financializer news A weblog highlighting financial topics making news in the international media.

auto market: The Chinese ride-hailing service operator has already aligned with Toyota in the so-called e-Palette project to develop electric and autonomous vehicles that can be used as mobile stores, together with other global technology giants, including Amazon Inc, according to The Japan Times. The move comes amid Toyota's continuing transformation into a mobility company that offers a wide range of services. Toyota and Didi are looking to set up a joint venture to offer mobility services, including ride-sharing in the world's largest auto market, the sources said. ; Didi has secured an overwhelming ride-hailing market share in China through the acquisition of Uber Technologies Inc.'s Chinese business. The automaker has invested in several ride-hailing operators across the globe, including another giant of the sector in Grab Taxi Holdings Pte. out of Singapore. Twitter Facebook Linked In LATEST BUSINESS STORIESTrump vows tariffs on Mexico, starting at 5% and rising until illegal immigration ends Japanese Economy Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said on Friday that an escalation of U.S. tariffs on Mexico and China is an undesirable development for the global economy, in response to questions a... Dollar hits four-month lows below 109 in Tokyo after Trump threatens tariffs on Mexico The dollar hit four-month lows of around 108.80 in Tokyo trading late Friday, with risk aversion growing after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose punitive tariffs on all imports from... Tokyo stocks tumble on Trump's Mexico tariff threat Stocks took a plunge on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Friday, battered by the yen's sharp rise against the dollar after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose punitive tariffs on all import... /4973089/JT-teads googletag.cmd.push function googletag.display ; ; Toyota said last month it will jointly invest 1 billion in Uber's new subsidiary to develop autonomous vehicles, together with Soft Bank Group Corp. and auto parts supplier Denso Corp. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

board committee: The protest fizzled, with about 41% of the votes supporting the separation at the company's annual meeting, little more than the more than the 38% approval votes that similar resolutions garnered in recent years, according to The Independent. Shareholders also defeated measures calling for a special board committee on climate change and for a report on the risks of climate change to Exxon's U.S. Gulf Coast chemical plants. Two institutional shareholders had urged a vote in favor of the role split after Exxon got the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to strike a climate change measure from its ballot. At Chevron Corp's annual meeting on Wednesday, a proposal to create an independent chairman received just 26% of votes, and only 8% of votes favored a board committee on climate change. Royal Dutch Shell last year agreed to set targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and link them to executive pay. In contrast, 99% of shareholders at BP Plc last week favored a resolution calling for the British oil company to meet a climate accord seeking to curb a rise in global temperatures. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

chinese companies: They are fond of advocating US decouple with China financially, according to Global Times China. We should admit that the US stock market's opening to China has promoted some Chinese enterprises' success. Those who propose preventing Chinese companies from getting listed in the US said that Chinese companies have gained tens of billions of dollars in financing from the US stock market in recent years, and this is another way for China to gain an extra advantage in addition to the trade surplus. Especially in the upsurge of the internet economy, some IT companies which were blocked by the high standards of the Chinese mainland market and Hong Kong market found opportunities in the US stock market. But such interests are two-way. The US market's complete management system also helped shape these enterprises and they won more chances to access the Western market. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

bond prices: Equity investors have mostly looked past fears of a trade-induced economic downturn, while the bond market has shown greater trepidation over the U.S.-China trade spat, leading bond prices to rally and yields to fall to multi-year lows on a trio of rate-cut fears, geopolitical jitters and recession concerns, according to Market Watch. I'm in the camp that thinks the Fed will cut by the end of the year, Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at Bleakley Advisory Group, told Market Watch. That should worry stock-market bulls who have leaned on the Federal Reserve's patient stance with interest-rate hikes and the perception of a swift resolution of trade tensions to power double-digit percentage gains, even as the latter was overshadowed by the increasingly strident rhetoric between Washington and Beijing. The stock market is more hopeful and the bond market yields continue to plumb new lows and is much more skeptical. Stocks and bond yields tend to move together as expectations for higher growth and inflation lifts appetite for stocks and weighs on bonds, pushing their yields higher. At some point, we'll get some reconciliation between the two assets said Boockvar. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

british travellers: Private equity owner KKR is targeting a total valuation for the business of up to 1.5 billion pounds, according to a banking source, according to The Independent. Political uncertainty around Britain's departure from the European Union sparked market turbulence in the first quarter of the year, with proceeds from European listings dipping to a 10-year low of 292 million. The independent rail and coach travel firm, which sells tickets via its website and mobile app, is looking to raise 75 million pounds 95 million through the issue of new shares. With Brexit delayed, things have improved over the past couple of months. Trainline, a familiar brand to British travellers, is looking to trade on the main market of the London Stock Exchange, using its premium listing segment, and sell 25 percent of new and existing shares. Middle Eastern payments companies Finablr and Network International started trading, while telecoms operator Airtel Africa is also considering a stock market flotation in London. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

development: There is still a lot of potential for the development zones to attract more foreign capital, Tang said at a press conference, according to Global Times China. The State Council has recently made public guidelines on promoting innovation the development zones, vowing efforts to encourage technological and institutional innovation in the areas. Efforts will be made to bring in foreign-invested companies in the advanced manufacturing and modern service industries, while multinationals will be encouraged to set up headquarters or R&D centers in the development zones, said Tang Wenhong, head of the MOC's department of foreign investment administration. The guidelines listed 22 tasks, including increasing the quality of foreign trade and advancing the innovation capabilities of various industries. In 2018, combined foreign trade volume in the zones rose by 10.8 percent year on year, accounting for 20.3 percent of China's total foreign trade. At present, there are 219 state-level economic and technological development zones in China, contributing more than 10 percent to the national gross domestic product and fiscal revenue. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

earths company: JL MAG Rare-Earth Co, a high-tech rare earths company based in East China's Jiangxi Province, which was visited by Chinese President Xi Jinping on May 20, rose by the daily 10-percent limit to a record high on Wednesday, to 49.34 yuan 7.14 . China Northern Rare Earth Group rose by 8.68 percent at 13.52 yuan, according to Global Times China. A Chinese official indicated on Tuesday night that China may weaponize rare earths as a countermeasure to the US. When asked about whether rare earths will become China's countermeasures against the US, a spokesperson of the National Development and Reform Commission NDRC China's top economic planner, said What I can tell you is that if anyone wants to use products made of China's rare-earth exports to contain China's development, the people of Ganzhou in Jiangxi and across China will not be happy with that. Shares of Hong Kong-listed China Rare Earth Holdings soared by more than 30 percent in morning trading and closed with a 23.53 percent gain. The comment was viewed by many as a signal that China might use its rare earths as a weapon to contain the US as trade tensions between the two countries intensify. Funds are coming in ... rare earths are getting attention that they've never had in the past eight years, a manager of a large-scale rare earths metal producer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Global Times on Wednesday. The exposure also attracted much capital into the formerly low-profile industry. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

emissions: Exxon successfully petitioned the Securities and Exchange Commission to block a shareholder vote on setting targets for reducing carbon emissions from burning oil and gas, according to The Japan Times. Exxon's 2018 profit rose 6 percent to 20.8 billion as higher prices offset a 4 percent decline in production, but the shares fell 18 percent last year. A representative of the Church of England's endowment fund said Wednesday that Exxon has moved more slowly than other major oil companies to disclose information about emissions. ; Chairman and CEO Darren Woods defended the company, saying it's doing its part by providing energy that people need while also reducing emissions from its own operations. They closed Wednesday up about 6 percent for 2019. Exxon, which is based in Irving, Texas, continues to project that demand for oil will grow nearly 1 percent a year, propelled by its use in transportation and chemicals, and Woods repeated a goal of doubling 2017 earnings by 2025. Woods said Exxon's businesses performed well last year, and production in the Permian Basin of west Texas and New Mexico is growing faster than expected. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

eponymous movie: The game could further boost demand for the Switch, although Pokemon did not announce a release date. ; Another new game, Pokemon Sleep, aims to turn sleep into entertainment by recording when the players go to bed and wake up and what times of the day they sleep, although more details will be unveiled at a later date, according to The Japan Times. A new device called Pokemon Go Plus will sync with Pokemon Go and is aimed at helping people develop healthy sleep habits and turning sleep into entertainment, Pokemon Chief Executive Officer Tsunekazu Ishihara said at the event in Tokyo. The Detective Pikachu title aims to cash in on the popularity of the eponymous movie released this month. It will be released in 2020, he said. Players can pair the Pokemon Go Plus device with their smartphones. Everyone spends a large part of their life sleeping, and turning that into entertainment is our next challenge at Pokemon, he said. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

equity funds: Nor is this year a fluke, according to Market Watch. Over the past decade investors have pulled more than 400 billion out of such funds, while the S&P 500 SPX, 0.21% with dividends has gained more than 14%. I'm not so sure about this contrarian interpretation of the fund flow data. Investors this year so far have pulled more than 24 billion out of U.S. stock funds and ETFs, even as the broad market has turned in one of its strongest January-May performances in years. A more detailed analysis suggests that the fund flow data tells us little about the stock market's intermediate- or longer-term trends. As you can see from the accompanying chart, in those two calendar years there was a sizeable net inflow into U.S. equity funds, and far from falling the U.S. stock market in each of those years rose at an above-average pace 32.3% and 13.7%, respectively, as measured by the dividend-adjusted S&P 500. Take 2013 and 2014, for example. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

investment strategist: Things have changed, according to Market Watch. While we, like most investors, are hopeful that a trade deal gets done sooner rather than later, we don't think hoping for the best is the ideal way to invest, wrote Lindsey Bell, investment strategist at CFRA, in a Thursday note. Stock-market investors spent the first four months of 2019 penciling in an easy resolution to a U.S.-China trade tiff. The nature of the issues at hand are much more structural and complex than simply addressing a trade deficit. The Trump administration's subsequent decision to effectively blacklist U.S. companies from doing business with Chinese tech giant Huawei and the specter of Chinese retaliation ensured investors began to question their expectations for a relatively painless resolution of the U.S.-China trade spat. Read Why the tariff fight prompted a major wealth manager to change its U.S. portfolios That reality was brought home earlier this month as a round of tit-for-tat tariff escalations was accompanied by hotter rhetoric from both Washington and Beijing. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

nevada: Bernie Sanders said he wouldn't disparage his rivals for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, the independent senator from Vermont seemed to rib the front-runner right now in the race, former Vice President Joe Biden, over high-dollar fundraisers, according to The Independent. In a fundraising email to supporters on Wednesday, Sanders spotlighted his campaign trip this week to Nevada, the first western state to voter in the primary and caucus calendar. Two days after Sen. BERNIE SANDERS MAKES BEHIND CLOSED DOORS PITCH TO TOP DEMOCRATS IN MUST WIN PRIMARY STATE But I am not going to Nevada to attend a fundraiser hosted by a corporate CEO on the Las Vegas strip I am going to Nevada to attend a rally with supporters and a town hall on immigration, the populist senator emphasized. On that trip, Biden held a fundraiser at the Las Vegas Strip that was hosted by MGM Resorts CEO Jim Murren, a Republican. While not mentioning Biden by name, it was clear Sanders was referring to the former vice president, who campaigned in Nevada three weeks ago. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

palestinian state: King Abdullah, who acts as custodian of Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, has not committed to attend the conference, according to CNN. In his discussions with the President's son-in-law, the King stressed the need to step up all efforts to achieve comprehensive and lasting peace on the basis of the two-state solution, guaranteeing the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the 4 June 1967 lines, with East Jerusalem as its capital, living side by side with Israel in peace and security, in accordance with international law and relevant UN resolutions, the Royal Hashemite Court said in a statement. Kushner is traveling in Morocco, Jordan and Israel this week to meet with officials and drum up support for the long-awaited plan's economic portion, which will be unveiled during a June conference in Bahrain. Kushner visits Middle East and Morocco ahead of White House's Israeli-Palestinian peace plan release The statement served as a message to Kushner and his team, who have stressed that they do not feel bound by previous formulas that drove peace talks, including the idea of two states. Read More For the King and Jordan, which shares a border with Israel and where more than 60 percent of the population are estimated to be of Palestinian descent, the administration's approach to the conflict has significant ramifications. Their approach is expected to focus on investment in Palestinian territories before dealing with political issues. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

girl: The Queensland mum's daughter, Ebony, was around 18 months old when she fell from a chair onto carpeted floor at her grandparent's house in November last year, according to Nine News Australia. Despite the innocuous nature of the accident, the little girl was unresponsive for 25 minutes. To improve your experience update it Innocent fall reveals Queensland toddler's rare brain tumour By Kate Kachor12 34pm May 29, 2019Ebony Newman Facebook Tweet Mail When a fall from a lounge chair uncovered a mark on her young daughter's brain, Maree Newman was told by doctors not to worry overly. After being rushed by ambulance to their local Mackay Base Hospital, Mrs Newman and her husband were told MRI scans had found what doctors described as a marking on Ebony's brain. A short time after the second scan, Mrs Newman received a phone call that her healthy happy little girl had a rare tumour in her brain. They were told not to be too alarmed by the results of the scan, with the marking likely to be the result of a previous tumble and that it was probably a calcium deposit on the brain . The Newmans took their daughter home from hospital and were told to come back in a week for another scan. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

hometown newspaper: On Tuesday, the Washington Post, our hometown newspaper here in the nation's capital, published an op-ed by former FBI Director Jim Comey, according to MSNBC. In the piece, Comey explains that whatever surveillance the Obama Justice Department conducted on the 2016 Trump campaign was entirely justified and within bounds -- nothing weird about it at all. All market data delayed 20 Carlson's Monologue Published 1 day ago Tucker Carlson The real reason Obama intel officials don't want you to know how they spied on Americans By Tucker Carlson Fox It wasn't 'spying,' it was 'investigating'Former FBI director James Comey claims spaying on the 2016 Trump campaign was normal. Yes, American citizens were monitored electronically without their knowledge, but it wasn't spying. It was investigating. Of course, it wasn't spying. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

cap: Cutler Capital Management Llc who had been investing in Weyerhaeuser for a number of months, seems to be bullish on the 16.82 billion market cap company, according to MSNBC. The stock decreased 1.87% or 0.43 during the last trading session, reaching 22.58. The institutional investor held 164,481 shares of the real estate investment trusts company at the end of 2018Q4, valued at 3.60M, up from 145,806 at the end of the previous reported quarter. About 7.78M shares traded or 80.33% up from the average. It has underperformed by 31.76% the S&P500. Weyerhaeuser Company WY has declined 27.39% since May 29, 2018 and is downtrending. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

viewers vs: Across all of cable television, MSNBC was also the 2 most-watched network in total day and dayside among total viewers, according to MSNBC. In total day, MSNBC nearly doubled CNN in total viewers 912,000 vs. 553,000 . In dayside, MSNBC averaged 975,000 total viewers vs. May marked another month in which MSNBC handily bested CNN in total viewers the 27th straight month in total day, 20th straight month in dayside, 28th straight month in prime and 4th straight month during weekend total day. CNN's 654,000 MSNBC ranked ahead of 3 CNN and 4 Nickelodeon . MSNBC was the only cable news network to grow during dayside, up 8% in total viewers vs. Morning Joe at 6am dominated CNN in A25-54 for the 19th straight month and in total viewers for the 51st straight month. FOX News' -2% and CNN's -8% compared to May 2018. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

development r: Photo Xinhua China on Tuesday released a document to guide the development of National Economic and Technological Development Zones, vowing to introduce more high-quality foreign investors to the zones and give them support in access and financing, another solid move to realize the country's reform and opening-up commitment amid an escalating China-US trade war, according to Global Times China. It vowed to improve the quality of investment in the development zones and give priority to multinational companies' regional headquarters, research and development R&D finance, procurement, sales, logistics, settlement and other functional institutions, read a document on the website of the State Council, China's Cabinet, on Tuesday. The garden now serves as a plant resource bank in TEDA for scientific research, scientific education, demonstration and entertainment purposes. China currently has a total of 219 National Economic and Technological Development Zones, according to China's Ministry of Commerce . Dong Dengxin, director of the Financial Securities Institute at the Wuhan University of Science and Technology, told the Global Times on Tuesday that the move, which marks a new round opening-up and development of China's National Economic and Technological Development Zones, is in line with the nation's financial opening-up policy and industrial upgrading efforts. Now, as China aims for high-quality economic development, its focus has turned to R&D centers and high-technology foreign companies, Dong said, adding that simplified application procedures will also attract more foreign capital. Before, we mainly attracted foreign companies seeking low-cost labor in these areas. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

dow djia: One of the stocks that tend to hold out well between the summer doldrums bookended by Memorial Day and Labor Day is Dow DJIA, -0.87% component Apple Inc, according to Market Watch. AAPL, -0.48% among the most widely held names with hedge funds. But as the U.S. marks the unofficial beginning of the summer this week, there are still plenty of stocks that promise to sizzle in an otherwise bleak landscape dominated by trade-war turmoil. Apple ranks first with a median gain of 13% over the last 10 years with gains 80% of the time. As the table below shows, Cooper Cos. Apple has gained at least 7% in each of the last three summers, and the stock's only decline of any significance came in 2015 when it dropped 14.5%, said analysts at Bespoke Investment Group in a report. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

abortion laws: The move comes as the issue of abortion moves to the forefront of the presidential campaign, according to MSNBC. Harris is among the Democratic presidential candidates who have been sharply critical of a new spate of abortion laws that have cleared state legislatures and sharply curb abortion access. The senator from California said she would back legislation requiring states with a history of restricting abortion rights to receive clearance from the Justice Department to change abortion laws. Supporters of such measures have openly predicted that the laws could spark court fights that will eventually lead the Supreme Court to revisit the landmark Roe vs. Harris has specifically spoken out against anti-abortion bills that were passed in Georgia, Alabama, Ohio and Missouri. Wade decision. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

articles: Daily Weeklydaily briefweekly brief Thanks, according to Asahi Shimbun. You have been signed up successfully THE BRIEFExpert analysis directly to your inbox. Get a Daily or Weekly round-up of all the important articles and papers selected by Carbon Brief by email. Get a Daily or Weekly round-up of all the important articles and papers selected by Carbon Brief by email. You have been signed up successfully Daily Weeklydaily briefweekly brief Thanks. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

australians: That more Australians are shopping online is no surprise whatsoever, according to Nine News Australia. It's convenient, it's immediate and, when the parcel arrives, it's like your birthday, or Christmas ... something like that. To improve your experience update it here News National More Australians shopping online than ever before with one in ten dollars now spent over the internet By Ross Greenwood Finance Editor12 04pm May 28, 2019Facebook Tweet Mail Sit back and pick up your phone - it's time to go shopping. Australians are spending more on online purchases than ever before in a boom for delivery businesses. 9News On that subject, Christmas - or the Boxing Day sales at least - are being slowly overtaken by other sales events, including Cyber Monday and Black Friday. Australia Post is ideally placed to do this research because, by-and-large, it delivers most of the parcels. All of this is confirmed by Australia Post's latest Inside Australian Online Shopping Report. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

equities: Through the end of last week, the S&P Total Return Index was down 3.9% for May, while the Bloomberg Barclays Aggregate U.S. Bond Total Return Index was up 0.85% leaving equities with a net 4.72 percentage point underperformance versus bonds, according to Market Watch. That means balanced funds, which keep a set division between equities and bonds, will need to adjust their positioning. Read How stock-market bulls are adjusting to the reality of a messy U.S.-China trade war Here's the setup, according to Vinay Viswanathan and Max Grinacoff, strategists at Macro Risk Advisors Historically, since 1989, when bonds outperformed the stock market by more than 4%, equities rallied by 2.1%, on average, heading into month-end. In other words, they will have to buy equities and/or sell bonds going into Friday, the analysts said. Quantitative analysts Bram Kaplan and Marko Kolanovic of J.P. Morgan, in a note last week, recalled how the stock market's large underperformance in December, which culminated in a Christmas Eve rout that marked the S&P 500's closing low for the fourth-quarter selloff, led to a sharp equity rebound from Christmas to New Year's Eve. Moreover, they noted the spread between equity and bond returns is the fifth most negative of the last five years and that the average month-end rise for equities rises to 2.9% when measured over the last 10 occurrences see table below . Macro Risk Advisors Caption outside of wrapper for normal article images Other analysts have also pointed to the market's tendency to revert to the mean at month-end. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

gulf state: A White House official said the trip, with stops in Morocco, Jordan, Israel and Europe is part of our ongoing efforts to achieve peace between Israel and the Palestinians but offered no specifics, according to The Japan Times. The official was not authorized to speak publicly about the meetings and spoke on condition of anonymity. The White House is promoting the June 25-26 meeting in the Gulf state of Bahrain as the first phase of its long-awaited Mideast peace plan, which envisions large-scale investment and infrastructure work, much of it funded by wealthy Arab countries, in the Palestinian territories. ; But American officials say the Bahrain conference will not include the core political issues of the conflict borders of a Palestinian state, the status of Jerusalem, the fate of Palestinian refugees or Israeli security demands. The Palestinians will not attend the Bahrain meeting, rejecting the parameters of the conference, while key American allies Egypt and Jordan have not announced their plans for participation. The Saudis, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, along with host Bahrain, have accepted invitations to attend. For now, the Americans are pinning their hopes on wealthy Gulf states, led by Saudi Arabia, hoping their regional influence and deep pockets can make the conference a success. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

investment: Instead, Israel-based companies are seeking to establish firm footholds in China and invest more in the country, entrepreneurs and investors told the Global Times, according to Global Times China. More than 110 Israeli start-ups attended the one-day China-Israel Investment Conference held on Tuesday in Jinan, capital of East China's Shandong Province. Photo Zhang Hongpei/GT China and Israel are developing more interest in each other, especially when it comes to advanced technology, and their cooperation isn't being affected by the China-US trade dispute. Actually, more than 200 start-ups signed up for the event in Israel, said Benjamin Peng, managing director and head of China of Cukierman & Co Investment House, an Israeli investment bank and one of the main organizers of the event. More than 1,800 Chinese investors including institutions and individuals attended the conference. There were about 90 start-ups that attended last year's conference in Foshan South China's Guangdong Province so more Israeli companies are eagerly exploring the Chinese market, Peng told the Global Times on Tuesday. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

japanese bank: The euro was at 1.1185-1186, down from 1.1196-1197, and at 122.38-38, down from 122.68-68. ; After briefly rising above 109.60 in the midmorning, the dollar fluctuated around 109.50 for the most of afternoon trading amid a dearth of fresh trading incentives, according to The Japan Times. Late in the afternoon, the dollar eased to levels around 109.40 on selling to reduce dollar-long positions against the yen, traders said. At 5 p.m., the dollar stood at 109.40-41, down from 109.57-57 at the same time Monday. Investors were waiting for news, an official at a foreign-affiliated securities firm said. A strong PMI reading could send the dollar above 110, an official at a major Japanese bank said. Players are focusing on the U.S. personal consumption expenditures price index for April and China's manufacturing purchasing managers index for May, both due out Friday, traders said. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.