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☆ Trudeau points to 'slave labor' in China lithium production
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Doina Chiacu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, April 28 (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday linked the production of lithium in China to "slave labor" as he discussed his own country's efforts to ramp up production of the metal used in electric vehicle and other batteries. Canada has significant sources of lithium, Trudeau said, but China has made strategic choices over the decades that have made it by far the world's largest producer. Because we don't use slave labor," Trudeau said in remarks at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. The United States has alleged use of forced labor by China in sectors including mining and construction. China denies abuses in Xinjiang, a major cotton producer that also supplies much of the world's materials for solar panels.

During a conference call with investors, the company projected that adjusted gross margins will climb above 40% in the second half, having hit historic lows in the first half of the year. Underscoring Intel's profitability slump in recent years, its first-quarter unadjusted gross margin fell to 34.2%, almost half of its multi-decade high of over 67% in 2010. The company forecast a further drop to an unadjusted gross margin of 33.2% for the second quarter. "While we understand investors may be disappointed in its 2Q23 gross margin outlook, we are confident that Intel's gross margin will recover in 2H23 as the burden of factory underutilization and new product start-up cost diminishes," said Kinngai Chan, analyst at Summit Insights Group. Intel said adjusted losses were 4 cents per share, above analysts' expectations of a 15 cent per share adjusted loss.

The revision is likely to heighten concerns of foreign individuals, such as academic researchers or journalists, and businesses about visiting or operating in China. “Something like a local government budget you could broadly define as relating to national security, or even food security,” he said. “Researchers definitely need to be careful.”China says its laws related to national security and espionage are meant to safeguard the country. “Even with this amendment we still don’t understand what kind of document constitutes a national security issue,” he added. Chinese authorities did not offer details about both cases, including the reason for the crackdown, but analysts say the move is likely to further spook foreign businesses operating in China.

☆ China Detains Taiwan-Based Publisher in National Security Investigation
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Amy Chang Chien | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

TAIPEI, Taiwan — A Taiwan-based publisher who disappeared while in China has been detained for suspected violations of security laws, Chinese authorities confirmed on Wednesday, fanning concerns in Taiwan that Beijing is sending a warning to the island’s vibrant publishing sector. The publisher, Li Yanhe, widely known by his pen name, Fu Cha, is a Chinese citizen who has been living in Taiwan since 2009. His company, Gusa Publishing, is well known in Taiwan for books that cast a critical eye on China’s ruling Communist Party. Mr. Li had returned to China early last month to visit relatives but fell out of contact shortly after, according to his colleagues and friends. Mr. Li’s detention is “a strong blow and will have a chilling effect,” Bei Ling, a writer from China living in Taiwan, said on Wednesday.

☆ World Bank Chief Economist Gill calls for new approaches to address 'debt crisis'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Andrea Shalal | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, April 25 (Reuters) - World Bank Chief Economist Indermit Gill is calling for new approaches to address the mounting debt crisis facing many countries, including steps to factor domestic borrowing into assessment of a country's debt sustainability. Only Chad has reached a debt relief deal with creditors - and it does not include an actual reduction in debt. "Debt levels are already starting to hurt prospects, getting them into the wrong kind of spiral," he said ahead of a World Bank seminar on debt on Wednesday. The Common Framework should be replaced, he said, in the strongest terms used by a World Bank official. He said a new sovereign debt roundtable set up to address challenges in the debt relief process brought in debtor nations and private sector players, but achieved only modest results.

Listed miners with lithium projects in South America suffered, however, on concerns other governments may follow Chile's lead. Elsewhere in Asia, lithium prices stabilised on an improved demand outlook, and Japan acted to shore up its EV minerals supply by announcing a swathe of industry subsidies. Bucking the regional trend were Australian-listed miners with projects in South America's lithium triangle which spans Chile, Argentina and Bolivia, on concerns other governments may follow Chile's footsteps. Shares in miners with Argentine projects fell. Lithium Power International, (LPI.AX) whose Maricunga brine project is Chile's largest permitted, proposed project welcomed the new policy which it said would "positively transform" Chile's lithium industry.

☆ China funds flock to Hong Kong to sate mainland investors
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Summer Zhen | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

HONG KONG, April 20 (Reuters) - Large China-based fund managers are setting up shop in Hong Kong for the first time, seeking to fill Chinese investors' appetite for U.S. dollar-based products and international exposure after the country reopened its borders. As mainland-based funds are yuan denominated, fund managers need to set up in Hong Kong to be able to offer foreign currency products. "We are optimistic about Hong Kong as the global asset management hub. "Foreign managers are getting licenses and issuing funds in China - it's natural for us to go overseas," said Jason Yim, managing director of QX Asset Management in Hong Kong. Wealth management firms such as Noah Holdings (NOAH.N), China's largest independent wealth manager, are also aggressively expanding teams in Hong Kong.

☆ China is waging a war on its financial industry. Some high-profile bankers are ensnared
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Laura He | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Last Friday, authorities opened a similar probe into Liu Liange, former chairman of state-owned Bank of China, the country’s fourth largest lender. And in January, Wang Bin, who headed state-owned China Life Insurance from 2018 to early 2022, was charged by national prosecutors with taking bribes and hiding overseas savings. They include financial giants such as China Investment Corp, the nation’s sovereign wealth fund, China Development Bank, which provides financing for key government projects, and Agricultural Bank of China, another large state-controlled lender. “The current financial crackdown is a new wave of Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign against the financial sector for consolidation of his power,” said Chongyi Feng, an associate professor in China Studies at the University of Technology Sydney. But the deepening crackdown on the vast financial sector could rattle investors.

☆ How Modi can grab India’s geopolitical “moment”
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Hugo Dixon | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

India is in a geopolitical sweet spot because of growing tension between the United States and China. The hard-nosed realpolitik view is that this doesn’t matter as India and the United States have a common threat. This matters for India’s economic future, as geopolitical considerations are increasingly driving global commerce. The United States is encouraging this process through what it calls “friendshoring”. Modi can do a lot to make the most of India’s geopolitical opportunity.

☆ China Renaissance suspends trading, delays results after founder Bao Fan goes missing
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Laura He | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Bao Fan, 52, started the boutique investment bank in 2005 and has been unreachable since the middle of February, according to the company. Shares in China Renaissance have plunged since Bao went missing, at one point dropping as much as 50%. China Renaissance said in late February that it had learned Bao was “cooperating in an investigation” being carried out by certain authorities in the country. Chinese media have reported Bao might be assisting in an investigation related to a former executive at China Renaissance. In a filing on Sunday, China Renaissance said auditors couldn’t complete their work or sign off on their report because of Bao’s absence.

☆ Can the U.S. See the Truth About China?
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( David Marchese | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +14 min

Photo illustration by Bráulio Amado Talk Can the U.S. See the Truth About China? To see China solely as trying to displace the United States is only going to stoke more fears. The Chinese people believe that a substantially weakened Russia might not be in the interest of China, because if there were the sense that the United States needed to seek out an opponent, China would be next. And then also, the United States thinks that China wants to displace it. The industrial espionage stems from a lack of appreciation from the start of intellectual property, and the United States, by pushing China to do more intellectual-property protection, is actually good for China.

☆ Fact Check-Viral clip shows tree catkins, not ‘rain of worms’ in China - scientists
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

A viral clip online likely shows the catkins, or flower spikes, of poplar trees covering cars in northern China, not a “rain of worms” as social media posts and some news reports have claimed, experts told Reuters. One tweet saying: “China citizens told to find shelter after it looked like it started to rain worms” has been viewed more than 18 million times at the time of writing (here). There can be thousands of poplar catkins per tree, Claire Thomas Federici, a botanist and plant geneticist at the University of California, Riverside (here), said by email. China has a “distinctively rich” variety of trees in the poplar family, particularly in northern China, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (here), (here). Experts say the video from China likely shows catkins from poplar trees instead of a “rain” of worms or caterpillars.

☆ Prudential's full year profit up 8%, COVID curbs removal a boost: CEO
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

HONG KONG, March 15 (Reuters) - Asia-focused insurer Prudential's (PRU.L) operating profit rose 8% in 2022, boosted by new insurance sales despite the coronavirus pandemic, and its new boss said on Wednesday sales had picked up further since China lifted its COVID-19 curbs. Adjusted operating profit from the London and Hong Kong dual-listed company came in at $3.38 billion on a constant exchange rate basis, up from $3.23 billion in 2021, Prudential said in a statement. The result beat a forecast of around $3.34 billion from 22 analysts' forecasts provided by the company. The insurer has now completed the move of its entire senior management team from London to Hong Kong - its new global headquarters - which is closer to its revenue sources. Reporting by Selena Li Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Sonali PaulOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ China's JD.com reports higher fourth-quarter adjusted profit
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

March 9 (Reuters) - Chinese e-commerce firm JD.com Inc (9618.HK), reported a higher quarterly adjusted profit on Thursday as China lifted strict pandemic-related curbs late last year. JD.com's net income attributable to ordinary shareholders in the fourth quarter was 3 billion yuan ($430.92 million), compared with a net loss of 5.2 billion yuan a year earlier. Revenue rose 7.1% to 295.4 billion yuan in the three months ended December, missing analysts' estimates of 296.17 billion yuan, according to Refinitiv data. Parts of China remained under strict lockdown for most of the December quarter, with shoppers holding back on spending amid continued economic uncertainty. On an adjusted basis, the Beijing-based company earned 4.81 yuan per American depositary share in the reported quarter, compared with 2.21 yuan per share a year earlier.

☆ White House backs Senate bill to boost US ability to ban TikTok
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The bill gives the Commerce Department the ability impose restrictions up to and including banning TikTok and other technologies that pose national security risks, said Democratic Senator Mark Warner, who chairs the Intelligence Committee. He said it would also apply to foreign technologies from China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, Venezuela and Cuba. TikTok said in a statement that any "U.S. ban on TikTok is a ban on the export of American culture and values to the billion-plus people who use our service worldwide." Warner said it was important the government do more to make clear what it believes are the national security risks to U.S. from the use of TikTok. McCaul said he thinks the full U.S. House of Representatives could vote on bill this month.

☆ Push to give Biden new powers to ban TikTok moves ahead in Congress
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] TikTok app logo is seen in this illustration taken, August 22, 2022. A White House spokeswoman told Reuters the administration is "working with Congress" but declined to say if it would endorse the Senate legislation. Last week, the House Foreign Affairs Committee voted along party lines on a bill sponsored by Representative Michael McCaul to give Biden the power to ban TikTok after then President Donald Trump was stymied by courts in 2020 in his efforts to ban TikTok and WeChat. TikTok and CFIUS have been negotiating for more than two years on data security requirements. TikTok said it has spent more than $1.5 billion on rigorous data security efforts and rejects spying allegations.

☆ Wall Street pros name the biggest risk to stock markets — and how to trade it
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Zavier Ong | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Top of mind, however, is undoubtedly the path of interest rate hikes, with market pros nervously looking to the Federal Reserve's next rate decision on Mar. Anastasia Amoroso, chief investment strategist at iCapital, believes the "biggest market risk" right now is the Fed raising the terminal rate to a range of 6% to 6.5%. One obvious area fixed income, with Ma Yung-Yu, chief investment strategist at BMO Wealth Management, calling the asset class a "welcome relief and benefit to the portfolio." David Dietze, managing principal at Peapack Private Wealth Management, believes investors should "stay the course" in stocks. He noted that stock prices are "off their highs" — and the market has never failed to rebound to new highs.

☆ Exclusive: China increasingly ambitious with 2023 growth target, may aim for up to 6%
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Kevin Yao | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Four of the sources said China was likely to aim for growth up to 6%, while three others said China was targeting 5%-5.5%. "This year's growth target could be 5-6%," said one of the people involved in the discussions. "We need to achieve an economic recovery, boost employment, and confidence, these are the key factors we need to consider." It was also the biggest ever miss of a growth target. Yu said a growth target of above 6% would help "boost morale and stimulate China's economic growth potential."

☆ Baidu beats fourth-quarter revenue estimates, flags chatbot launch
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Revenue for the quarter ended Dec. 31 came in at 33.08 billion yuan ($4.80 billion), inching past analysts' estimates of 32.01 billion yuan, according to Refinitiv data. Revenue from Baidu Core, which includes search-based ad sales, cloud offerings and its autonomous driving initiatives, fell 1% to 25.7 billion yuan. While non-online marketing revenue rose 11% to 7.6 billion yuan, driven by AI and cloud businesses, strict pandemic-related controls in China caused the company's online marketing revenue to drop 6% to 18.1 billion yuan in the reported quarter. A logo of Baidu is seen during the World Internet Conference (WIC) in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province, China, November 23, 2020. ($1 = 6.8963 Chinese yuan renminbi)Reporting by Yuvraj Malik in Bengaluru and Eduardo Baptista in Beijing; Editing by Devika Syamnath, Shounak Dasgupta and Tomasz JanowskiOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Baidu beats fourth-quarter revenue estimates, announces $5 bln share buyback
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Feb 22 (Reuters) - China's Baidu Inc (9888.HK) beat revenue estimates for the fourth quarter on Wednesday, bolstered by strength in its advertising, cloud and artificial intelligence businesses, sending its U.S.-listed shares up 7% in premarket trading. Revenue for the quarter ended Dec. 31 came in at 33.08 billion yuan ($4.80 billion), inching past analysts' estimates of 32.01 billion yuan, according to Refinitiv data. Revenue from Baidu Core, which includes search-based ad sales, cloud offerings and its autonomous driving initiatives, fell 1% to 25.7 billion yuan. While non-online marketing revenue rose 11% to 7.6 billion yuan, driven by AI and cloud businesses, strict pandemic-related controls in China caused the company's online marketing revenue to drop 6% to 18.1 billion yuan in the reported quarter. Baidu stands as the best example of the long-term growth of China's AI market and is advancing at the forefront of this new wave," Li said.

LONDON, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Resurgent passenger aviation following the coronavirus pandemic has created shortages of jet fuel, pushing up airlines’ operating costs and fares. U.S. jet fuel inventories stood at just 36.5 million barrels on Feb. 10, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Chartbook: U.S. jet fuel inventoriesKerosene-type jet fuel is produced by similar refinery processes to diesel and other distillate fuel oils, but at higher quality specifications. But with shortages of both jet fuel and other middle distillates, the average price paid for jet fuel climbed to $3.37 per gallon ($142 per barrel) in 2022 up from $2.00 per gallon in 2019. With China lifting domestic and international travel restrictions, global consumption of jet fuel is set to rise sharply, which will stretch jet fuel supplies even further in 2023.

LONDON, Jan 30 (Reuters) - China raised export tariffs on unwrought primary aluminium and alloy at the start of this year after a rare burst of export activity in the first part of 2022. Russian aluminium dominated the import mix and Russian smelters were the main recipients of Chinese alumina exports last year. China's unwrought aluminium imports vs Russian metalRUSSIAN IMPORTS GROWDecember's imports of primary aluminium, by contrast, accelerated to 128,000 tonnes, the highest monthly tally in over a year. China's total alumina exports vs RussianCHINA LIFTS ALUMINA EXPORTSThe two countries' aluminium trade also extends to the intermediate alumina stage of the processing chain. It could also mean China returning to consistent net importer of unwrought aluminium, particularly if domestic smelter production continues to be plagued by power constraints.

☆ A Chinese invasion of Taiwan is a real and dangerous possibility that could wreck armies and ruin the global economy worse than the 1929 stock market crash
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-29 | by ( Jacob Zinkula | Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Experts say the military and economic impacts for could be catastrophic, and not just for China and Taiwan. Whether it's 2030, 2027, 2025, or even this year, experts say it could wreak havoc on the global economy and take a devastating toll on the militaries involved. CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty ImagesThough China's actions have stirred fears of a possible Chinese attack, the US military assesses that an invasion of Taiwan would prove extremely difficult for the Chinese military. Threats to one company could spell catastropheLooking at this situation from an economic perspective, a Chinese invasion of Taiwan could mean trillions of dollars in losses and a serious global recession. Others have argued it's in the self interest of both China and the United State to overplay the likelihood of a Taiwan invasion.

The world’s biggest luxury group logged revenue of €79.2 billion ($86.2 billion) and profit of €21.1 billion ($22.9 billion) for 2022, both up 23%. And in the coming months, “we have every reason to [be] confident, indeed optimistic, on the Chinese market,” LVMH (LVMHF) CEO Bernard Arnault said on a conference call. “In Macao, where Chinese can now travel to, the change is quite spectacular. He predicted, though, that Chinese tourists would not return in large numbers until at least the second half of the year. The removal of Chinese travel restrictions will likely also boost sales in overseas tourist destinations, the company added.

☆ Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Chevron, Tesla, Seagate Technology, United Rentals and more
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Hakyung Kim | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Analysts called for earnings of 10 cents per share on $1.83 billion in revenue, according to Refinitiv. Though United Rentals missed analysts' expectations for per-share earnings, it was in-line with Wall Street's forecasts for revenue, per FactSet. The company forecasted 2023 revenue to range between $13.7 billion and $14.2 billion, surpassing analysts' estimates, according to FactSet. Sherwin-Williams earned an adjusted $1.89 per share last quarter, topping estimates by 2 cents, according to Refinitiv. Tractor Supply's EPS came in at $2.43 versus analysts' estimate of $2.35 per share, according to Refinitiv.

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