Wolf Money(world market review 20-26 Dec 2021)

Svay Ken Cambodia 1933-2008

Hotel Le Royal circa 1994

Collection of National Gallery Singapore 

Market Summary 20-26 Dec 2021

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+ US outlook for full-year 2021 growth revised upward to 5.5%, improvement of 0.7% pts 

- US current account deficit jumps to 15-year high in Q3, up 8.3% to US$214.8bn 

+ Biden convening meeting of US officials, private sector companies to address supply chain disruptions 

+ US consumer confidence improves in Dec despite inflation, pandemic fears 

+ US personal consumption expenditures surged 5.7% in Nov YoY, sharpest rise in nearly 40 years 

- Biden singed law banning goods made in China’s Xinjiang region 

+ US existing home sales advance for 3rd consecutive mth 

- Biden extends student loan repayment pause through May 1 

+ US consumer sentiment improved slightly in Dec stood at 70.6

+ US initial unemployment claims unchanged at seasonally adjusted 205,000

- US airlines scrap nearly 1000 Christmas Day flights due to Omicron 

- Fauci warns of bleak winter with Omicron ‘raging through the world’

+ US approved Pfizer pill for Covid treatment, first at-home treatment for Covid-19, followed by Merck drug the day after 

- US >21m ppl did not have enough to eat in early Dec: US Census Bureau 

- Amazon, FB , Twitter, Microsoft, Pinterest will not send teams to Consumer Electronics Show in LA over Covid-19 concerns 

+ Tesla’s German Gigafactory is clearing the final hurdles to get it fully operational in new year

- Tesla to halt video games in moving vehicles, under pressure from US auto safety regulator 

+ Musk said on Twitter that he will pay >US$11bn in taxes this year 

+ Intel to expand in Germany, France and Italy: sources 

- Intel apologised in China after controversial letter to suppliers to avoid Xinjiang labour 

+ Binance inked a deal with Dubai to work on int’l crypto framework 

+ NASA to launch alien-hunting James Webb space telescope

- NSAS: Asteroid 2014 YE15, will approach Earth at a distance of around 7.4m km on Jan 6 

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+ China’s GDP estimated to grow 8% in 2021: World Bank

+ China unveiled new draft rules to regulate domestic firms’ overseas listing, bans listings endangering national security 

+ China set up giant rare earths corporation by merging several of major producers, to extend global control 

+ China top industry regulatory said stabilising industrial growth will be top priority in 2022 

+ PBOC cut 1-year benchmark interest rate by 5 basis pts after holding it steady for 20 mths 

+ China’s total retail sales of consumer goods rose 13.7% YoY to about US$6.25 trillion in first 11 mths 

+ China central bank says to promote healthy development of country’s real estate market 

+ China’s SOEs profits surged 40.2% from Jan-Nov 

- China’s regulator vowed to tackle risks stemming from overdue delivery of residential properties by some top developers 

+ China Mobile set to list in Shanghai after US ban, aims to raise US$8.8bn 

+ China now has >1.3m 5G base stations: MIIT

+ China’s passenger trips to double during Spring Festival travel rush in 2022 

+ China will roll out policies to help exporters and importers amid economic headwinds 

+ China managed to stockpile more than half of globe’s corn and other grains, expected to boost food reserves further 

+ China fires up ‘artificial sun’ 7 times warmer than the real sun to make unlimited energy 

- Xian lockdown its 13 million residents as Covid-19 cases rise 

- China tells celebrities, live-streamers to report tax-related crimes, days after “queen of livestreaming” was fine US$210m  

+ China plans to boost railway advantages by 2023, capable of reaching 600 km per hr and vacuum tube trains 

+ China’s big tech Alibaba, Ant Gp, Tencent participated in >10 SEA fundraises worth US$2bn this year

+ Tencent to give US$16.4bn JDcom stake to shareholders as dividend 

+ TikTok became the most visited website in the world this year: Cloudflare 

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+ Japan PM called for firms to raise wages in 2022 

+ Japan raised overall economic assessment 1st time in 17 mths in Dec report 

+ Japan’s govt plans to compile record-high annual budget for next fiscal year, totalling about US$941.38bn 

+ Japan aims to keep balanced budget by end March 2026 even after approving record spending for 2022

+ Japan’s Nov consumer inflation rise at fastest pace in nearly 2 years due to fuel costs 

- Toyota to put production of 20,000 cars on hold in Jan as it continues to struggle with procurement and chip shortage 

- Russian court fines Google US$100m and Meta Platforms (FB) US$27m for content violations  

+ Canada’s economy expands for 6th straight mth in Nov 

- Cuba will have an inflation rate of >70% by end 2021: Economy Minister

+ 2000 IPOs, not including SPACs, raised US$402bn in year 2021 globally, growth of 81% in proceeds and 51% in total number of IPOs YoY, SPACs added another US$192bn: Refinitiv 

- Commercial airlines around the world cancelled >6300 flights over Christmas weekend due to Covid-driven staff shortage  

+ Global economy to top US$100 trillion in 2022: CEBR

- Global shipping chaos problem will not end in end 2022: market insider

- Global oil and gas discoveries at 4.7bn barrels of oil equivalent (boe) to hit 75-year low in 2021: Rystad Energy

+ Coal production set to hit an all-time high: IEA  

+ Bitcoin only around 6% of the token left in circulation on cryptocurrency exchanges: Crypotrank 

+ M&A globally rising 63% to US$5.63 trillion as of Dec 6, surpassing record of US$4.42 trillion in 2007: Dealogic data 

- WEF pushed back Davos meeting to summer due concerning spread of Omicron 

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- Eurozone headline inflation jumped to 4.9% YoY in Nov, highest level ever 

+ EU proposed 3 new EU-wide taxes to help to repay joint govt borrowing in 27-nation bloc for €800bn Covid-19 recovery fund 

+ EU proposed law to implement OECD deal on minimum global corporate tax 

- European gas prices hit new record high as Russian flows via Yamal reverse 

+ German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and China President Xi hold first phone conversation 

+ Germany and Norway inaugurated new undersea energy link electricity networks worth US$2bn

- Daimler cuts stake in Chinese EV venture with BYD 

+ London banking job exodus to EU less than initially expected despite Brexit 

- UK economy grew at slower pace than first estimated between Jul and Sept revised figures show

+ UK public borrowing fell almost 50% as pandemic spending eases 

+ UK iconic retail gp Selfridges & Co, is sold for about £4bn to Central Gp, Thai retail conglomerate 

- France registered record number of new Covid-19 cases, exceeding 100,000 mark for the 1st time since pandemic began 

- France to launch litigation on post-Brexit fishing licenses 

+ France and Italy urged EU leaders to allow more leeway for key spending in fiscal rules reform 

- Italy reports 3rd consecutive record of Covid-19 cases with new infections hitting 54,762 

- Netherlands ruled Apple broke competition laws, ordered changes to its App store payment policies 

- Credit Suisse may take legal action against SoftBank over Greensill debt 

+ Maersk to pay US$3.6bn in enterprise value for HK-based LF Logistics, 2nd biggest to its US$4bn takeover Hamburg Sued 2017

+ Portugal could approve lithium mining next year to reduce Europe’s dependence on outside sources 

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- NZ delayed planned reopening int’l border due to Omicron 

+ India exports likely to extend the growth story to the new year on global demand recovery 

+ India reviewing proposal to stop new coal-fired capacity construction to meet its climate pledges 

+ South Korea to release 3.17m barrels of oil reserve in Q1 2022 

- South Korea's President granted a pardon to former president Park Geun-hye

+ Lotte Gp considering offloading its stalled theme-park project in China for at least US$1.6bn 

- Sri Lanka plans to send tea to Iran to settle its debt for past oil imports, barter will help avoid US sanctions 

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+ Indonesia began construction of ‘Green’ industrial Park on Borneo, focus on semiconductors, lithium-ion batteries, solar panels and aluminium products 

+ Indonesia’s US$6bn airport bid plans to turn North Sumatra airport into hub servicing 50m passengers, to rival Singapore, KL

+ Indonesia govt projects Q4 GDP growth to be above 5%

+ Indonesia, South American bloc to start trade talks 

+ Thailand approved more stimulus measures to boost consumption and support economy 

- Thailand festive spending expected to remain below 100bn baht for 2nd straight year, hitting 12-year low 

- Bank of Thailand postponed testing its retail Central Digital Currency until late 2022 

+ Vietnam expected to have the highest growth in SEA in 2022 at 6.5%: ADB 

+ Vietnam retail sector likely see strong rebound in 2022 supported by robust consumer spending, investment deals: Maybank

+ Myanmar to accept RMB for trade, investment settlements with China, seeks to restart development, infrastructure projects 

- Malaysia companies see Q4 earnings taking a beating due to lower production resulting from sever flooding 

- Malaysia’s labour abuse allegations a risk to export growth model: Analysis 

+ Malaysia’s YTL Power acquired Singapore data centre, with plans to scale to further scale up capacity in region  

- Sg headline inflation rises 3.8% in Nov, fastest in 9 years, MAS core inflation up 1.6% YoY

+ Sg factory output surged 14.6% YoY in Nov on electronics export demand 

- HK listed Shun Tak Holdings called off Sg High Point en-bloc deal amid govt latest property cooling measures

- Sg freezes new ticket sales for VTL flights and buses entering from Dec 23 to Jan 20 

+ Sg invested >US$950m in manufacturing projects in Iskandar since 2019 despite pandemic 

+ Temasek’s Vertex Venture first to receive approval for SGX SPAC listing 

+ GIC sees potential opportunities in Chinese property assets, confident Beijing won’t let things spiral 

+ Sg investment banking fees surged 34.4% to hit US$1bn in 2021 to date 

Contribution by Derek@valueinvestments chat group. Thank you.

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