Montana has become the first US state to ban the short video app TikTok, owned by China's ByteDance. The state's governor, Greg Gianforte, said the bill would protect Montanans from Chinese Communist Party surveillance. TikTok has previously denied that it has ever shared data with the Chinese government, adding that it would not do so if asked. The legislation prohibits mobile application stores from offering TikTok within the state and takes effect on 1 January 2024. The company said the bill infringes the First Amendment rights of the people of Montana and that it will defend them at home and abroad.
Lawyers representing three victims of a fire at Marathon Petroleum’s Galveston Bay Refinery earlier this week plan to/filed claims alleging gross negligence against the oil company. One employee was killed and two injured when carrying out maintenance on an octane-boosting unit at the plant. The other two injured workers, both contractors, have also sought compensation, which is likely to exceed the $2.4m awarded two years ago to a man who was injured in an acid leak at a BP plant in Texas City. Marathon has not yet commented on the allegations.
Asian investors are eyeing several significant economic indicators from Japan and Australia on Thursday, as well as an interest rate decision from the Philippines. However, the main hope for a rebound in Chinese markets could be the prospect of a US deal on the federal debt ceiling, which has boosted stocks and the dollar. The mettle of that claim may be tested, however, after the poorest set of Chinese economic indicators in over six months caused a 1% decline on Wednesday. Nonetheless, Japan is on a high after Q1 GDP growth outperformed expectations and the Nikkei rose over 30,000 points for the first time in 20 months.
Netflix's new tier with commercials has attracted almost 5 million global monthly active users, according to the company's president of worldwide advertising, Jeremi Gorman. The median age of those viewers is 34.
Report on Business has used artificial intelligence to conduct fundamental price valuations for every Canadian large cap stock, sorting them to spot potentially underpriced winners. Large caps on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) are valued at over CAD2bn ($1.5bn), and comprise just 8% of the market, however they are lower-risk and more liquid and are commonly owned by institutions. The results indicate some underpriced large cap stocks worthy of further research including Ceridian HCM Holding, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners, Fairfax Holdings and Franco-Nevada.
Sony is considering a partial spin-off of its financial business, Sony Financial Group, within the next two to three years, with the conglomerate retaining a stake of slightly less than 20%. The move comes as Sony focuses on expanding its entertainment business, centred on games, music and movies, as well as its image sensor business. Shares in the company rose 6% in morning trading in Tokyo.
Australia's employment rate fell unexpectedly in April by 4,300 after two months of large gains. This has trend has led to jobless rate rising to 3.7% compared analysts' forecast of a steady rate of 3.5%.
Florida's new immigration law risks triggering a shortage of workers on farms and construction sites, critics have warned. The legislation, signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis, mandates that firms employing more than 25 workers must verify employees' legal right to work in the US. While truck drivers have called for a boycott of deliveries to the state, videos purporting to show empty supermarkets due to the measures are unrelated, with one video having been recorded during Hurricane Ian in 2022, and the other showing a refrigerator malfunction at a single Walmart store.
The former CFO of a Seattle-based startup, Nevin Shetty, has been accused of taking $35m in company funds and using it to invest in cryptocurrency via a platform he owned. He hid the transactions from Fabric, secretly transferring the money to his HighTower Treasury platform, said the federal indictment. The funds invested soon became worthless. Shetty was subsequently fired and is now facing indictment charges on four counts of wire fraud regarding the incident. His lawyer Cooper Offenbecher, said Shetty disputed the accusations, arguing that the catastrophic crypto market crash following his investment lost the money, rather than the decision to invest itself.
Montana has become the first state to ban TikTok due to security concerns. State Governor Greg Gianforte signed the bill into law that prohibits any company owned by the Chinese Communist Party from operating in Montana, specifically citing TikTok at his press conference, as the belief that people’s data was being transacted to the Chinese government was an issue of national security. The bill gives Chinese technology companies one year to divest and cease operations in Montana.
National Australia Bank's CEO, Ross McEwan, believes the Reserve Bank of Australia will have to raise interest rates again to fight the threat of inflation, despite the increased pressure the move could place on borrowers. McEwan has noted the Reserve Bank's challenge to determine how to slow quarterly inflation without hurting customers, especially as just 30% of Australian households have mortgages.
Six Pacific countries are at a high risk of debt distress due to government spending in response to the COVID-19 crisis, according to a report by the World Bank. Fiscal consolidation is needed in Kiribati, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Samoa, Tonga and Tuvalu. These countries lack access to domestic debt markets and international capital markets, the report said, meaning high debt levels could pose a problem. Vanuatu was rated as medium-risk, while Palau and Nauru’s debt was rated as sustainable. The report recommended improving tax collection and allocating more to social assistance and protection measures.
Panasonic plans to establish a large-scale production capacity for 4680 battery cells in North America by 2030 to meet the increasing demand for electric vehicle batteries. The company aims to achieve a production capacity of 200 gigawatt-hours per year for automobile batteries by March 2031. Panasonic's energy unit makes batteries for Tesla, which has announced plans to develop its own 4680 battery cells to enhance the performance of its cars and reduce battery costs.
The Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law by US President Joe Biden in August, has spurred a subsidy race and rankled foreign allies and global companies with its economic protectionism. Despite prompting concerns from some G7 leaders and global CEOs, Japanese officials have agreed a trade deal with the US to expand eligibility for EV tax credits. Tesla has declared a strategy shift centred on the Act’s incentives while Mercedes-Benz and Audi are looking to invest further in the US. However, some of the biggest global drugmakers are preparing to fight the Act’s plan to negotiate Medicare drug prices.
European shares are expected to rally on the news of progress in U.S. debt ceiling negotiations. Wall Street and Asian stocks were lifted by the news that an agreement has been reached for direct discussions between President Joe Biden and top congressional Republican Kevin McCarthy. Smaller, focussed negotiation teams were also agreed on, helping some analysts feel Western nations have moved closer to an advanced stage in discussions. European macro indicators will be in short supply, meaning that US indicators — including Philly Fed survey, jobless claims, existing home sales and data relating to China's post-COVID recovery — will be strongly watched.
Ironically, in a year characterized by an unprecedented surge in e-commerce demand, one of the UK's key postal and parcel delivery services — Royal Mail — saw a substantial annual operating loss of £1.04bn ($1.37bn). According to International Distributions Services, this was due primarily to the impacts of industrial action and a £539m writedown on the value of Royal Mail from strikes and the "current risk backdrop". Although Royal Mail and the Communication Workers Union agreed a deal last month, the group has faced further challenges, including a cyber attack in January that cost it £20m in lost revenues.
Swiss agrichemicals and seeds company Syngenta will apply for a listing on the Shanghai Stock Exchange's main board after withdrawing its application from the STAR Market. Tthe company initially filed for an IPO in March that was cancelled for reasons the exchange did not explain. Syngenta executives have said the new listing mechanism would give the company greater access to more diversified investors and enable it to better build long-term value. The decision came after the Chinese government expanded its registration-based IPO system to the main boards on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets to improve vetting and registration procedures.
Sony says it is considering spinning off and relisting shares of its financial services arm to boost investments in its entertainment business. Shares of Sony rose 6.4% on news of the potential split, which would allow the company the ability to invest in entertainment and image sensors at a new level while retaining a 20% stake in the unit. The IPO would be in line with the company's recent expansion of acquisitions in the entertainment business. Now with growing hopes of higher governance standards in Japan and expectations for larger share buybacks, Sony may be on track to fund aggressive merger and acquisition activity without incurring significant taxes by breaking up and selling its financial unit via IPO. Sony is expected to retain a stake of about 20% in order for the deal to go through.
PwC will be conducting long-term oversight of its Australian business following the local team’s involvement in a tax leak scandal. PwC’s global HQ will be using its rights under the international network’s rules in order to continue exerting influence over the Australian business. The move comes after emails were discovered showing that PwC used information received during its work with the Australian government to win business by advising corporate clients on new anti-tax-avoidance rules. PwC Australia’s CEO and two other leaders have already stepped down over the scandal, while a former partner has been banned from practicing as a tax agent for two years. The need for international “support” was likely to be heightened with a new management team in Australia.
India's Swiggy says food delivery business turned profitable in March
Reuters
23-05-18 09:12
Indian food delivery and grocery firm Swiggy has said it reached profitability in March, less than nine years after it was founded. The announcement came despite the firm recording a wider loss for the financial year ending in March 2022, with a surge in expenses. Swiggy CEO Sriharsha Majety also revealed that Swiggy is planning to become "contribution neutral," in a blog post, welcoming the end of a period of "disproportionate investments" in its grocery delivery service Instamart, which competes with Zomato-owned Blinkit.
