Wolf Money(world market review 13-19 Feb 2023)

 

Eduardo Masferré Philippines 1909-1995

Man with Turban circa 1953

Collection of National Gallery Singapore 

 

Market Summary 13-19 Feb 2023

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- US inflation rose 6.4% in Jan YoY, price pressures remain  

+ US retail sales post biggest jump nearly 2 years of 3% in Jan after 2 straight monthly declines 

- US manufacturing activity falling as businesses and households pull back spending

+ US import prices dropped for 7th straight mth in Jan amid declining costs for energy products, annual increase smallest in 2 yrs 

+ US producer prices rise 0.7% in Jan on monthly basis 

+ US jobless claims fell 1000 last week to 183,000 from 195,000 previous week, 5th straight week under 200,000

- US more Fed officials signalling interest rates need to go higher in order to successfully squash inflation 

- US could face debt-cap crisis this summer without deal: CBO

- US shortages in labour supply likely to continue: Fed’s Barkin 

- US and China diplomats communicating, but not militaries: White House 

- US sending Pentagon official to Taiwan soon: FT

- US could sanction more banks with links to Russia and step-up enforcement against any dogging existing rules 

- Binance moved >US$400m from US partner to firm managed by CEO Zhao 

- Biden administration reviewing US$200m grant earmarked for lithium-ion battery maker Microvast due to tie to China 

- Tesla to recall 362,000 US vehicles on full self-driving software 

- Apple begun laying off contractors, appears to be a quiet move to slash costs: sources 

- Meta hinting that more workers will resign from the company in coming weeks: WSJ

+ Boeing offers CEO US$5.3m incentive to stay through recovery 

+ Lockheed Martin won initial US Navy contract worth US$1.1bn 

+ Broadcom, VMware agreed to extend date of their planned merger by 12 mths 

- Ford to cut 3800 jobs in Europe, mostly in Germany, UK 

+ Berkshire slashed TSMC and some banks’ shares in Q4, while buying another 20.8, Apple shares worth US$3.2bn to 5.8% stake  

- US charges Terra founder Do Kwon with fraud 

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+ China regulator announced detailed regulations for across-the-board registration-based IPOs, effective immediately

+ Chinese firms speed up Swiss listings with 36 in pipeline: market data 

+ PBOC ramps with record cash injection with ¥835bn via 7-day reserve repurchase contracts, resulted net injection of ¥632bn

- China sanctions Lockheed Martin, Raytheon for allegedly providing Taiwan with weapons 

+ China’s outward direct investment (ODI) hits US$146.5bn in 2022, while overseas M&A picked up 

+ China estimate nearly US$700bn of mortgages, close to 1/8 outstanding total have been prepaid since early last year, when banks started lower borrowing rates 

+ China’s solar exports soar 80% to record US$51.3bn in 2022 despite trade frictions and rising competition

+ China’s renewable energy capacity overtakes coal for first time last year; accounted 47.3% of total vs coal 43.8% 

- China’s mobile phone shipments stood at 271.5m in 2022, down 22.6% YoY: CAICT

+ China’s recovery biggest uncertainty for oil market: IEA

+ China and 5 Central Asian countries hold first-ever forum on industry investment cooperation 

- China’s video game industry sales down 10.3% to US$39bn in 2022, first drop in 5 years, total users down 0.33% to 644m 

+ China officials arrived in Taiwan on first visit in 3 years since pandemic began, to attend cultural event 

+ China sees 4.73bn passenger trips during Spring Festiva travel rush 

+ China to accelerate negotiations on version 3.0 of China-ASEAN FTA 

- Tencent abandoning plans to venture into virtual reality hardware as metaverse bet falters: sources 

- Foxconn signed US$62.5m lease on 45 hectares industrial park land, to establish new factory in Vietnam 

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+ Japan’s economy grew 0.2% in Q4 vs previous qtr or 0.6% at annual pace as tourism returns 

- Japan posted largest-ever trade deficit of ¥3.5 trillion in Jan, roughly 1.6-flod increase YoY

+ Japan to launch pilot programme in April to test use of digital yen 

- Honda and Nissan Motor sales in China plunged 56.2% and 64.4 respectively after falling behind on EVs

- Japan’s 8 major automakers unions pressed for highest-level wage raises in years to offset impact of high inflation 

- Russia will respond if EU decides to confiscate its frozen assets: Minister 

+ Putin: Gas demand will continue to be crucial resource regardless of attempts to hamper it’s exports

- Argentina saw its annual inflation hit 98.8% 

+ Ecuador and China conclude FTA negotiation, both sides to sign the deal soonest 

- IMF: energy, high-tech decoupling estimated to cause 1.2% of global GDP losses 

+ G20 finance and central bank chiefs to meet in India next week to discuss rising debt, regulation of cryptocurrencies and global slowdown

- Bitcoin rallies to 6-mth high, jumped past US$24,000 

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- EU will ban new sales of fossil fuel cars, slash truck and bus emissions from 2035

+ Eurozone’s current account surplus widen in Dec of surplus €15.90bn as cheaper energy lowered import bill 

+ EU scrapped plan to sanction against Russian nuclear sector as Hungary didn’t let it through  

- EU to force banks to reveal Russian assets: Bloomberg 

- EU and Russia trade turnover fell by 1/3 in Apr-Dec 2022 

+ EU to phase out Covid tests for travellers from China 

- Germany producer prices up 17.8% in Jan YoY, index down 1% vs previous mth  

+ German insurance giant Allianz reported record results for 2022; net profit at €6.7bn, up 2% YoY 

+ Mercedes-Benz reported revenue of €150bn in full fiscal 2022, up by 12% 

+ Commerzbank to rejoin DAX index, will replace Linde 

- UK’s Jan inflation at 10.1% annually, lowest reading since Sept  

+ France President met China top diplomat Wang Yi in Paris on strengthening bilateral cooperation 

+ Hermes sales surged 23% in Q4 to record €11.6bn for 2022, up from €8.98bn the previous year; despite China disruption   

+ Switzerland does not plan to confiscate private Russian assets frozen in Swiss banks: Justice Ministry  

- Swiss citizens likely to vote in future referendum on keeping cash, campaigners wary of digital money in favour of cash in constitution 

- Ireland scraps its Immigration Investor Program (IIP) to non-EU nationals due to overwhelming applications from China 

- Portugal to end issuing “golden visas” to rich foreign investors to tackle lack of affordable housing 

- Turkiye direct cost from earthquake damage could be amount to US$25bn: JPMorgan  

- Turkiye-Syria earthquake death toll passes 45,000, many still missing in flattened apartments 

- Bulgaria postpone target date for adopting euro to 2025 after failing to meet listed criteria 

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+ India’s Russian oil imports surged to record in Jan 

- South Korea’s President called on banks, telecoms to ease living costs  

- Korean Airlines bid for Asiana Airlines may hurt competition; EU antitrust opened full-scale investigation into the deal

+ Qatari consortium made bid to buy 100% of Manchester United 

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+ Indonesia extended trade surplus in 33 straight mths of US$3.87bn in Jan, biggest for non-oil and gas exports China amounting to US$5.25bn or 25% of overall exports     

+ Bank Indonesia kept its key interest rate unchanged for the first time over 6 mths at 5.75% in Jan 

+ Thailand PM to dissolve parliament before term ends next mth 

- Thai govt’s planning unit downgraded economic growth forecast to 2.7-3.7% in 2023 from 3-4% earlier  

- Malaysia’s national debt passes RM1.5 trillion mark 

- Malaysia’s rising level of national debt should not be taken lightly, can no longer rely on oil to keep economy afloat: FM 

+ Malaysia govt truly walking its policy talk for EV industry through various measures: Minister 

- Malaysia foreign investors continued to dump Malaysian equities for 5th consecutive week with net selling of RM512.3m 

- Sg NODX dropped 25% in Jan, down for 4th consecutive mth amid weak global demand 

- Sg will implement global minimum corporate tax of 15% in 2025

- Sg introduced higher marginal Buyer’s Stamp Duty (BSD) for higher-value residential and non-residential properties

+ Sg int’l visitor arrivals rose to 921,530 in Jan, setting new record since onset of pandemic 

- Sg FY2022 fiscal deficit revised lower to S$2bn from earlier estimate of S$3bn

- Sg govt expects a deficit of S$0.4bn or 0.1% of GDP in FY2023 

+ Sg fintech funding hit 3-year high in 2022, deal value rose 22% to US$4.1bn; 250 deals in M&A, PE and VC vs US$3.1bn in 2021  

+DBS posted record net profit of S$8.19bn for FY2022, 20% higher than S$6.81bn previous year 

- Google cuts estimated 190 employees in Singapore, part of its 12,000 worldwide layoffs  

Contribution by Derek@valueinvestments chat group. Thank you.

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