World

SHANGHAI: Investors are snapping up China's coal stocks, betting the country's urgency to revive economic growth will override concerns about pollution to drive demand for fossil fuels and reliable energy. China's coal index surged roughly 10 per cent in August, bringing this year's gains to nearly 50 per cent, against a drop of almost 20 per cent for the blue-chip CSI300. Flows are likewise impressive with the biggest listed fund tracking the sector, Guotai CSI Coal & Consumable Fuels Index ETF, reporting that its assets under management grew fivefold from a year earlier to reach 5 billion yuan (US$720 million) at end-June. Beijing must weigh short-term economic stability against longer-term goals of carbon emissions reduction, with markets betting that a focus on the former will preva...

The S & P 500 finished lower Friday, at its lowest close since July, after mounting an attempt at back-to-back gains earlier in the session. The first two days of September, which has historically been the worst month of the year for stocks , were mixed following a rough August, which has typically been a solid month for the market. Following the government's Goldilocks-type August employment report Friday, market predictions for a 75-basis-point interest rate increase at the Federal Reserve's next scheduled meeting later this month went down somewhat, according to the CME's FedWatch tool . While odds of a 50-basis-point rate hike were still only 44%, that glimmer of hope of avoiding a third straight 75-basis-point move helped support stocks Friday morning as recently stronger bond yields ...

KUALA LUMPUR: Some farms in Malaysia rearing chicken specifically for export may resume exporting in October after getting approval from the Agriculture and Food Industries Ministry (MAFI), said the chairman of Malaysia's task force against inflation Annuar Musa on Monday (Aug 29). “This means the number of chickens to be taken out needs MAFI’s approval. It should not affect the output meant for consumption in the country. “Only certain farms designated for producing chicken can start breeding now for export purposes. But they cannot reduce the existing output or import that has been allowed,” said Mr Annuar, who is also the Minister of Communications and Multimedia. He said that the ceiling price of RM9.40 (US$2.10) per kg for local whole fresh chicken will not be raised after Aug 31. ...

Analysts generally expect state-owned enterprises will perform better than non-state-owned developers in the latest real estate slump. Pictured here in Guangxi, China, on Aug. 15, 2022, is a real estate complex developed by state-owned conglomerate Poly Group. Future Publishing | Future Publishing | Getty Images BEIJING — Chinese property developers' cash flows — a sign of the companies' ability to stay afloat — shrank this year after steady growth over the last decade, according to Oxford Economics. Developer cash flows through July are down 24% year-on-year on an annualized basis, according to analysis from the firm's lead economist, Tommy Wu. That's a sharp slowdown from growth for nearly every year since at least 2009, the data showed. Total funding as of July was 15.22 trillion yuan ...

LONDON: Investors in crypto have endured wild moves in recent months, but this has not fazed asset managers who are preparing to use the blockchain technology behind cryptocurrencies to break funds into bite-sized units, or tokens, to sell to small savers. Bitcoin fell 7.7 per cent in the space of just a few minutes on one day last week, following a 15 per cent drop on one day in June as aggressive rate hikes by major central banks and ultra-high inflation prompted investors to ditch high-risk assets. The sector is also facing other issues, with Celsius this week suing a former investment manager for losing or stealing tens of millions of dollars in assets before the crypto lender went bankrupt last month. However, private markets investment firms Hamilton Lane and Partners Group have t...

Bearish bets on several Asian currencies hit a record high, driven by a slump in the Chinese yuan and a towering dollar as investors brace for more Federal Reserve rate hikes, a Reuters Poll found. Short positions on the Chinese yuan, the South Korean won, the Singaporean dollar and the Taiwanese dollar all hit their highest levels on record, the fortnightly survey of 12 respondents showed. The greenback's surge has been relentless, with the dollar index — which measures the currency against six major peers — surging nearly 15 per cent this year and hovering near a 20-year high. The dollar is likely to strengthen further as U.S. interest rates are set to rise amid a stronger economic performance, and as investors turn to the safe-haven currency when geopolitical risks surface, such as t...

Hedge fund Third Point on Monday disclosed a stake of roughly US$1 billion in Walt Disney Co and said it plans to push the media company to make a string of changes, from spinning off cable sports channel ESPN to buying back shares and adding new board members. Billionaire investor Daniel Loeb, who runs Third Point, made a U-turn on Disney when he built a new stake in the second quarter, not long after exiting his position months earlier when fears about rising prices and faster interest rate hikes sparked a sharp market selloff. Now Third Point, owning roughly 0.4 per cent of the company known for its theme parks and movies like Aladdin and "Frozen," is back with praise for the company's CEO, Robert Chapek, and a list of initiatives he and the board should pursue to boost growth. "Our ...

If you want to keep the Federal Reserve on a slow course to raise interest rates to a reasonable level — let's call it 3.5% — we need to see three things: Big layoffs in the thousands A suspension of buybacks to preserve cash Store closings and promotions that save a middle class consumer in the throes of inflation everywhere We are beginning to see a smarter consumer spending less, both at the store and on vacation. The former is because of the exorbitant price increases in every aisle and the latter is much more because the airlines have made traveling too unpredictable. Now some of the causes of inflation are getting tamed. Freight is getting calmer. Parts are more available, albeit at higher prices. And while absenteeism is still a problem, it is slowly becoming less of one. Price incr...

DETROIT : Tesla Inc Chief Executive Elon Musk has set his young company on an aggressive expansion path like no other auto executive has dreamed - but one riddled with potholes and road blocks that could stall or sidetrack the journey. Musk's audacious goal of selling 20 million electric vehicles in 2030 is at the center of the company's growth promise for shareholders and its pledge to drive the adoption of sustainable energy. If achieved, it would make Tesla twice the size of any automaker in history, accounting for roughly 20 per cent of the global vehicle market. But such exponential growth - a 13-fold increase over the estimated 1.5 million vehicles it hopes to sell this year - will come at an unprecedented cost of hundreds of billions of dollars, according to a Reuters analysis of ...

NEW YORK :SoftBank Group Corp is set to post a gain of $34.1 billion by reducing its stake in Alibaba Group Holding from 23.7 per cent to 14.6 per cent. But the Japanese conglomerate will not sell its shares directly in the market. It is using a complex security called "prepaid forward contracts," which is a derivative largely used by investors. Here's how these contracts work: WHAT ARE PREPAID FORWARD CONTRACTS? A prepaid forward contract is a type of derivative contract that allows an investor to hedge risks associated with an equity investment in a company. HOW DOES IT WORKS? The contract involves a floor and a cap price, limiting investors' exposure to that price range. To settle the contracts, investors can either pay financial institutions in cash or hand the physical shares. ...