1. U.S. Markets Fall
U.S. stock fell after yesterday’s green closing. The S&P 500 index fell after hitting an all-time high yesterday, with tech stocks also in the red. Netflix moved up after announcing plans to expand into gaming.
China’s Q2 growth slowed down and yesterday Fed Reserve Jerome Powell said yesterday that they are not planning to shift interest rates even as other countries including New Zealand, Canada and the U.K. shifting to a lower monetary support to the economy.
Stoxx Europe is down by 0.84%
Dow Jones is down by 0.34%
NASDAQ is down by 0.22%
2. Saudi Arabia June Inflation Rises Up
The official data on Thursday shows that Saudi Arabia’s annual inflation rate jumped to 6.2% in June compared to 5.7% in May. This is the third consecutive monthly rise reflecting the increase in value-added tax from 5% to 15% from June 2020. The International Monetary Fund expects the annual average inflation to be 3.2% this year.
3. Australia Announces Lockdown Restrictions In Melbourne
Australia on Thursday announced a 5-day lockdown restriction in its second-largest city Melbourne. The country has already announced a minimum of 14-day lockdown in Sydney. The Covid Delta variant is spreading at a vulnerable pace as only 13% of adults are fully vaccinated.
4. U.S. Ban On Products From Xinjiang Is A Threat To Global Trade: China
The U.S banned all the products from Xinjiang of China after forced labor accusations were raised in the area. The United States also warned American companies about the legal risks of doing business with the region. China rejected all the accusations and said the decision to ban the imports of products from Xinjiang is against global trade policy.
5. U.S. Import Price Rises In June
The Labor Department said on Thursday U.S import price increased 1% in June against the 1.4% rise in May and the Year-on-Year rise is at 11.2% compared to 11.6% in May. The export prices rose 1.2% in June after rising 2.2% in May.
6. Uniqlo cuts profit outlook for the year
Companies cutting their forecast for the year has become a common scenario and Japan’s clothing brand Uniqlo is the latest one on the list. The company now expects operating profit for the fiscal year ending August to rise 64% YoY to 245 billion yen (Rs 16600 crores) against the previous estimate of 255 billion yen(Rs 17278 crores). They said the new government restrictions in Japan and other markets to curb the Covid infections has slowed customer traffic in stores
7. TSMC May building a chip plant in Japan soon
World’s largest chipmaker – Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’s CEO has said the company is looking to build a plant in Japan, a strategically important move for the country. “In Japan, we’re in the due diligence process to do a wafer fab,” Wei said.
8. Biden Faces Hard Sell in Asia for Anti-China Digital Trade Pact
As the U.S. mulls a digital trade agreement to counter China, it faces a key problem: Many countries in Asia don’t want to join any deal seen as challenging Beijing, whose tech giants are deeply entrenched in the region.
China’s largest corporations like Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. have in recent years led a wave of investment into Southeast Asia, which has more than half a billion people rapidly migrating online.
9. China Seeks Project Security After Pakistan Blast Kills 9 Citizens
China expressed shock over a bus explosion in Pakistan that killed 12 people including nine Chinese citizens, and called on the South Asian country to protect projects valued at tens of billions of dollars.
Chinese Foreign Wang Yi asked Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi to quickly investigate the cause of the blast Wednesday on a bus carrying workers in the northern Kohistan region, according to a statement from China.
