Democrats at Odds, Fed’s Ill-Suited Plan, Market Rorm: Eco Day
Welcome to Thursday, Americas. Here’s the latest news and analysis from Bloomberg Economics to help you start the day:
Latest From Bloomberg
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Pfizer/BioNTech Booster Shot Restores Full Covid Protection
Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE said a booster shot of their Covid-19 vaccine restored full protection in a large study, results that are likely to bolster the argument for giving a third dose more widely.
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Erdogan Says Turkey Can’t Host Western Envoys After Businessman Row
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey can’t afford to host the ambassadors of 10 countries, including the U.S. and Germany, who demanded the release of philanthropist and businessman Osman Kavala.
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G-20 Leaders Lower Ambitions to ‘Consign Coal to History’
Group of 20 diplomats have all but given up on their lofty goal of consigning coal to history and are instead closing in on a more modest plan to stop governments funding foreign coal-fired power plants, according to people familiar with the situation.
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Moscow Orders Strict Lockdown Amid ‘Worst-Case’ Covid-19 Surge
Moscow will implement its harshest lockdown since the early days of the pandemic last year, as Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on his blog that the Covid-19 situation was developing according to the “worst-case scenario.”
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Pinterest Deal Would Top the Charts in a Record Year of Tech M&A
PayPal Holdings Inc.’s potential takeover of social media firm Pinterest Inc. would top the charts in what’s already a record-breaking year for tech deals and push industry M&A volumes past the $1 trillion mark for the first time.
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Ford’s Maverick Hybrid Truck Nearly Sold Out for 2022 Model Year
Ford Motor Co.’s new Maverick tiny truck is nearly sold out for the 2022 model year in its standard setup with a gas-electric hybrid propulsion system.
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Zambia’s Biggest Creditors Range From China to a Local Furniture Seller
Zambia published a full list of its 44 external creditors that shows the central government owes Chinese lenders more than one-third of its total $13.4 billion of foreign-currency debt stock.
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Turkey Opposition Again Urges Central Bank Not to ‘Take Orders’
The leader of Turkey’s main opposition party repeated his calls for the central bank to “not take orders,” as the monetary policy committee prepares to meet Thursday to set interest rates.
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Deepening Energy Crisis Boosts Flurry of Green IPOs in Europe
Several initial public offering candidates in Europe are emphasizing their potential to help in the transition to a greener future, as the global energy crisis intensifies.
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Novogratz-Backed Alerzo Seeks $100 Million for Nigeria Expansion
Alerzo, a two-year startup offering e-commerce and payment solutions to Nigerian retailers, says its valuation is already in the hundreds of millions of dollars as it prepares for a funding spree to dramatically expand across Africa’s most populous nation.
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Pfizer Jab Effective Against Delta Variant in Teens, Study Finds
Adolescents who receive two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine have a much lower risk of contracting symptomatic Covid-19, with the risk of infection dropping by 90%, a study by Israel’s Clalit Research Institute and Harvard University suggests.
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Tokyo to Lift Virus Curbs on Most Bars, Restaurants as Cases Ebb
Tokyo is set to roll back restrictions that limited the operating hours and alcohol service of bars and eateries from Monday, as coronavirus cases drop nationwide and authorities look to open more parts of the economy.
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Punishing Poland on Rule-of-Law Could Backfire, Lithuania Warns
Lithuania warned that any European Union financial penalties over Poland’s failure to adhere to rule-of-law standards would risk stoking public resentment toward Brussels.
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Oil Refining Renaissance Under Threat From Natural Gas Crisis
Surging prices for natural gas are threatening to eat up the profit some oil refiners are making on their fuels, forcing them to cut processing rates and even altering normal crude-buying patterns.
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U.K. Spent £69 Billion Supporting Furloughed Employees
The U.K. spent 69 billion pounds ($95 billion) paying the wages of furloughed workers by the time the program came to an end last month, according to government figures.
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Biden Tackles Supply-Chain Crisis With Few Tools, Clock Ticking
U.S. ports are full of goods, U.S. yards and warehouses are full of goods, hardly anyone wants to drive a truck to pick up and deliver those goods and those who do sit waiting in lines, often unpaid.
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Amazon Staten Island Warehouse Workers in Push to Unionize
More than two thousand workers at four Amazon.com Inc. facilities in Staten Island have signed a petition asking federal labor officials to greenlight an election to form a new union, the latest spasm of labor strife between the e-commerce giant and its large blue-collar workforce.
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China’s ‘Lipstick Brother’ Livestream Has Record $2 Billion Day
China’s Li Jiaqi, a top livestream salesman widely known as the “lipstick brother,” sold $1.9 billion in goods on the first day of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s annual shopping festival, as the country’s consumers splash out despite an economic slowdown.
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China’s Guangdong Scraps Fixed Power Prices for Industrial Users
China’s southern province of Guangdong, home to Huawei Technologies Co. and vehicle manufacturer Guangzhou Automobile Group Co., is eliminating government-fixed electricity prices for industrial and commercial users, according to a document seen by Bloomberg issued by a local planning agency.
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Huarong Wins Approval to Sell Bonds, Assets to Replenish Capital
China Huarong Asset Management Co.’s shareholders approved a plan to sell assets and raise capital at its long-delayed annual general meeting, two months after the financial giant unveiled a state-led rescue package that ended speculation over its fate.
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Barclays CEO Staley Expects Banker Bonus Pool Will Rise in 2021
The boss of Barclays Plc expects bonuses at its corporate and investment bank to be higher this year, with the unit’s dealmakers the latest to impress after pulling in almost a billion pounds in fees in a record third quarter.
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South Korea Launches New Rocket as Arms Race Intensifies in Asia
South Korea successfully launched its own home-grown Nuri rocket Thursday, bolstering the country’s commercial and military aerospace capabilities and joining a small group of countries capable of developing and launching their own space vehicles.
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CIMB Is Seeking Better Indonesia Deal With AIA Group, Sun Life
Malaysian lender CIMB Group Holdings Bhd is considering renegotiating terms of its bancassurance partnerships in Indonesia, according to people familiar with the matter, amid increasing interest from insurers seeking to expand in Southeast Asia.
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European Bank CEOs Are as Divided on Inflation as Everybody Else
The leaders of Europe’s top banks agree they have a lot riding on the recent surge in consumer prices. But when it comes to deciding whether inflation is here to stay, they’re as divided as policy makers and business executives.
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Pound Stuck in Limbo as Debate Rages on Timing of U.K. Rate Hike
Uncertainty plagued the pound’s outlook during the tortuous years of Brexit negotiations. Now the Bank of England has brought it back.
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China Vows to Keep Property Curbs, Evergrande Risk Seen Limited
China’s banking regulator vowed to keep its curbs on the nation’s property market, dismissing concerns that the crisis enveloping China Evergrande Group will have any major impact on the credit profile of the sector as a whole.
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France’s Crisis Loans to Cost Less Than Expected, Le Maire Says
France’s state guaranteed lending program will weigh on public finances less than expected as the strength of the economic recovery has taken the government by surprise and will help firms repay loans.
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Norway’s Wealth Fund Posts Meager Return in Third Quarter
Norway’s $1.4 trillion sovereign wealth fund, the world’s biggest, returned 0.1% in the third quarter, equivalent to about $3.7 billion, after its stock portfolio was largely flat in the period.
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Carlyle, KKR Among Firms Considering Bid for Hong Kong’s Tricor
Carlyle Group Inc., Baring Private Equity Asia and Affinity Equity Partners are among the buyout firms considering bids for Hong Kong-based business and investor services provider Tricor Group, according to people familiar with the matter.
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Axie Infinity, the Crypto Game That’s Grown Over 200x This Year Alone
Behold, a crypto application that's actually popular
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The Next Recession Could Come Courtesy of the Fed
A chaotic pandemic economy is putting central bankers in a precarious spot.
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Mystery Around Czech President’s Health Leaves Nation in Limbo
Czech politics have always carried the whiff of a Cold War spy novel and the recent political turmoil is a chapter out of that Soviet-era book. A leader is whisked off to hospital with a mysterious illness after a shock election didn’t go his way -- and the public is kept in the dark.
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Britain’s Economy Finds Out What It Means to Live With Covid
After 19 months spent attempting to ward off Covid-19 while safeguarding jobs and businesses, the U.K. is heading into winter with a growing problem: The coronavirus is spreading rapidly, just as the economy starts going in the opposite direction.
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Indonesia Tightens Air Travel Curbs to Brace for Holiday Season
Indonesia is tightening air travel measures to ensure an anticipated jump in the number of passengers ahead of year-end holidays won’t lead to a resurgence in coronavirus infections.
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Romanian Liberals to Propose Minority Govt Led by General Ciuca
Romania’s ruling Liberal Party will propose retired four-star General Nicolae Ciuca as prime minister during talks with President Klaus Iohannis in a move that may help end a political crisis.
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Greyhound Bus Lines Will Have a New European Owner
Long-distance bus brand Greyhound may be a U.S. icon, but it’s staying in European hands after British owner FirstGroup Plc agreed a sale to Germany’s FlixMobility GmbH.
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Moody’s Cuts Ethiopia’s Credit Rating Second Time in Five Months
Moody’s Investors Service cut Ethiopia’s sovereign credit rating for a second time since May, citing a delay in the nation’s planned debt restructuring and an escalating civil war.
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China Property Purge Hammers Weak Players While the Strong Gain
China’s property sector is undergoing its biggest credit-market shakeout in years as policy makers try to clamp down on over-indebted developers without infecting their healthier rivals.
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Southern African Bloc Dispatches Envoys to Protest-Hit Eswatini
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa dispatched special envoys to Eswatini for talks with Africa’s last absolute monarchy about growing unrest in the southern African nation.
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Thailand Scraps Mortgage Lending Cap to Support Fragile Economy
Thailand’s central bank temporarily suspended home-mortgage lending limits to revive the sluggish property market and pandemic-hit economy, fueling a rally in shares of real estate developers.
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Tata Steel’s Bonds Surge After S&P Lifts to Investment Grade
Tata Steel Ltd.’s dollar bonds climbed by the most in 18 months after S&P Global Ratings returned the company to investment-grade status after 14 years.
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Wall Street Giants Turning Into China Stock Bulls
BlackRock Inc. and UBS Group AG have turned positive on China’s beaten-down equities, citing investors’ growing comfort with Beijing’s crackdown and an improving earnings outlook.
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Unilever Goes All-Out on Pricing as Inflation Outlook Worsens
Unilever Plc accelerated price increases to the highest rate in years, offsetting increased raw material costs and a decline in shipments in southeast Asia due to Covid-19 outbreaks.
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Optimism in French Services Is at Highest in Two Decades
(Bloomberg) -- French business confidence unexpectedly rose in October as optimism in the services sector reached its highest level in more than 20 years. The resilience of the largest section of country’s economy has led the government to revise up its growth forecasts for this year, while other European countries struggle more with supply bottlenecks hitting industry. The confidence reading in French industry was unchanged as an improvement in order books was offset by weaker assessments of current and future production.
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Top ByteDance Investor to Weigh $500 Million Stake Sale
Susquehanna International Group, one of ByteDance Ltd.’s earliest and largest backers, is looking to sell about $500 million of its shares in the TikTok owner, seeking to diversify its portfolio during China’s tech crackdown and profit from the startup’s growth.
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Russia’s Renaissance Insurance Raises $250 Million in Moscow IPO
Renaissance Insurance Group JSC, Russia’s largest online policy provider, sold 17.7 billion rubles ($250 million) of new shares in an initial public offering at the low end of its price range.
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Norway’s Biggest Bank Declares Dividend After Profit Surge
DNB Bank ASA will return excess cash to shareholders after reporting a third-quarter profit that beat analyst estimates.
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Indian Engineering Giant Plans to Go Carbon Neutral by 2040
Larsen & Toubro Ltd. plans to achieve water and carbon neutrality by 2035 and 2040, respectively, it said in a report on sustainable goals.
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Crypto Market Tops $2.7 Trillion as Rally Reaches Beyond Bitcoin
Optimism about digital assets stoked by Bitcoin’s run to a record high has helped push the overall value of cryptocurrencies to an all-time peak of more than $2.7 trillion.
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Barclays’ Investment Bankers Seize on Deal Boom as Fees Surge
Barclays Plc’s bankers made the most of the booming deals market, helping offset more muted earnings at its trading units in the third quarter.Investment banking fees at the London-based lender rose by 59% to 971 million pounds ($1.3 billion), following the strong performance of U.S. peers. Analysts had predicted 775 million pounds in revenue from this business, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
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Sunak Gets Budget Boost as U.K. Borrowing Undershoots Forecast
U.K. government borrowing was significantly lower than forecast in the first half of the fiscal year, a boost for Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak ahead of his budget next week. The budget deficit totaled 108.1 billion pounds ($149 billion) between April and September, the Office for National Statistics said Thursday. That compares with the 152 billion pounds predicted by the Office for Budget Responsibility in March. The deficit in September alone stood at 21.8 billion pounds, a slightly
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Railway Stock’s $3 Billion Loss Spawns Mumbai Trader Meme Fest
An Indian railway company shed $3 billion in market valuation over just two days, spurring an online blitz of memes from frantic traders.
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Democrats Split on Taxes, Climate, College as Deadline Nears
Congressional Democrats are at odds over both the tax and spending sides of a bill to enact the bulk of President Joe Biden’s economic agenda, even as party leaders aim to have an outline of a deal by the end of the week.
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House Set to Vote on Seeking Prosecution of Ex-Trump Aide Bannon
The Democratic-controlled House is poised to cite former Trump adviser Steve Bannon with criminal contempt of Congress, an action that will throw a politically fraught decision into the lap of Attorney General Merrick Garland.
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China Meets Only Half of U.S. Trade Deal Target as Talks Restart
China’s goods imports from the U.S. have only reached about 53% of the $200 billion worth of additional products and services it promised to buy under the trade deal signed last year, far behind its purchasing target.
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Weidmann Exit, EU’s Energy Tension, Ukraine Rates: Eco Day
Welcome to Thursday, Europe. Here’s the latest news and analysis from Bloomberg Economics to help you start the day:
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SoftBank, Sumeru Lead $200 Million Funding in Learning Startup
Collaborative learning platform 360learning SA has raised $200 million from Sumeru Equity Partners, SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Silver Lake Waterman, marking another major investment into a booming French startup industry.
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India Races to Vaccinate All Adults After Hitting Billion Doses
India has given out 1 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines, a key milestone in an inoculation campaign that still faces significant challenges.
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Outspoken Boston Celtics Player Slams ‘Dictator’ Xi Over Tibet
A pro-Tibet tweet by Boston Celtics basketball player Enes Kanter could spell more trouble for the National Basketball Association in China, just two years after the league became a flashpoint in U.S.-China relations.
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U.S. Adopts Broad Eligibility for Hong Kongers Seeking Visas
The U.S. has outlined eligibility criteria for a program that allows Hong Kong residents to remain temporarily in the country to escape Beijing’s crackdown on the Asian financial center.
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China Power Crisis Boosts Coal Imports From Indonesia to Record
Indonesia is now overwhelmingly China’s biggest overseas supplier of coal, with shipments hitting a record last month after Beijing loosened curbs on imports to tackle its power crisis.
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Girls Who Code Is Getting an ETF as Trio of Do-Good Funds Debut
The Girls Who Code are now the Girls With an ETF.
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Amazon Missed French Deliveries Goal After Warehouse Closures
Amazon.com Inc. is the undisputed winner of Europe’s pandemic-driven boom in e-commerce -- except in France.
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Ukraine Seen Holding Rates But IMF Sows Doubt: Decision Guide
Ukraine is expected to keep a promise to leave borrowing costs untouched, though remarks this week by the International Monetary Fund have some wondering whether a fifth interest-rate increase of 2021 could yet materialize.
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Energy Crisis Exposes EU Tensions With Few Solutions for Leaders
Soaring energy prices are exacerbating divisions in the European Union as national leaders brace for heated talks about how to protect the most vulnerable and avoid a backlash against the bloc’s ambitious climate change plan.
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Here’s Donald Trump’s Pitch for His New Technology and Media Empire
The former president plans to take on Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Google and many more.
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Democrats Take Edge in Cash as Parties Raise Money for Midterms
The Republican National Committee raised more than its Democratic rival in September but saw its cash advantage eclipsed as the two parties stockpile money before the 2022 midterm elections, according to their latest filings with the Federal Election Commission.
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China Tested Two Hypersonic Weapons Over Summer, FT Reports
China’s military conducted two hypersonic weapons tests over the summer rather than the one test reported earlier, the Financial Times said, a development that could heighten worries in Washington about Beijing’s advancing military capabilities.
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How One Australian Coal Giant Turned China’s Ban Into a Win
China’s ban on Australian coal imports has proved a boon for Sydney-listed Coronado Global Resources Inc., one of the world’s top producers of the metallurgical variety that’s key to steelmaking.
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Japan’s Tourism Vacuum Diminishes Positives of Weaker Yen
The gains for Japan’s economy from a weaker yen are likely to be smaller than in the past given the pandemic-induced tourism vacuum.
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Saudi Arabia’s Entertainment Blowout Is Twice as Big This Year
Saudi officials are doubling the length of an entertainment extravaganza called “Riyadh Season” that will take over the capital for half a year, hoping to attract twice as many international visitors as the last time around.
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Turkey’s Central Bank to Cut Rates Again: Decision Day Guide
Turkey’s central bank chief, powered by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s unorthodox monetary ideas, is expected to deliver another interest-rate cut despite rising inflationary pressures and a lira slumping to record lows.
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New South Wales Announces Funding to Get Harbour City Spending
Australia’s New South Wales state announced a A$2.8 billion ($2.1 billion) package aimed at boosting spending activity as it emerges from a lockdown that lasted more than 100 days and dealt a huge blow to the economy.
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Huawei’s U.S. Lobbying Spree Grows as Restrictions Remain
Huawei Technologies Co. continued to bolster its lobbying operation in Washington even though a spending surge hasn’t dented restrictions on its ability to do business in the U.S.
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Bristol-Myers Plans to Exit Acceleron Stake With Merck Deal
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. is planning to tender its shares in Acceleron Pharma Inc. after Merck & Co. agreed to buy the biotechnology company for $11.5 billion, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
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Hundreds Sick as Onion-Linked Salmonella Outbreak Hits 37 States
People across the U.S. have been advised to throw away all unlabeled red, white and yellow onions after a mass salmonella outbreak sickened hundreds of people across 37 states.
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China’s Provinces Struggle to Find Good Projects to Spend On
China’s local governments are struggling to find good infrastructure projects to invest in this year, meaning there’s less spending to support the economy just as growth is slowing.
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Adams, Sliwa Battle Over Vaccine Mandates in NYC Mayoral Debate
New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Eric Adams said he supports coronavirus vaccine mandates and would be open to students going back to remote classes if they don’t get shots in a wide-ranging debate with Republican contender Curtis Sliwa Wednesday night.
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Supermax Tumbles on U.S Order to Seize Goods Over Forced Labor
Supermax Corp. shares sank after the U.S Customs and Border Protection ordered personnel at U.S. ports of entry to seize its latex gloves made in Malaysia.
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Goldman, Morgan Stanley Sued Again Over Archegos-Tied Sales
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley were sued by shareholders of a Chinese online-education company that accused the banking giants of trading on inside information when unloading the stock they held for Archegos Capital Management.
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China Removes Caixin From List of Official News Outlets After It Angered Officials
China has removed Caixin Media from an official list of news outlets that can be republished, a move that curtails the influence of one of the nation’s most liberal sources of information.
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Rahm Emanuel Says Nissan Director’s Case Will Be Priority as Japan Ambassador
Rahm Emanuel, nominated as the next U.S. ambassador to Japan, said he will make it a priority to look into the criminal trial of a former Nissan Motor Co. director who was charged with helping Carlos Ghosn understate his compensation.
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Peter Thiel Says He ‘Underinvested’ in Bitcoin, Slams Central Banks at Event
Peter Thiel, the technology billionaire and conservative political donor, praised cryptocurrencies and slammed central banks during an appearance on Wednesday.
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IMF Says China Has Policy Options to Cushion Economy’s Slowdown
China still has policy options to cushion an economic slowdown, according to Changyong Rhee, director of the International Monetary Fund’s Asia and Pacific Department.
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UBS Poaches From JPMorgan, Citi for Equities And Markets in ANZ
UBS Group AG hired four new people and promoted two others for its equities and research team in Australia and New Zealand, as it continues to rebuild a team raided by rivals in recent months.
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Trump Plans to Regain Social Media Presence With New Company
The former president’s new enterprise will be in operation by the first quarter of 2022, according to a press release from the Trump Media and Technology Group. It says it plans to start a social media company called Truth Social. The moves, if all goes according to plan, would occur well ahead of the 2022 mid-term elections.
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Shares to Resume Trading After Deal Talks End: Evergrande Update
China Evergrande Group is set to resume trading Thursday after the cash-strapped developer terminated discussions to sell its property-management arm, a deal that would have given it a major cash infusion.
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Japan’s Ruling Party on Course for Majority, Kyodo Poll Says
Japan’s long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party is likely to keep its parliamentary majority in the Oct. 31 general election, according to a large-scale poll conducted by Kyodo News.
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Facebook Spent $5.1 Million Lobbying as Whistleblower Leaks Spark Scrutiny
Facebook Inc. spent $5.1 million on lobbying in the third quarter, again boosting its Washington expenditures as internal documents leaked by a whistle-blower sparked fresh allegations of misleading Congress, the public and securities regulators.
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Long Philippine Bonds Seen Out of Favor on Inflation Fears
Most Southeast Asian yield curves have flattened in recent months in tandem with a similar move in U.S. Treasuries. The Philippines is an outlier.
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South Korea Exports Jump in Early Data as Recovery Chugs Ahead
South Korea’s early trade report showed exports continued to post strong gains in October, weathering headwinds from global supply chain snags and China’s slowdown.
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Weidmann Exit, RBA Under Pressure, Fed’s Modest Growth: Eco Day
Welcome to Thursday, Asia. Here’s the latest news and analysis from Bloomberg Economics to help you start the day:
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Tesla Shifting to Cheaper Battery Chemistry Tried in China
Tesla Inc. said it’s shifting to cheaper lithium-iron-phosphate batteries globally, a move away from the chemistry used to power most electric cars as prices for key materials soar.
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ESG Securitization Is Next Frontier for Europe’s Finance Lobby
Europe is neglecting a key financial investing tool in its efforts to promote sustainable capital flows, according to the association representing the region’s biggest banks and asset managers.
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Climate Change Threatens to Spread Viruses Through an Unprepared World
Urgent action is needed to include environmentalism in Covid recovery plans, a Lancet study says
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Vita Coco Prices IPO Below Range at $15 a Share
Vita Coco Co., the maker of coconut beverages, priced its initial public offering below its targeted range at $15 share, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.
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Mester Says No Rate Hike ‘Any Time Soon,’ Watching Inflation
U.S. interest-rate hikes are not coming “any time soon” according to Cleveland Federal Reserve President Loretta Mester, though U.S. central bankers will act if inflation expectations became unmoored.
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Emboldened Bitcoin Bulls Shoot for Moon After Smashing Record
There’s elation and there’s euphoria, and then there’s the unrestrained rapture that descends upon Bitcoin’s emboldened bulls whenever the cryptocurrency soars to a fresh record.
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Valkyrie Says Its U.S. Bitcoin ETF Will Start Trading Friday
The second-ever U.S. Bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund is set to launch on Friday.