Finance

Waymo opens robo-taxi service to the public in US city

By Elroy Mariano 7 days ago

Bloomberg

China’s Headlong Rush into Hog Farms Sparks Boom-Bust Fears

(Bloomberg) — Investing in Chinese hog farms may never have been so profitable, and that’s spurred fears that the boom may soon turn into a bust.Record pork prices mean that breeders are potentially enjoying their highest returns ever, and that’s attracted many different kinds of investors to the industry, from a cement maker to state funds and banks, in addition to the ongoing expansion by traditional hog-farming companies.These breeders such as Wens Foodstuffs Group, Muyuan Foodstuff Co. and New Hope Liuhe Co. are engaged in ambitious plans to build large-scale farms to regenerate the industry after it was ravaged by African swine fever. The idea is that the big farms will gradually replace the many smallholders and install best-in-class sanitation and safety measures to counter any future threat.In thousands of years of Chinese history, pig farmers have possibly never made

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Global Carboxylic Acid Based Esters Industry

By Elroy Mariano 2 weeks ago

Bloomberg

Yuan Down on China Rule Change; Stocks Push Higher: Markets Wrap

(Bloomberg) — The offshore yuan fell after Chinese policy makers acted to restrain its strength by making it easier to bet against. Most Asian stocks gained led by China.The yuan fell as much as 0.7% against the dollar, which ticked higher against major peers. S&P 500 futures fluctuated after the benchmark ended higher last week, with some traders betting lawmakers are moving closer to reaching an agreement on stimulus. Chinese shares led regional gains as investors mulled an expected visit by President Xi Jinping to Shenzhen this week amid optimism he could unveil plans to further open parts of the economy to foreign investment. Hong Kong stocks also climbed, with a more modest rise seen in South Korea and Australia. MSCI’s gauge of Asia Pacific stocks was at the highest since June 2018. Elsewhere, Japanese equities bucked the

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Incyte Corporation (INCY) Stock Forecasts

By Elroy Mariano 2 weeks ago

Summary

A handful of sectors are shining through the pandemic, while others are struggling badly. Through 3Q, six of 11 GICS sectors had positive performances for the year-to-date, and the S&P 500 was up 2%. The leading sectors included Technology (up 29%) and Consumer Discretionary (+23%). The badly lagging sectors include Real Estate (-10%), Financials (-21%) and Energy (-41%). On a three-year basis, two clear trends emerge: the Tech sector has outperformed three years in a row, while the Energy sector has lagged badly three years in a row. Will the trends reverse next year? We doubt it. Investors are eager to allocate capital to innovative IT companies that are connecting people (even as they are practicing social distancing) and making corporations more efficient. Meantime, the Energy sector is facing “peak demand” forecasts at some point in the next 2-3 decades, suggesting that the long-term growth outlook is capped. In

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Japanese chipmaker Kioxia shelves $3.2 billion IPO amid U.S.-China tensions

By Elroy Mariano 2 weeks ago

By Takashi Umekawa and Makiko Yamazaki

TOKYO (Reuters) – Kioxia Holdings Corp <6600.T>, the world’s second-largest maker of flash memory chips, on Monday shelved plans for what would have been Japan’s largest initial public offering (IPO) this year, as U.S-China tensions cloud the global chip market.

Kioxia, previously known as Toshiba Memory, had planned to list on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Oct. 6, offering up to 334.3 billion yen ($3.2 billion) in shares. Shares in top shareholder Toshiba Corp <6502.T>, which had planned to sell an 8% stake, fell as much as 8.6% on the postponement news, before paring the losses to 3%.

The postponement highlights how disputes over trade and technology between Washington and Beijing have cast a shadow over the global chip industry and affected companies across the supply chain.

The memory chip market is bracing for the impact of tighter U.S. restrictions on Huawei Technologies Co

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50% of Meeting Planners in Asia Pacific Plan on Hosting Physical Events

By Elroy Mariano 2 weeks ago

Recent Meetings and Events survey led by Marriott Bonvoy across Asia Pacific excluding China (APEC) indicates:

  • 50% of the respondents plan to continue with in-person events
  • 45% of the respondents are concerned about government regulations around hosting events
  • 36% of the respondents are leaning towards hosting hybrid events

SINGAPORE, Sept. 28, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — As businesses start adapting to a new normal, Meetings & Events are also slowly returning – but with many factors to consider. In a survey led by Marriott Bonvoy, Marriott International’s travel program, on the expectations of Meetings & Events in the new normal, half of those surveyed are planning to continue with offline events (50%). However, there is a high volume of concerns around government regulations (45%), and safety and hygiene standards of venue (30%), amongst many others.

Marriott International Logo

The survey reached more than 500 respondents including event and meeting

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U.S. judge blocks Trump administration’s ban on new TikTok downloads

By Elroy Mariano 3 weeks ago

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. judge has temporarily blocked a Trump administration order that was set to bar Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google from offering Chinese-owned short video-sharing app TikTok for download at 11:59 p.m. on Sunday.

U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols in Washington issued the preliminary injunction in a brief order late on Sunday. He declined “at this time” to block restrictions set to take effect on Nov. 12 on technical and business arrangements which are crucial for the app to function properly.

Nichols’ detailed written opinion is expected to be released as soon as Monday.

The Commerce Department said in a statement it “will comply with the injunction and has taken immediate steps to do so.”

The statement, which defended the TikTok order and Trump’s executive order demanding owner ByteDance divest its TikTok U.S. operations, did not specify whether the government would appeal.

The

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Falcons place first-round pick A.J. Terrell on COVID-19 list

By Elroy Mariano 3 weeks ago

The Atlanta Falcons placed cornerback A.J. Terrell on the reserved/COVID-19 list on Saturday. He is the first player to be placed on the list since the season kicked off Sept. 10.

Terrell, the 16th overall pick in the 2020 draft, will miss Sunday’s game against the Chicago Bears, per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.

Being placed on the list does not mean the player has the COVID-19 virus. They are placed on the list either because of a positive test or because they have been exposed to someone who tested positive. Those in contact with people who tested positive enter quarantine.

The league is not releasing if a player tests positive, and how quickly players are taken off the list and can play again is subject to

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Locus partners with Vinculum to enable omnichannel commerce and supply chain fulfillment for customers

By Elroy Mariano 3 weeks ago

Brands & Retailers can now have access to best-in-class routing, omnichannel commerce solutions, and supply chain management under one roof

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 28, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Locus, a global B2B SaaS company that automates human decisions in the supply chain, today announced a partnership with Vinculum, a global software SaaS company enabling omnichannel commerce and supply chain fulfillment for brands.

Locus and Vinculum will together provide a seamless solution for brands to manage everything E-commerce, right from global marketplace listings, data consistency, real-time view of inventory in stores, BOPIS (buy online, pick up in-store), BOPAK (buy online, pick up at kerbside), Returns across channels, to last-mile routing.

“Locus is continuously increasing its presence in Southeast Asia, Middle East, and India. In these markets, the relevance of E-commerce and Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) has skyrocketed in the recent past. Companies are looking for solutions to go online and

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Biden warns that Trump’s Supreme Court pick could end health care protections ‘in the midst of a pandemic’

By Elroy Mariano 3 weeks ago

Joe Biden warned Saturday that Amy Coney Barrett, President Trump’s nominee to fill Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Supreme Court seat, would help dismantle the Affordable Care Act if she is confirmed by the Senate.

In a statement issued as Trump was introducing Barrett in a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden, Biden noted that she had taken aim at the health care law put in place when he was vice president.

“She has a written track record of disagreeing with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision upholding the Affordable Care Act,” Biden said in his statement. “She critiqued Chief Justice John Roberts’ majority opinion upholding the law in 2012.”

In 2017, Barrett wrote a review of a book by libertarian law professor Randy Barnett in which she criticized the court’s justification for upholding the legality of the Affordable Care Act, or ACA.

“Chief Justice Roberts pushed the Affordable Care Act beyond

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Kurt Busch wins at Las Vegas

By Elroy Mariano 3 weeks ago

Kurt Busch is advancing to the third round of the NASCAR playoffs.

Busch got some track position help thanks to a caution in the middle of green-flag pit stops with 32 scheduled laps to go and then held onto the lead for two more restarts for a win in his hometown of Las Vegas and an automatic berth in the third round.

Busch inherited the lead after Jimmie Johnson had a flat tire because he hadn’t pitted yet. Since the drivers ahead of Busch had hit pit road for what they hoped would be their final pit stops before the caution came out, Busch was able to pit under caution and restart first after he was the first driver off pit road.

The 2004 champion said that winning at his hometown track was something that he’d been dreaming of. Busch had never won at Vegas until Sunday night. And he

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