1. U.S. Markets Closed; Futures Steady
U.S. index futures remain steady with regular markets closed for the Independence Day weekend.
On Friday, jobs data from the country showed the economy has been growing back at a healthy pace. Keen investors are watching Federal Reserve’s June meeting minutes on Wednesday to see if policies are the same.
Stoxx Europe is up by 0.37%
Dow Jones Futures is up by +0.19%
NASDAQ is down by 0.11%
2. Saudi v/s UAE OPEC+ Fight Continues
Tensions between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates went up with a rare diplomatic fight between the two countries. The fight has caused OPEC+ to stop its talks twice now, and the next meeting is scheduled for Monday.
UAE is demanding a better piece of the crude oil market, while rejecting the extension of the current deal. Saudi and Russia want to increase production in the coming months. Crude oil prices have crossed $75/barrel.
3. Caixin PMI Shows Drop In China’s June Services Activity
The Caixin Services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) dropped 8% to 50.3 in June compared to 55.1 in May. It cannot be considered as a contraction on a monthly basis as it is still above the 50 levels.
Caixin’s June composite PMI, which includes both manufacturing and services activity, fell to 50.6 in June from May’s 53.8.
4. Sydney Airport Receives $16.7 Billion Takeover Bid
Sydney Airport on Monday received a takeover bid of $16.7 billion(~ Rs 1,24,090 crores) from a group of infrastructure investors. The consortium of infrastructure investors and Australian pension funds proposed the takeover at 8.25 Australian Dollars per share. At the time of writing stock is more than 30% up.
5. German Automobile Manufacturers Cuts Growth Forecasts For The Year
The Association of German Automobile Manufacturers on Monday cut the growth forecast for the year to 3% from the previous 13% as the production was very low in the past months. It expects to produce 3.6 million cars during the year, 4 lakh down from the previous forecast numbers.
6. Daimler, Volvo, And Traton To Develop A Charging Network For Trucks And Buses
Three major auto manufacturers – Daimler Volvo and Traton announced on Monday the plan to form a Joint Venture and develop an electric battery-charging network for trucks and buses. The three companies will jointly invest 500 million euros( ~Rs 4407 crores) in the venture that they will own equally and the operations will start from 2022.
7. Japan Considering A Supplementary Budget On Behalf Of Huge Leftover Money
The Finance Ministry of Japan said on Monday the country has a record amount of 40 billion dollars(Rs 2,97,180 crores) leftover money from the previous year’s budget due to greater than expected tax revenue. The fiscal law stipulates that half of the amount must be used to repay debt, and the rest can be considered for a supplementary budget for the current fiscal year. The previous record of leftover money was 17 billion dollars.
8. Foodpanda Becomes Asia’s Largest Food Delivery App
German-based Delivery Hero owned Foodpanda has now become hte biggest food delivery app in Asia, excluding China according to Jakob Angele, its head for Asia-Pacific region. He quoted internal and public research.
“The food delivery industry is still a very young industry. We see exciting investment opportunities” Angele said. Do you remember Foodpanda closing in India, failing to compete with Zomato and Swiggy? It was acquired by Ola but shut down in 2019.
9. Pfizer Less Effective Against Delta Strain: Israel
Data released by the Israel Government has shown that Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine is much less effective against the delta variant of the virus. Efficacy dropped to 64% in June, down from 94% in May. This drop in effectiveness is also around the time when restrictions were lifted in the country.with the government lifting virus restrictions at the start of June.
The vaccine is still protecting against severe illness. Dervila Keane from Pfizer said, “The evidence gathered so far suggests that the vaccine “will continue to protect against these variants”.
10. France and Germany Trying to Ease Tensions with China
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron have together asked China to allow more flights from the continent. The two leaders are asking for closer cooperation and the restarting of business with each other in talks today with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Tensions have been high between China and Europe as the latter sharply criticised Beijing’s human rights violations. The video conference totay was to try fix these tension, even though the underlying problem still exists.
