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☆ Airbnb beats on profit and revenue, stock is up
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Here's how the company did:EPS: 48 cents vs. 25 cents expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv. 48 cents vs. 25 cents expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv. Revenue: $1.90 billion vs. $1.86 billion expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv. Revenue for the fourth quarter was up 24% year over year. Average daily rates decreased by 1% from a year ago to $153 in the fourth quarter.

The company sold 10 million American depository receipts (ADRs) at $19 apiece, according to its regulatory filings, and shares closed at $21.05. The deal is the biggest from a Chinese company selling shares in New York since LianBio (LIAN.O) raised $334 million in October 2021, according to Refinitiv data. Chinese company listings in the United States ground to a halt in 2021 after the debut of ride hailing giant Didi Global Inc (92Sy.MU) in June of that year. As a result, Chinese listings in the United States dwindled and mainland regulators also moved to draw up new guidelines governing companies selling shares overseas. Chinese companies raised nearly $230 million in U.S. listings in 2022, according to Refinitiv data, representing a massive drop from $12.85 billion a year earlier.

☆ Investors turn picky in Asia after easy wins from China’s reopening
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Ankur Banerjee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Herald van der Linde, HSBC's head of equity strategy for Asia Pacific, points out that travel and gaming stocks have already benefited. That has led investors to hunt for sectors and companies with depressed valuations outside China. Reuters GraphicsMSCI China Vs MSCI Asean vs MSCI Asia excluding JapanGLOBAL PUSH OR CHINA PULL? After a torrid 2022, investors have been betting that a swift recovery in China's economy will somewhat cushion the impact of a global slowdown and possible recession. "China and its reopening trade, on the other hand, are in early stages and may be the additional tailwind for Asian equities later this year."

"The good news is that renewables and nuclear power are growing quickly enough to meet almost all this additional appetite, suggesting we are close to a tipping point for power sector emissions," IEA director Faith Birol said. The share of wind and solar in the power generation mix is seen rising to 35% in 2025 from 29% in 2022. The largest gains in renewable power expected in the Asia Pacific region, with an 11.6% yearly average growth rate, followed by Europe with a 9.4% yearly growth rate, and the Americas, with a 5% growth rate average per year. The IEA's forecast for renewable growth globally from 2022 to 2025Asia also dominates demand growth, with more than 70% expected from China, India and south-east Asia, although trends in China are uncertain, the report said. Production from gas-fired power plants in Europe is forecast to fall, but significant growth in gas-fired production in the Middle East is likely to limit the decrease, the report said.

☆ China's real estate crisis isn't over yet, IMF says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

China's real estate market has slumped in the last two years after Beijing cracked down on developers' high reliance on debt for growth. Future Publishing | Future Publishing | Getty ImagesBEIJING — China needs to do more in order to fix its real estate problems, the International Monetary Fund said Friday. Chinese authorities started to ease restrictions on financing for the sector over the last several months. Still, residential floor space sold in China dropped by nearly 27% last year, while real estate investment fell by 10%, according to official numbers. The IMF report pointed out that a significant portion of investors in Chinese developers' bonds have been affected.

☆ There's still a lot to like about Apple despite key misses in its December quarter
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Zev Fima | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Despite headline misses, Apple gave us a lot to like under the hood in its fiscal 2023 first quarter. The worst appears to be behind us — and as a result, we reiterate our 1 rating and continue to believe that Apple stock is something to own for the long-term, not trade quarter to quarter. In its December quarter, Apple returned $19 billion via the repurchase of 133 million shares and another $3.8 billion in dividends. Moreover, nearly two-thirds of Apple Watch buyers in the quarter were new to the product. Within Services, we also saw all-time revenue records for cloud services, payment services and music and December quarter records for the App Store and AppleCare.

☆ Thursday's sellers of Estee Lauder are missing the bigger picture
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Jeff Marks | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Shares of Estee Lauder dropped about 3% mid-day Thursday but remain up around 10% for 2023. There is going to be some noise in the supply chain as Estee Lauder deals with its last quarter of pain related to Covid. Fragrance was up in every region, driven primarily by growth from Estee Lauder, Le Labo, and Tom Ford Beauty. In November, Estee Lauder announced it was buying the Tom Ford Brand for $2.8 billion. An Estee Lauder pop-up store is seen inside daimaru Department Store on Nanjing Road Pedestrian street in Shanghai, China, August 6, 2021.

☆ Merck fourth quarter tops expectations on strong COVID pill sales
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Michael Erman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Feb 2 (Reuters) - Merck & Co (MRK.N) on Thursday reported higher-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings on strong sales of its COVID-19 antiviral pill molnupiravir in Asia. The U.S. drugmaker said its sales in the quarter were $13.83 billion, up from $13.52 billion a year earlier. Analysts had previously forecast around $825 million for 2023 molnupiravir sales. Pfizer (PFE.N) reported sales of around $18.9 billion for its antiviral treatment Paxlovid in 2022 and forecast 2023 sales of around $8 billion. The drugmaker forecast adjusted 2023 earnings of $6.80 to $6.95 a share on sales of $57.2 billion to $58.7 billion.

☆ Adani vs. Hindenburg: How Asia’s richest man lost his crown in just a few days
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Jihye Lee | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Gautam Adani, billionaire and chairman of Adani Group, during an event at the Port of Haifa in Haifa, Israel, on Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023. According to Forbes, Gautam Adani, the founder and chairman of the group, has lost his status as Asia's richest man to Mukesh Ambani, the chairman of Reliance Industries. Hindenburg, which said it has taken a short position in Adani Group, stands to benefit from the declining value of those stocks. Adani's battle with the short-seller firm has put the group's exposure to Wall Street — amounting to nearly $9 billion, according to JPMorgan — under the spotlight. In just one week, Indian billionaire Gautam Adani saw more than $34 billion wiped off his net worth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Jan 31 (Reuters) - Caterpillar Inc's (CAT.N) fourth-quarter earnings slid by 29%, the company reported on Tuesday, citing higher manufacturing costs and foreign currency effects that weighed on the industrial bellwether's margins. The Texas-based company noted that profit was also hit by a $925 million "goodwill impairment" charge and margin-eroding restructuring costs. Strong pricing that the company implemented over the past two years in an effort mitigate rising manufacturing costs have sustained top-line growth. Caterpillar's sales and revenue for the quarter rose 20% to $16.6 billion despite weaker sales in the Asia Pacific region. Operating profit rose 4% to 1.7 billion while free cash flow from the ME&T division came in at $5.8 billion.

☆ Market rally since October is broadening out — listen to 'The Homestretch'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

WE ARE IN A BULL MARKET AND IWANT TO BUY. A LOT OF PEOPLE SAY IT IS NOTREAL, BUT PUB POWER IS NOT REAL,BUT LINDY IS REAL. >> AND YES, I WAS UPSET THAT WECOULDN'T BUY IT BECAUSE OF THEWAY THAT THE -->> THE WAY THAT RESTRICTIONSWERE. AND YOU CAN BUY IT FROM NOW TOTEND OF THE DAY, BECAUSE THIS ISTHE HOMESTRETCH, AND THEANALYSTS WILL BE COMING UP HARDABOUT IT, AND IT DOES MATTER. >> AND THIS A NEW MARKET SINCEOCTOBER, AND BROADENING, ANDWHEN YOU GET THE SELL-OFFS LIKEYESTERDAY, YOU HAVE TO LISTEN TOWHAT WE ARE THINKING OF BUYINGAND CATERPILLAR TODAY, AND PUTTHE MONEY TO WORK.

SINGAPORE, Jan 31, (Reuters) - Like many rich Chinese, graduate student Zayn Zhang thinks Singapore could be ideal to park his family's wealth. His family might establish a Singapore family office to manage its wealth in the future, he added. Well-known Singapore family offices include those set up by James Dyson of vacuum cleaner fame, hedge fund manager Ray Dalio and Zhang Yong, founder of China's Haidilao hotpot restaurant chain. Though fresher statistics are not available, those involved in the industry said interest in family offices picked up in 2022 and is expected to continue unabated this year. While some are setting up family offices, others are setting up business headquarters in Singapore or investing in funds domiciled in Singapore, she said.

☆ Another Covid surge in China is the global supply chain's biggest fear, but it may be overstated
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Lori Ann Larocco | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

watch nowAnother wave of Covid infections in China is the biggest fear for supply chain managers, but those whose companies were impacted by the first pandemic wave are optimistic the impact will be short-lived. Reduction in workforce is a major factor in the CNBC Supply Chain Heat Map for China, with heavy congestion at the ports. ContainerX, a major platform for container logistics, said its data shows 73% of supply chain officials expect a disruption after Lunar New Year. One of the biggest lessons learned during the pandemic by manufacturers and supply chain executives was to understand tier two, three, and four suppliers at a deeper level. CNBC's Supply Chain Heat Map shows how the weaker global economic conditions are influencing U.S.- China shipping routes.

☆ Mastercard warns of slower revenue growth as travel growth plateaus
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Niket Nishant | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] A 3D printed Mastercard logo is seen in front of displayed stock graph in this illustration taken September 20, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/IllustrationJan 26 (Reuters) - Mastercard Inc (MA.N) forecast current-quarter revenue growth short of Wall Street estimates on Thursday, saying the boost from pent-up demand for travel will diminish going forward. After the Federal Reserve's rate hikes for most of last year, the economy has begun to show some signs of slowing down, with wide-ranging layoffs and fears of a recession spooking consumers into saving more, which is likely to impact travel growth. "Mastercard’s payment volume growth in Q4 2022 remained strong. Mastercard said it expects first-quarter revenue to grow at the "high-end of high-single digits range", while analysts had estimated a growth of 10.7%, according to Refinitiv IBES data.

☆ Mastercard forecasts downbeat revenue growth on economic slowdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] A 3D printed Mastercard logo is seen in front of displayed stock graph in this illustration taken September 20, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/IllustrationJan 26 (Reuters) - Mastercard Inc (MA.N) current-quarter revenue growth forecast fell short of Wall Street estimates, fanning fears that the card company was heading into a much tougher environment in 2023 as the economy loses steam. Mastercard shares fell 1.4% to $377 in premarket trading, even after the company reported fourth-quarter profit ahead of estimates. The company said it expects first-quarter revenue to grow at the "high-end of high-single digits range". Analysts were expecting a growth of 10.7%, according to Refinitiv IBES data.

☆ Microsoft cloud outage hits users around the world
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Akriti Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/5] Microsoft Teams app is seen on the smartphone placed on the keyboard in this illustration taken, July 26, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/IllustrationJan 25 (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) on Wednesday was hit with a networking outage that took down its cloud platform Azure along with services such as Teams and Outlook, potentially affecting millions of users globally. "We've determined the network connectivity issue is occurring with devices across the Microsoft Wide Area Network (WAN)," Microsoft said. During the outage, users faced problems in exchanging messages, join calls or use any features of Teams application. Among the other services affected were Microsoft Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, according to the company's status page.

☆ Crypto lending unit of Genesis files for US bankruptcy
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

The lending unit of crypto firm Genesis filed on Thursday for US bankruptcy protection from creditors, toppled by a market rout along with the likes of exchange FTX and lender BlockFi. Genesis Global Capital, one of the largest crypto lenders, froze customer redemptions on Nov. 16 after FTX stunned the financial world with its bankruptcy, fueling concern that other companies could implode. Genesis’ lending unit said it had both assets and liabilities in the range of $1 billion to $10 billion in its filings with the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. Genesis Global Holdco, the parent group of Genesis Global Capital, also filed for bankruptcy protection, along with another lending unit Genesis Asia Pacific. The two firms are fighting over a crypto lending product called Earn that they jointly offered.

☆ Crypto lending unit of Genesis files for U.S. bankruptcy
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Jan 19 (Reuters) - The lending unit of crypto firm Genesis filed on Thursday for U.S. bankruptcy protection from creditors, toppled by a market rout along with the likes of exchange FTX and lender BlockFi. Genesis Global Capital, one of the largest crypto lenders, froze customer redemptions on Nov. 16 after FTX stunned the financial world with its bankruptcy, fuelling concern that other companies could implode. Genesis' lending unit said it had both assets and liabilities in the range of $1 billion to $10 billion in its filings with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. Genesis Global Holdco, the parent group of Genesis Global Capital, also filed for bankruptcy protection, along with another lending unit Genesis Asia Pacific. The two firms are fighting over a crypto lending product called Earn that they jointly offered.

☆ Factbox: Crypto's string of bankruptcies
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

GENESIS GLOBAL CAPITALOne of the largest crypto lenders, Genesis froze customer redemptions in November after major exchange FTX stunned the financial world with its bankruptcy. Genesis Global Holdco, the parent group of Genesis Global Capital, also filed for bankruptcy protection, along with another lending unit, Genesis Asia Pacific. FTXThe Bahamas-based exchange shocked the crypto world by going bankrupt in November after suffering withdrawals of about $6 billion in just 72 hours and rival crypto exchange Binance ditched a possible rescue. CELSIUS NETWORKA crypto lender brought down by the collapse of terraUSD and luna, Celsius began its U.S. bankruptcy case on July 14. The U.S. affiliate of major crypto exchange Binance said in December it intends to buy Voyager's crypto lending platform in a deal valued at about $1 billion.

☆ Morning Bid: Ugly duckling
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Anshuman DagaWhile Chinese economic data didn't come in worse than markets had feared, investors still couldn't come to terms with the scale of the economic pain being felt in the world's second-largest economy. Asian stock markets dipped and the broad-based MSCI's Asia Pacific share index outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) retreated away from seven-month highs, and Chinese equities stocks also retreated. European and UK stock futures, however, pointed to a steady start. The FTSE 100 (.FTSE) is just a whisker away from its record high of 7,903.5 points. Tuesday's batch of economic data coming up include UK jobs numbers, German inflation and Germany's ZEW economic sentiment survey.

☆ Asia shares slip ahead of expected weak China economic data
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Kane Wu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

HONG KONG, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Asia shares mostly slipped on Tuesday ahead of Beijing's expected release of weak fourth-quarter economic data, although investor sentiment about China's rebound remained positive even as the global economy edges closer to recession. MSCI's gauge of Asia Pacific stocks outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) was down 0.18% at 0127 GMT. "I think investors will look through the Q4 GDP prints and focus on 2023," said Redmond Wong, Greater China market strategist at Saxo Markets Hong Kong. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index (.HSI) opened down 0.3% while China's benchmark CSI300 Index (.CSI300) remained flat. Reporting by Kane Wu in Hong Kong; Editing by Jamie FreedOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

"2022 saw a material deterioration in global investment banking fee pools and, as a result, we have had to reduce headcount in certain areas," the statement said. The layoffs involve staff across multiple divisions within Nomura's investment banking function, after a year of muted dealmaking activity in the region, one of the two sources said. In each of the bank's business divisions for equities capital markets, debt capital markets, corporate finance and Southeast Asia coverage, two to three workers were made redundant, according to the two sources. Goldman Sachs (GS.N) last week sacked more than 3,000 people in its global workforce, with the investment banking and global markets division the hardest hit. Pretax income for its wholesale division, which houses its trading and investment banking businesses, slid 19% year-on-year in the three months ending in September.

☆ Netflix plans biggest-ever slate of Korean content in 2023 as Korean fever explodes
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Michelle Toh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Hong Kong CNN —Netflix is planning its largest-ever lineup of South Korean content, with 34 new and returning titles set to roll out this year. It said that audience data showed “over 60% of all Netflix members” watched Korean titles last year. In 2021, company executives said Netflix (NFLX) planned to invest about $500 million into Korean content, on top of $700 million already spent since 2016. The move underscores how Netflix is increasingly doubling down on Korean content as fans worldwide continue to buzz over it. Other media behemoths, such as Disney (DIS), are also betting big on Korean content.

☆ Global air traffic may return to pre-Covid levels in June, with China leading the way
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Michelle Toh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Hong Kong CNN —Global air traffic will boom this year, returning to pre-pandemic levels in June, according to a new report. On Monday, international aircraft leasing company Avolon said it expected a full recovery in passenger traffic over the coming months, led by the reopening of markets in Asia, especially China. The news has further brightened the outlook for the aviation sector, which already experienced “a 70% recovery in passenger traffic last year led by recovery in Europe and North America,” Avolon noted. Currently, global air traffic has resumed to approximately 75% of November 2019 levels, IATA said last week. “Demand for travel is no longer the constraint to recovery, but airlines’ capacity to put planes in the air,” Avolon said in its statement.

Issuance of bonds tied to environmental, social and governance (ESG) themes grossed $142 billion in Asia Pacific last year, barely below the record $144 billion of 2021, according to data from Refinitiv. Major EM ESG issuance Asia, Europe and USParticipants say the 2022 issuance in Asia was fuelled on the supply side by the gargantuan task of greening Asia's energy grid and by low yuan interest rates in top issuer China, where investment from domestic institutions supported prices. Chinese entities issued 59.3% of the ESG bonds in the Asia-Pacific region in 2022, with total proceeds totaling $84 billion, up about 6% from $80 billion in 2021. "Domestic capital markets in Asia have been developing over many years, and are quite deep today," he said. Major EM ESG issuance Major EM ESG issuanceGlobally, ESG issuance fell last year as debt markets became turbulent, while investors pulled cash from funds devoted to sustainable investment for the first time in more than a decade as soaring prices for fossil fuel stocks, which they exclude, hurt their relative performance.

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