1. Tech Shares Gain in U.S., General Market Falls
Tech shares gained in the day as investors turned defensive after the Federal Reserve announced future interest rate increases.
Federal Chair Jerome Powell yesterday accepted that inflation is posing risks, and said they had begun a discussion about slowing down bond purchases. Powell denied risk of any immediate interest rate increases, but the market has turned cautious.
Crude oil is trading at $72/barrel near fresh highs.
Stoxx Europe is down 0.15%
Dow Jones is down 0.68%
NASDAQ is up 0.88%
2. ByteDance’s Gross Profit Rises 93%
According to a Wall Street Journal report, TikTok Owner ByteDance’s gross profit surged 93% to Rs 1,40,078 cores last year. At the same time, the net loss for 2020 accounted for Rs 3,31,764 crores.
3. MSCI To Launch Crypto Indexes
Global securities Index publisher MSCI is preparing to launch cryptocurrency indices, Chief Executive Henry Fernandez said at a clubhouse event. This will be a big step towards global cryptocurrency acceptance
4. US Unemployment Rises For The First Time Since April
We have been seeing a declining unemployment rate for many weeks in the US. But in the last week ended June 12, US jobless claims jump for the first time since April by 37,000 to 412,000. Economists expect the unemployment rate to fall below 5% by the end of the fourth quarter.
5. Daimler Reveals The Shift To Electric Vehicles
The Mercedes-Benz maker Daimler revealed its plan to shift to EVs in the coming years. Manager Magazin said on Thursday, a new line of electric vehicles will be announced soon, and the production of fossil fuel vehicles will be cut down as a part of the electrification strategy.
6. Philadelphia Factory Activity Drops For The Second Consecutive Month
The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said the business activity index fell to 30.7 from 31.5 in May. Economists were expecting the activity at a value of 31. The index is used for examining the economic situation and the new data raises some concerns.
7. China’s Logistics Nightmare Threatening Global Inflation
The global shipping industry, already stretched by the pandemic is now being pushed to its braking point. The Suez Canal blockage, China’s Yantian Port being closed due to Covid-19 cases have caused high prices and delivery delays in the industry.
“The trend is worrying, and unceasing congestion is becoming a global problem,” A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S, the world’s No. 1 container carrier, said on Thursday. Share prices of the company fell 2%.
8. Latin American Steelmakers Replacing China Imports
With the Chinese government trying hard to reduce pollution from the metal industry and higher prices, steelmakers in Mexico and Argentina are seeing an opportunity. Currently, Latin American countries have high dependency on cheap Chinese imports but this might soon change.
Latin America Steel Association Chief Alejandro Wagner said that governments need to help them by reducing tax burdens and other business difficulties. The region’s steel industry is back to pre-pandemic production levels and sees this as the right time to cut China dependency.
9. U.K. Plans to Open Foreign Travel for Vaccinated Individuals
Airline shares in the U.K jumped as British officials are considering opening up international travel for passengers who’ve been fully vaccinated against Covid-19. This will surely provide a major boost to airlines and tourism businesses in the country which have been affected by the pandemic.
However, the Prime Minister’s Office clarified today that no final decision has been reached.
10. Malaysia Considering Mixing Covid Shots
Malaysia is looking to mix different brands of Covid-19 vaccines to get better protection against the virus, according to Science Minister Khairy Jamaluddin. “It’s possible that we will end up doing this because a lot of countries are doing this to boost the neutralizing antibodies,” Khairy said about the process known as heterologous boost.
He also added that they are waiting on more data, and won’t make a quick decision.
