chip shortage to intensify 

- US energy production down by 5% in 2020, steepest annual decline on record: EIA 

+ Goldman launches cryptocurrency trading team: staff memo 

+ US lumber futures extended their steep rally to fresh record highs above US$1500

+ Biden joined dozens of other nations backing plan to waive patent protections on Covid-19 vaccines 

+ Pfizer reported earnings of US$4.9bn in Q1

- US big Pharma opposed waiving patent protections for Covid-19, citing would set precedent could threaten future innovations 

- US aviation body wants more Boeing 737 electrical data 

+ FB-backed Diem aims to launch digital currency later this year, first proposed Jun 19 with the name Libra 

+ FB semi-autonomous oversight board upheld Trunp’s suspension for inciting violence 

+ Bezo’s Blue Origin sets first commercial flight into suborbital space for July 

+ Verizon sold media division including Yahoo, AOL for US$5bn 

- Tesla tells regulator that full self-driving cars may not be achieved by year-end

- Tesla reportedly working with Chinese regulators as company faces scrutiny over safety issues 

+ IBM unveiled 2-nanometer chip technology for faster computing 

- Hyatt Hotel reported bigger loss for Q1 affected by pandemic 

+ Robinhood’s core business more than tripled in Q1

- Bill Gates and wife Melinda divorcing after 27 years of marriage

+ Buffett names Greg Abel as his likely successor at Berkshire 

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+ China’s trade volume grew 37% YoY to US$485bn in April, 11 consecutive mths positive growth 

+ China’s exports and imports rising 32.3% and 43.1%, trade surplus at US$42.85bn 

+ China exports to US rose 31% to US$42bn from YoY, imports from US rose 52% to US$13.94bn in April 

+ China’s services sector at fastest expansion in 5 mths at 56.3 in April, vs 54.3 in March: Caixin/ Markit survey

+ China expected to release results of once-in-a–decade census on May 11 after delays and speculation 

+ Digital yuan tests speed has picked up during May Day holiday, trials could expand to cross-border scenarios  

- China regulator weighing tighter rules for companies seeking to list in HK or overseas 

- China announced “indefinite suspension” of China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue

+ China’s foreign exchange reserves soared to US$3.198 trillion, added US$28.15bn in April  

+ China’s biggest Long March rocket debris land in Indian Ocean 

- China 3 telcos expect NYSE to notify regulators of their delisting after unsuccessfully appeal 

- China’s 8 listed airline companies reported combined net loss of US$270m for Q1 

- China’s iron ore import price jumps to record high, curbing measuring expected: Global Times 

+ China imports from Australia rose 49.3% to US$14.87bn in April iron ore price surged to record high 

+ China’s domestic natural gas demand set to grow faster this year by 10% 

+ China’ healthcare market expected to grow from RMB6 trillion in 2019 to RMB16 trillion in 2030

+ Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine has gotten approval from WHO for emergency use 

+ Huawei HarmonyOS phones will be officially put into use on mobile phones soon: industry analysts 

- Tencent-backed online insurance tech firm Waterdrop tumbled by 14.5% in NYSE debut    

+ China reported 320m trips during during May Day holiday 

+ Hainan on track to become biggest duty-free market in the world in next 2 years: KPMG

+ HK GDP surged 7.8% YoY, fastest growth > a decade, after falling for record 6 qtrs 

- HK rental market dropped to lowest since end 2016: Centaline Property

+ Li Ka-shing private investment firm Horizons Ventures to focus on funding SEA’s tech start-up

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+ BOJ to keep policy steady and unveiled steps to hit 2% inflation target 

+ Nissan announced to sell its whole stake in Daimler for US$1.4bn 

- Japan’s extended virus emergency could lead to ¥1 trillion economic loss

- JAL reported first net loss of US$2.6bn since 2011 relisting   

- Russia-China trade reached US$40.21 bn in Jan-Apr, almost 20% higher YoY

+ Russia reduced share of euro, pound and dollar in its reserves in favour of gold, yuan and other currencies 

+ Gazprom’s gas exprts to non-CIS countries grew by 28.3% in first 4-mth YoY to 68.4 bn cubic meters 

+ Russia’s exports of gold surged by 220% in March YoY, amounting to 26.5 tons worth US$1.5bn 

- Canada shed 207,000 jobs in April, unemployment rate rose to 8.1% from 7.5% a mth earlier, was below 6% before pandemic 

- Canada pleads to keep cross-border Great Lakes oil pipeline with US open  

- Brazil raise benchmark interest by 75 basis pt to 3.5% as inflation surged above target ceiling to 4-year high

+ Gold jumped >1% to its best week since Nov on US jobs data miss 

- Copper, iron ore hit record highs 

- 155m of ppl globally facing food crisis, at 5-year high in 2020: GNAFC 

- Covid-19 pandemic sinks global investment to 15-year low: OECD

+ Ethereum surged has turned its co-founder Vitalik into youngest crypto billionaire in history 

- Dogecoin tumbled after Elon Musk called it a ‘hustle’ 

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+ EU ready to discuss US offer to suspend patent protection on vaccines, once the details are clear: council chief 

- EU proposed to prevent non-EU firms that receive govt subsidies from investing or acquiring European companies 

+ EU wants to boost cross-border initiatives in areas such as hydrogen, sustainable transport 5G corridors, blockchain 

+ EU and India to resume talks on free trade deal, frozen since 2013 due to various differences 

+ Airbus delivered 45 jets in April, bringing total to 170 from Jan-April, up 25% YoY

+ Germany exports up for 11th mth in a row in March 

+ Germany doubled purchases of Russian natural gas in March

+ Commerzbank struck deal with employees for 10,000 job cuts globally 

+ Siemens booked net profit of €2.4bn for Jan to Mar, up from €697m a year earlier 

+ UK reopens travel from May 17 to limited destinations 

+ UK’s construction sector sees biggest increase in its workload in 5 years 

+ UK-India announced US$1.4bn private sector investments, a step towards full trade-trade pact 

- Scotland pro-independence parties won majority in parliament, paved way for independence showdown 

+ France Macron called on US to put an end to export ban not only vaccines but on vaccine ingredients 

+ Spain plans to spend €13bn to promote domestic sales of EVs, build battery cell plant and attract automakers 

+ Spanish travel booking gp Amadeus said March bookings highest since pandemic hit

- Credit Suisse reportedly plans to refrain from holding cannabis stocks on behalf of its clients  

+ Pandora will no longer use mined diamonds, to use diamonds manufactured in laboratories instead 

- Turkey held interest rate unchanged at 19% second straight mth, even inflation in April hit its highest level in 2 years  

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- Australia Defence Minister confirmed reviewing the ownership of key port owned by Chinese firm 

- Australia regulator moves to block Qantas-Japan Airlines deal 

- India services sector eased to 3-mth low in April 

- Modi’s party loses a key election, held under the cloud of pandemic

- India surpassed EU for the first time with about 6.6% of total global greenhouse gas emissions 

- India govt hasn’t placed order >110m doses from the biggest local maker since Dec, just enough for 4% population: Bloomberg 

+ Saudi Aramco profits soared by 30% in Q1 YoY, net income at US$21.7bn 

+ Iran expressed optimism over Vienna talks to revive 2015 nuclear deal 

- South Korea Stockholders Alliance vowed to gather day traders into force to fight short sellers 

- South Korea to tax cryptocurrency investors 20% of profits, mining cost deducted 

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- Indonesia unemployment rate in Feb remained high at 6.26% with around 8.75m workers jobless 

+ Indonesia posted record manufacturing PMI for 2nd mth in row at 54.6 in April from 53.2 in March 

+ Indonesia forecast economic growth to rebound to between 6.9 and 7.8% in April-June period YoY

+ Indonesia founder of Lion Air Risdi, is in process of launching new airline Super Air Jet 

- Indonesia Aceh province introduced regulation that all financial institutions have to comply with Islamic law 

+ Thai govt new relief packages expected to generate spending up to B400bn, could increase GDP growth by 1%

- Thailand 3rd outbreak of Covid-19 predicted to send domestic air travel tumbling 38% this fiscal year

+ Thailand plans to waive mandatory quarantine for vaccinated visitors to BKK n top tourist destination from Oct 

+ Phuket to reopen as planned to foreign tourists on July 1 

+ Myanmar approved US$28bn investment, including gas power plant, did not give details of companies behind 

- Cambodia’s largest casino NagaWorld cuts 1300 jobs amid pandemic  

+ Malaysia govt expected to collect RM295m form windfall tax on palm oil in Q1

- Malaysia’s Covid-19 daily case count may rise to 7000 by end-May: top health official 

- Malaysia more younger ppl getting infected with new Covid-19 variants: Health Director 

+ Malayis plans to set up a timber industry hub in Penang to help resolve issue of factory management costs  

+ SGX RegCo to enhance disclosures to meet market needs in changing landscape 

- Sg developers’ margins are being squeezed by higher land, construction cost and agent commissions: survey 

+ Sg foreign worker levy rebates for construction, marine and process sectors to go up from S$90 to S$250

+ Sg 3 local banks kicked off the year with solid Q1 on stronger fee income and lower credit costs 

- Sg to tighter measures to guard against the increased spread of Covid-19 in the community 

+ HDB resale price rose 1.2% in April, up for 10th straight mth, with total S$21m flats changed hands in April

- SPH to transfer its media business into a not-for-profit entity, said intended to preserve and grow its media business

- SIA raises S$1.5bn from airplane sale-and-leaseback transactions for 11 aircraft 

Contribution by Derek@valueinvestments chat group. Thank you.

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