Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 24 February 2021

Wed Feb 24 09:07:30 CAT 2021

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ü  Apple buys a company every three to four weeks

ü  Bitcoin: Elon Musk loses world's richest title as Tesla falters

ü  Oatly looks to raise money in stock market float

ü  Facebook and Google 'too powerful' says watchdog boss

ü  Google-linked smart city plan ditched in Portland

ü  MWC Shanghai: Gadget companies gather for rare pandemic tech expo

ü  HSBC shifts focus from west to east as profits dive

ü  Facebook reverses ban on news pages in Australia

ü  Covid: Airline industry travel pass ready 'within weeks'

ü  Under-25s hit worst as unemployment rises again

ü  Promise of cheap money keeps stocks buoyant

ü  Investors jolted by sinking Bitcoin, Tesla and other market favorites

ü  SolarWinds, Microsoft, FireEye, CrowdStrike defend actions in major hack - U.S. Senate hearing

ü  Nigerian Lawmakers to Empower States to Determine Minimum Wage

ü  South Africa: Unemployment Rises to 32.5 Percent

ü  Nigeria: Zenith Bank Becomes Nigeria's Biggest Bank By Asset

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Apple buys a company every three to four weeks

Apple has acquired about 100 companies over the last six years, the company’s chief executive Tim Cook has revealed.

That works out at a company every three to four weeks, he told Apple’s annual meeting of shareholders on Tuesday.

Apple recently delivered its largest quarter by revenue of all time, bringing in $111.4bn (£78.7bn) in the first-quarter of its fiscal year 2021.

Mr Cook told the shareholders meeting that the acquisitions are mostly aimed at acquiring technology and talent.

Apple's largest acquisition in the last decade was its $3bn purchase of Beats Electronics, the headphone maker founded by rapper and producer Dr Dre.

Another high profile purchase was music recognition software company Shazam, for $400m in 2018.

Most often, Apple buys smaller technology firms and then incorporates their innovations into its own products.

One example is PrimeSense, an Israeli 3D sensing company whose technology contributed to Apple’s FaceID.

Apple has also invested in back-end technology that wouldn’t be so obvious to iPhone or Macbook users.

Self-driving, podcasts and more

Apple's list of acquisitions and investments is extremely varied.

In the past year, Apple has bought several artificial intelligence (AI) companies, a virtual reality events business, a payments startup and a podcast business, among others.

In 2019, Apple bought Drive.ai, a self-driving shuttle firm, in an effort to boost its own foray into self-driving technologies.

In 2016, the company also took a $1bn stake in Chinese ride-hailing service Didi Chuxing, although it wasn’t a controlling interest.

Deep pockets

Apple is an immensely profitable juggernaut worth more than $2trn, so it has plenty of money to make acquisitions.

But even if it has bought 100 companies in six years, Apple appears to be very selective about what it buys.

For example, Tesla founder Elon Musk recently revealed that he approached Mr Cook to buy the electric car business when it was struggling in 2013.

Mr Cook didn't take the meeting, Mr Musk said.

Measured by value, Apple’s acquisitions are actually far more restrained than those of many of its tech rivals.

Microsoft paid $26bn for LinkedIn, Amazon paid $13.7bn for Whole Foods and Facebook paid $19bn for WhatsApp.

Apple’s ten largest purchases put together would still be worth far less than any of those deals.--BBC

Bitcoin: Elon Musk loses world's richest title as Tesla falters

Tesla boss Elon Musk has lost his title as the world's richest person after a recent slide in the electric carmaker's shares, the main driver of his wealth.

Tesla shares have tumbled more than 20% since hitting a high of more than $880 in early January.

They suffered especially steep falls this week, tied to the firm's recent risky $1.5bn (£1bn) investment in Bitcoin.

The drop returned Amazon boss Jeff Bezos to the top spot on the rich list.

The risk of being associated with the notoriously volatile Bitcoin - which has fallen sharply in recent days - may have prompted some Tesla investors to sell their shares, even if the firm has not been hurt by the declines, Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives said.

"By Musk and Tesla aggressively embracing Bitcoin... investors are starting to tie Bitcoin and Tesla at the hip," he said.

"The recent 48-hour sell-off in Bitcoin and added volatility has driven some investors to the exits on this name in the near-term."

Bitcoin's value jumped nearly 50% in the weeks after Tesla revealed it had purchased $1.5bn of the currency and planned to accept it as payment.

But since climbing above $57,000 on Sunday, the cryptocurrency has dropped nearly 20%. It was trading at less than $48,000 on Tuesday - still higher than when Tesla disclosed its bet.

Just as Mr Musk was credited with helping to fuel Bitcoin's rise, he may also have himself to blame for some of the recent Bitcoin declines.

In an exchange on Twitter over the weekend Mr Musk wrote that the price of Bitcoin did "seem high lol".

Also driving the cryptocurrency lower were comments from US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who sounded a warning on Bitcoin on Monday. She called it an "extremely inefficient way of conducting transactions".

The comments follow a recent surge of interest in Bitcoin, after major US firms such as Mastercard and Bank of NY Mellon followed Tesla's lead in announcing plans to incorporate the digital currency into their operations.

What else is affecting Tesla?

Mr Musk's attention to Bitcoin comes as Tesla faces other challenges.

The firm recently halted most sales of the lowest-priced version of its Model Y SUV, with Mr Musk citing a desire to improve the car's range.

Earlier this month, Chinese regulators summoned the firm over safety and quality issues, after reports of battery fires and abnormal acceleration.

Five Chinese regulators have recently summoned Tesla over quality and safety issues.

Rival carmakers such as General Motors and Volkswagen have also stepped up their focus on electric vehicles in recent months.

The struggles follow an astonishing rise in Tesla shares in 2020, when prices leapt from less than $90 to more than $700.

The increase propelled Mr Musk past Amazon boss Jeff Bezos in the world's richest rankings for the first time in January, while also raising questions about whether that value made sense for a firm that produces a fraction of the cars of its rivals.

The two billionaires have been vying for the top spot in the weeks since.

The more than 8% decline in Tesla's share price on Monday was the biggest since September and wiped more than $15bn off Mr Musk's net worth, according to Bloomberg. Shares fell a further 2% on Tuesday.

Mr Musk's tweets have also famously triggered sharp moves in Tesla shares, including last year when the firm lost $14bn in market value after he wrote that its share price was too high.--BBC

Oatly looks to raise money in stock market float

Oatly, the plant-based milk company started in Sweden, is planning a stock exchange listing in the United States.

The move comes as the firm has been pushing to expand, amid the booming popularity of alternative milks.

Last year, it raised $200m (£160m), drawing investment from celebrities including Jay-Z, Oprah Winfrey and Natalie Portman.

The firm, which is sold in more than 20 countries, did not say how much money it hoped to raise in the listing.

But over the last 12 months, investors have shown strong appetite for shares of companies making their publicly-traded debuts. Market valuations for firms such as Airbnb, dating app Bumble and food delivery platform Doordash have soared.

Oatly, an early oat milk pioneer, is said to be seeking a value of as much as $10bn, compared to the $2bn value suggested by July's investment round.

Founded in the 1990s, previous investors include the state-owned China Resources and Verlinvest, a Belgium-based investment firm.

When it launched in the US in 2016, the product was so popular it suffered shortages. It now boasts partnerships with retail giants such as Starbucks and has expanded its products from milk to ice cream and yogurt and is eyeing growth in China.

Researchers have predicted that the market for dairy alternatives could almost double over the next five years, as increased dairy allergies and concerns about dairy's environmental impact push shoppers to look for plant-based options.

In the US, almond milk is the top seller, but oat passed soy last year to claim the second most popular spot.

Oatly, which reported more than $200m in sales in 2019, has cast itself as a champion of plant-based milks, which it says are better for the planet.

But the firm has been challenged by the traditional dairy industry and faces competition as companies such as PepsiCo's Quaker Oats and dairy giant HP Hood launch their own brands. New milk alternatives, made from products like peas, have also gained in popularity among consumers.--BBC

Facebook and Google 'too powerful' says watchdog boss

Tech giants Google and Facebook have too great a share of the UK online advertising market, the boss of the UK's competition watchdog has said.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) would like regulatory changes to deal with that market dominance, its boss Andrea Coscelli told the BBC.

Google and Facebook have faced criticism from competition and other regulators in the past.

Facebook said it faces "significant competition" online from rival firms.

Google has also been approached for comment by the BBC.

When questioned by the BBC's media editor Amol Rajan, Mr Coscelli said that the two tech giants have a "duopoly" in the UK when it comes to digital advertising, which can often be bad for competition.

Google and Facebook have about an 80% share of the UK's £14bn digital advertising market, which is "not an ideal situation", Mr Coscelli said.

"We think it would be good if we got to a situation where others had a bigger share of the market," he said.

He also described the fact that Google holds about 90% of the UK's £7.3bn search advertising market as a "problem".

Facebook currently has a more than 50% share of the £5.5bn display advertising market in the UK, which is too much, Mr Coscelli said.

"When companies have too much economic power, that creates a number of distortions, first for competitors, secondly for consumers, and at some level potentially in terms of the political process as well, in some cases," he said.

"We, in general terms, like to see markets more competitive, with more players, with more diversity of players, because we think that delivers better outcomes."

A Facebook spokesman said its platform "gives millions of people and businesses in the UK the opportunity to connect and share."

He added: "Advertisers can and do freely move their [advertising] spending between TV, radio, print, outdoor and online.

"And in online advertising itself, we face significant competition from the likes of Google, Apple, Snap, Twitter and Amazon, as well as new entrants like TikTok, which keeps us on our toes."

Increasing scrutiny

Mr Coscelli stopped short of saying that Facebook and Google should be broken up.

"Our current proposal is not to break them up, it's to have pro-competitive regulation to deal with some of the issues, but it would allow the companies to maintain all the current activities that they have," he said.

The CMA said in December it plans to issue Facebook, Google and the other tech giants a set of rules customised to each firm to rein in "anti-competitive behaviour" and give consumers "more control over how their data used".

It is set to create a Digital Markets Unit within itself to draw up the rules and govern compliance, although legislation is required which may not be introduced until 2022.

Silicon Valley firms have recently faced increasing scrutiny from other regulatory bodies around the world.

Before the UK's exit from the European Union, competition regulation for global or pan-European companies was done through Brussels.

Google has been hit with a number of competition fines by the European Commission over the years, including a €1.49bn (£1.28bn) fine in 2019 for blocking rival online search advertisers.

Facebook is also facing competition action in the United States from federal regulators and more than 45 state prosecutors who are accusing the social media company of taking illegal action to buy up rivals and stifle competition.--BBC

Google-linked smart city plan ditched in Portland

A smart city project started by Google's sister firm Sidewalk Labs to track mobility patterns in the US city of Portland has been shelved.

Last year, Sidewalk also ditched an ambitious project to build a digital city in Toronto, following controversy about the scale of its plans.

Portland confirmed the project would no longer go ahead.

Sidewalk said the scheme had most recently been in the hands of a spin-off company, Replica.

Replica told the BBC it was unwilling to share data to the level of detail requested by the city.

"At Replica, we believe better insights should not come at the cost of personal privacy. We were not willing to compromise on our privacy principles, which frustrated our Portland Metro client and ultimately led to an early end to the project."

In a statement, Metro, the city agency in charge of the project, told the BBC: "After review of the draft data, Metro ended its relationship with Replica. Metro did not pay Replica for any services. We wish Sidewalk Labs the best with its future work."

Sidewalk Labs began piloting location data software in Portland in May 2019, and the product Replica became a spin-off company in September of that year.

The software used non-identifiable mobile location data to show how people move through a city.

The plan was to use the data to make policy decisions about where to build bike lanes, how and when to repair roads and to make sure bus services were efficient and reaching all communities.

But Fast Company reported there were concerns about a lack of transparency around how the technology worked.

And RedTailMedia, which broke the news that the project had been ditched, referred to "data disputes and damaged trust".

Data collection and a perceived lack of transparency were also among concerns when Sidewalk Labs signed a major deal to reinvigorate a huge area of disused waterfront land in Toronto.

The vision had been to create a city full of technology, from timber skyscrapers to autonomous cars and heated sidewalks. Much of the plan rested on mass data collection from sensors around the area, which a lobby group of concerned citizens questioned the need for. They likened themselves to "lab rats" in a city experiment.

And an independent panel set up to scrutinise the plans said some of its ideas seemed to be "tech for tech's sake".

There were questions about how the deal was brokered in the first place.

Sidewalk Labs unexpectedly announced that its ambitious plans would be scrapped in May last year, citing "unprecedented economic uncertainty" following the coronavirus pandemic.

But many saw that as an excuse for ending a project that it had been forced to scale back significantly.

Much of the controversy came down to the question of whether cities should be making deals with huge corporations such as Alphabet - the parent firm of both Google and Sidewalk Labs.

At the time, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association said it was "inappropriate" for a firm like Google to design privacy policies to govern city neighbourhoods.

After the failure of the project, Sidewalk Labs set up a range of spin-off firms and divisions, all looking at different aspects of smart cities. These include:

Delve - a firm that uses AI software to design urban landscapes

a division looking at factory-made timber buildings

Pebble, a low-cost vehicle sensor to enable "better parking"

a division looking at ways to reduce the cost of electricity--BBC

MWC Shanghai: Gadget companies gather for rare pandemic tech expo

China is hosting one of the few in-person technology trade shows since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

More than 200 companies and about 20,000 people are expected to attend Mobile World Congress Shanghai.

But the three-day event has been scaled back from previous years - 60,000 were at the last MWC Shanghai, in 2019.

Faces masks are obligatory at the show. And exhibitors have been told they must observe "strict" capacity limits at their stands.

The event's organiser said the combination of Covid-prevention measures and the country's vibrant technology sector meant it was the only place that could host such an exhibition at this time.

"We believe this congress will help strengthen the confidence of the global industry," GSMA trade association head of Greater China Sihan Bo Chen added.

Under-screen camera

The trade show takes place against the backdrop of continuing US-China trade tensions.

At Huawei's keynote address, chairman Ken Hu said it had managed only slight growth over the past year.

President Donald Trump's administration put the company on an export blacklist in 2019 and cut off its access to computer chip manufacturers in 2020.

"Huawei was confronted with some extraordinary difficulties," Mr Hu said.

The show also comes at a time that other attendees - including US chip designer Qualcomm - have warned they face-chip supply issues of their own because demand is outstripping supply.

But it is also an opportunity to show off innovations.

So far, these have included:

ZTE's Axon 30 smartphone - its second attempt to make a phone with a selfie camera hidden under the display, after the original was criticised for relatively poor-quality photos

Oppo's 125-watt flash charger, which the company says can fully recharge a smartphone in 20 minutes

Huawei's foldable Mate X2 handset - the company has switched to a design pioneered by Samsung but says it has found a way to close the device so both sides lie flat against each other rather than there being a gap around the hinge

The GSMA is still hoping to host a version of MWC in Barcelona at the end of June, when it plans to require visitors to have tested negative for coronavirus within 72 hours of arriving at the venue.

But some have doubts.

"With the current situation, it's hard to see many people being both willing and able to travel until later in 2021," Opensignal analyst Ian Fogg tweeted.

"September maybe, June is much more iffy."

And there is still a question mark over some of the year's other big technology showcases, with growing speculation Los Angeles' E3 video-games expo will be limited to virtual live-streamed content.--BBC

HSBC shifts focus from west to east as profits dive

HSBC has signalled its "pivot to Asia", outlining plans to invest about $6bn (£4.3bn) in the region.

It is targeting wealth management and commercial banking to drive "double-digit growth" and has singled out Asian markets such as Singapore, China and Hong Kong.

The strategy update came as HSBC reported a 34% drop in profits for 2020 partly due to the impact from Covid-19.

The UK-based bank already generates the bulk of its revenues from Asia.

During its results announcement, Europe's biggest bank said it would resume paying a dividend of $0.15 a share in cash, the first payout announced since October 2019.

HSBC's pre-tax profit fell to $8.8bn for the year ending 31 December, down from $13.35bn a year earlier.

While annual profits slumped by slightly more than one third, they are marginally better than analysts expected.

HSBC chief executive Noel Quinn said in a statement that the bank had a "solid financial performance in the context of the pandemic - particularly in Asia", which lays "firm foundations for our future growth".

Sticking to cost-cutting plans that will reduce its workforce by about 35,000, HSBC is pushing ahead with one of the banking industry's most drastic responses to the pandemic.

Analysts had expected the Hong Kong-founded bank to announce plans to scale back its US retail banking operations.

HSBC has a 150-branch network in the US and has already closed 80 branches in the last year.

On Tuesday, the bank said it is "exploring organic and inorganic options" for its American retail banking franchise.

Asian expansion

Last month HSBC chairman Mark Tucker told the Asian Financial Forum conference in January that there were "real opportunities to grow our wealth business and expand across South Asia".

"While the economic backdrop is still uncertain, we think Asia - especially China - will act as the primary engine and vital stabiliser of the global economy," Hong Kong-based Bruce Pang, head of macro and strategy research at China Renaissance Securities told the BBC.

"A strategy shift to this region, which is the largest contributor to the world's economic momentum, may be welcomed and favoured by markets," he added.

HSBC has been gradually shifting its focus towards Asia, although the transition has not been smooth-sailing.

In September, HSBC came under fire for its endorsement of a controversial national security law that China has imposed on Hong Kong.

And earlier this month, HSBC was severely criticised by British MPs and US politicians for closing the accounts of pro-democracy activists.

Founded in 1865 as the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, HSBC moved its base to London in 1993 after buying Midland Bank in the run-up to the colony's 1997 return to China.--BBC

Facebook reverses ban on news pages in Australia

Facebook has announced it will restore news content to its users in Australia.

The tech giant has blocked news to Australians on its platform since last Thursday amid a dispute over a proposed law which would force it and Google to pay news publishers for content.

Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg had told him the ban would end "in the coming days", after the pair had talks.

Mr Frydenberg said amendments would be made to the law.

"Facebook has re-friended Australia," he told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday.

The government has been debating the law - seen as a possible test case for regulation globally - in the Senate, after it was passed in the lower house last week.

Why did Facebook block news content?

Last Thursday, Australians woke up to find they could not access or share any news stories on their accounts.

Facebook argued it had been forced to block Australian news in response to the proposed legislation.

The government's news code aims to set up a "fairer" negotiation process between the tech giants and news companies over the value of news content.

What happened after Facebook blocked news in Australia?

Facebook blocks news content in Australia

But it has been strongly opposed by Facebook and Google - both argue the code misunderstands how the internet works. Facebook has also said it gets little commercial gain from news content.

But the Australian government says the code is needed to "level the playing field" for news publishers, which have seen profits slump in the internet age.

By Tuesday evening it was reported that multiple companies, including the Guardian Australia and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, had resumed talks with the social media giant.

Seven West Media, a large media company, then announced in a statement they had signed a letter of intent to provide its news content to the platform after reaching an agreement.

Why has Facebook changed its mind?

Facebook said on Tuesday that it had been reassured by recent discussions with the government.

"Going forward, the government has clarified we will retain the ability to decide if news appears on Facebook so that we won't automatically be subject to forced negotiation," said Campbell Brown, vice president of global news partnerships at Facebook.

"We have come to an agreement that will allow us to support the publishers we choose to, including small and local publishers."

Facebook already has its own "showcase" product - Facebook News Tab - through which it pays media organisations a fee to display their stories on its platform. This feature however, is only available in the UK and US.

Google had also threatened to withdraw its primary search engine from Australia, but the company has recently agreed deals with local media companies.

Facebook's move to ban Australian news was a big risk last week. It made global headlines - not least because it also initially restricted some government health-department and emergency services pages.

Some have been perplexed by the move. Why would Facebook openly court such negative headlines?

Critics called the move undemocratic - authoritarian even. There are claims that fake news on the platform increased since the ban - though that's difficult to prove.

But Facebook isn't the only voice to say these new laws are badly drafted.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of the web, said he was concerned that forcing companies to pay for certain content could make the internet "unworkable".

The proposed law was also seen by some as heavily influenced by the lobbying operations of media mogul Rupert Murdoch's News Corp - which owns many of Australia's major newspapers. The law's intention was to protect struggling journalism, not to line the pockets of a media dynasty.

There does now appear to be movement on both sides. Crucially, Facebook objected to the idea of a "forced negotiation' with news outlets, which it now believes is off the table.

However although both sides have moved, and both will claim victory, this whole episode has damaged Facebook.

Politicians from across the world offered support to the Australian government - there were even accusations of bullying by the social network.

And considering Facebook desperately doesn't want these laws replicated in other countries, antagonising Australia's allies may not have been the smartest of moves.

What does the government say now?

The government and Facebook have reached a compromise of sorts.

Australian authorities will introduce four further amendments, including one that means the government may not apply the code to Facebook if it can demonstrate a "significant contribution" to local journalism.

They include a two-month mediation period before government-enforced arbitration kicks in - giving parties more time to reach a private deal.

Australia's largest locally-owned company Nine Entertainment said it was "pleased" the government had found a compromise and was looking forward to resuming talks about a commercial arrangement.--BBC

Covid: Airline industry travel pass ready 'within weeks'

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) says it expects its digital Covid Travel Pass will be ready "within weeks".

The pass is an app that verifies a passenger has had the Covid-19 tests or vaccines required to enter a country.

It also verifies they were administered by an approved authority.

The industry body sees the pass as essential for reopening air travel, as many countries still have strict restrictions or quarantines in place.

"The key issue is one of confidence. Passengers need to be confident that the testing they've taken is accurate and will allow them to enter the country." said Vinoop Goel, IATA’s regional director of airports and external relations.

"And then governments need to have the confidence that the tests that the passengers claim to have is one which is accurate and meets their own conditions."

IATA said the Travel Pass is designed in a "modular" way, so that it can work with other digital solutions that are being trialled around the world.

It will be available on iOS and Android platforms, and is expected to be free to passengers.

Singapore Airlines was the first airline to start trials of the travel pass in December.

Etihad, Emirates, Qatar Airways, Air New Zealand are among the other airlines currently conducting trials, and IATA says it is discussing the pass with most airlines throughout the Asia Pacific region.

"We are currently working with a number of airlines worldwide and learning from these pilots. And the plan is to go live in March," Mr Goel said.

"So basically we expect to have a fully functional working system over the next few weeks."

Paper versus app

The closest paper equivalent to the app is the Yellow Card, a World Health Organization document which confirms passengers have been vaccinated.

It is often used to prove that passengers have had yellow fever vaccinations required to enter some countries.

IATA says the risk of fraud with paper documents is too great.

Europol recently revealed that a forgery ring in France had been selling negative test results to passengers at Charles de Gaulle Airport and fraudsters had also been apprehended in the UK for selling forged results.

Malaysian police also reportedly recently arrested six Pakistani men suspected of forging negative results.

"This issue has come to the forefront, because there is the risk of fraud with paper certificates," said Mr Goel.

However, the insistence by some governments on paper documentation has proved an obstacle to the rollout of the IATA app.

"We do have a case in the Republic of Korea that does require a paper certificate, so we are working with the government there to ensure they will allow digital certificates to be accepted," Mr Goel said.

Essential for quarantine free travel

The airline industry is pinning its hopes on quarantine-free travel reopening this year, but expects progress to be slow, even with the app.

Covid has been disastrous for the airline industry, according to IATA’s figures, with demand plummeting nearly 70% in 2020 compared to 2019.

The industry is hoping for a recovery in 2021, but it’s unlikely that the vaccine rollout will solve the problem immediately, which is part of the reason IATA thinks the Travel Pass is needed.

"It will take too long. It will take at a minimum between 12 and 24 months. And it’s very dependent on the availability of vaccine globally," said Conrad Clifford, the body's regional vice-president for the Asia Pacific region.

"So we see a combination of testing and vaccination as being the long term solution to reopening borders," he said.

--BBC

Under-25s hit worst as unemployment rises again

The unemployment rate has risen to its highest level in almost five years, with younger workers bearing the brunt of the job losses, official figures show.

The UK's jobless rate rose to 5.1% in the three months to December, with the number of people on company payrolls down 726,000 on pre-pandemic levels.

Almost three-fifths of these were younger than 25 years.

There were, however, some early signs of stabilisation in the jobs market.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said there was a small increase in the numbers of employees paid through payroll over the past couple of months, with 83,000 more people on the books in January compared with the previous month.

Average pay rose, too, by 4.7% including bonuses, although this was said to be a statistical quirk rather than a sign of lasting wage growth,

Statisticians said this was partly because of the disproportionate fall in the number of young, typically lower-paid workers. Adjusting for this, the ONS said underlying wage growth was "likely to be under 3%".

The ONS said 1.74 million people were unemployed in the October to December period, up 454,000 from the same quarter in 2019.

How high could the unemployment rate go?

Furlough uncertainty

"Our survey shows that the unemployment rate has had the biggest annual rise since the financial crisis," said Jonathan Athow, ONS deputy national statistician for economic statistics.

"However, the proportion of people who are neither working nor looking for work has stabilised after rising sharply at the start of the pandemic, with many people who lost their jobs early on having now started looking for work."

Despite this, Mr Athow told the BBC's Today programme that the true underlying picture was not yet clear due to the high number of people still on furlough.

He said figures from early February suggested that about six million people were currently furloughed, adding: "There is a huge amount of uncertainty about what will happen to them when that scheme ends."

The Bank of England is forecasting that the unemployment rate will rise sharply, peaking at an estimated 7.8% later in the year.

'I wasn't going anywhere'

Keighlie Holt is a 20 year-old hairdresser from Blackpool, which has the highest youth unemployment in the UK. The impact of covid on her industry means she has has only worked for a fraction of the year.

She is now retraining as a social media analyst: "Last year I did what felt like, literally, three months of work.

"December wasn't anywhere near what it's like on any other December, that's normally our busiest time. And then it just wasn't going to go back to normal. No one wanted to get their hair done. No, I wasn't going anywhere."

Today's labour market figures show that pay was up by an average of nearly 5% compared with a year ago - a much bigger pay rise than has been typical for most of the past decade.

If you're an employee you may not recognise that figure as anywhere near your own pay rise; a big part of it is because it is an average figure.

If you remove nearly 730,000 workers from employers' payrolls, many of whom have been in low-paid occupations such as accommodation and food services - where pay rises have been modest or non-existent - then it flatters the average.

However, even allowing for those "compositional" effects, the Office for National Statistics estimates that there was still pay growth of 3% overall - far more than inflation at 0.7%.

And in some sectors it was better than that: according to the ONS, pay in health and social work rose by an average of 6.2% - some modest compensation, perhaps, for the risks those workers have been taking.

The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, is preparing for next week's Budget, which is expected to set out further plans to help the labour market.

"I know how incredibly tough the past year has been for everyone, and every job lost is a personal tragedy," Mr Sunak said.

"At the Budget next week I will set out the next stage of our Plan for Jobs, and the support we'll provide through the remainder of the pandemic and our recovery."

Labour's shadow chancellor, Anneliese Dodds, claimed some businesses were "throwing in the towel" because the government was taking too long to confirm what business support would be available to them over the next six months.

Ms Dodds criticised the government for announcing its roadmap to ending lockdown "without the clarity of business support". She told the BBC ministers "may relish the theatre of budget" but it was "wrong to put decisions off until the Budget", as some businesses had decided to "give up".--BBC

Promise of cheap money keeps stocks buoyant

SINGAPORE/MIAMI (Reuters) - Bond markets steadied, the U.S. dollar fell and stocks edged ahead on Wednesday after central banks from Washington to Wellington vowed to keep monetary policy loose for a long time, giving investors enough confidence to seek out riskier assets.

U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told Congress on Tuesday the economy remained “a long way” from employment and inflation goals and that rates would stay low and bond buying proceed apace until there was “substantial further progress”.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand on Wednesday made no changes to its rates or bond purchase programme either and said policy will need to remain stimulatory until inflation is sustained at 2% and employment hits maximum levels.

Taken together, it was enough to reassure investors that authorities won’t rush to raise rates even if inflation accelerates.

Risk-sensitive currencies rose, pushing the kiwi, Aussie and sterling to their highest levels since early 2018, while the safe-haven Japanese yen slipped. [FRX/]

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan, which has drifted 1.2% lower over the week as rising yields pressured valuations, rose 0.3% and S&P 500 futures rose 0.1%.

Tech stock selling pushed Japan’s Nikkei 0.4% lower.

Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yields, which fall when prices rise, were steady at 1.3480% after closing 2.4 basis points lower following Powell’s testimony to Congress.

Powell did not seem too fussed about the selloff that has driven the 10-year yield up by 40 basis points this year, telling lawmakers it was a statement on the market’s confidence in the pandemic recovery.

But he cautioned that was a ways off and said markets would get plenty of warning about any future policy adjustments.

His comments reversed a morning sell off on Wall Street, and the S&P 500 closed 0.1% higher, although the Nasdaq, which is full of growth stocks more sensitive to higher yields, finished Tuesday down 0.5%.

“The overall takeaway from Powell is that over the next couple of months he will just keep singing the same dovish commitment song,” said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA in New York.

“Until we see more than half of the 10 million jobs come back, Powell won’t change his tune.”

Elsewhere commodity prices eased a little after hefty gains in recent days and benchmark Brent crude oil futures fell 0.5% to $65.01 a barrel. U.S. crude futures traded 0.8% lower at $61.19 a barrel.

In currency markets, the Australian dollar hit a three-year high of $0.7945 and the New Zealand dollar made the same milestone, reaching $0.7378. [AUD/]

Sterling, which has been boosted by Britain’s vaccine rollout, briefly leapt as high as $1.4295, its best since April 2018.

Cryptocurrency bitcoin nursed losses at $49,700 after a two-day selloff.--BBC

Investors jolted by sinking Bitcoin, Tesla and other market favorites

LONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bitcoin, shares of Tesla and a high-flying exchange traded fund (ETF) fell on Tuesday, retreating from recent rallies in a volatile session that gave investors a gut check.

It was the latest sign of a possible pause in a rally that has buoyed a broad range of assets. Investors may be growing wary of sky-high valuations, while recent rises in Treasury yields could dim the allure of stocks and other comparatively risky investments.

“We have been in a sustained rally and there was a lot of leverage in the system,” said Ty Young, cryptoasset research analyst at crypto data platform Messari, of Bitcoin. “Corrections are to be expected during a bull run and not surprising when looking at previous cycles.

Bitcoin was recently down 11% at $48,207, paring some losses after Jack Dorsey’s Square Inc said it bought around 3,318 bitcoins for $170 million. The cryptocurrency had fallen as low as $44,845 during the session.

Shares of Tesla, which recently disclosed a $1.5 billion investment in the cryptocurrency, fell as much as 13.4% and pared losses to end down 2.1%. The ARK Innovation ETF, which counts Tesla as its biggest holding, finished 3.3% lower.

Recently popular exchange-traded funds (ETFs) focused on industries such as blockchain, cannabis and renewable energy have also taken a hit in the past week-and-a-half, with some investors growing skittish.

The electric carmaker’s shares represent about 10% of holdings for the ARK Innovation ETF, which has fallen around 9% this week as volatile bitcoin prices have pushed Tesla’s shares down almost 11% in the same period. Bitcoin has tumbled 17% in two days.

Some investors may have been preparing for downside in the ETF. Amy Wu Silverman, equity derivatives strategist at RBC Capital Markets, noted that options activity indicated a rise in demand for protection against a decline in ARKK.

Bullish sentiment for many holdings in the ARK Innovation ETF remains high, Wu Silverman noted. Despite recent weakness, outflows from the fund have been minimal, according to research from Christopher Murphy, co-head of derivatives strategy at Susquehanna Financial Group.

“The ARKK ETF has been the poster child of momentum high fliers and is beloved by retail,” Wu Silverman wrote.

Many assets whose prices gyrated on Tuesday have experienced blistering rallies over the last year.

Even with the shake-out from a record high above $58,000 two days ago, Bitcoin is up 68% this year, increasingly accepted as a mainstream investment and means of payment.

Michael Saylor, chief executive of MicroStrategy, a major corporate backer of bitcoin, told CNBC on Tuesday that the approximately $1 trillion total value of the digital currency could subsume the market capitalization of gold at about $10 trillion.

Yet some signs point to investors becoming more cautious on Tesla. Skew, an indicator measuring demand for protective options positioning, has climbed for Tesla over the past few weeks, according to data from Trade Alert.

Investors focused on environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors may also have cause for concern.

While Tesla has long campaigned to cut global auto emissions through use of its relatively environment-friendly cars, the company’s decision to invest in bitcoin could weigh on its ESG rating, Valentijn van Nieuwenhuijzen, chief investment officer at asset manager NN IP told Reuters on Friday.--BBC

SolarWinds, Microsoft, FireEye, CrowdStrike defend actions in major hack - U.S. Senate hearing

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Top executives at Texas-based software company SolarWinds Corp, Microsoft Corp and cybersecurity firms FireEye Inc and CrowdStrike Holdings Inc defended their conduct in breaches blamed on Russian hackers and sought to shift responsibility elsewhere in testimony to a U.S. Senate panel on Tuesday.

One of the worst hacks yet discovered had an impact on all four. SolarWinds and Microsoft programs were used to attack others and the hack struck at about 100 U.S. companies and nine federal agencies.

Lawmakers started the hearing by criticizing Amazon representatives, who they said were invited to testify and whose servers were used to launch the cyberattack, for declining to attend the hearing.

“I think they have an obligation to cooperate with this inquiry, and I hope they will voluntarily do so,” said Senator Susan Collins, a Republican. “If they don’t, I think we should look at next steps.”

The executives argued for greater transparency and information-sharing about breaches, with liability protections and a system that does not punish those who come forward, similar to airline disaster investigations.

Microsoft President Brad Smith and others told the U.S. Senate’s Select Committee on Intelligence that the true scope of the latest intrusions is still unknown, because most victims are not legally required to disclose attacks unless they involve sensitive information about individuals.

Also testifying were FireEye Chief Executive Kevin Mandia, whose company was the first to discover the hackers, SolarWinds Chief Executive Sudhakar Ramakrishna, whose company’s software was hijacked by the spies to break in to a host of other organizations, and CrowdStrike Chief Executive George Kurtz, whose company is helping SolarWinds recover from the breach.

“It’s imperative for the nation that we encourage and sometimes even require better information-sharing about cyberattacks,” Smith said.

Smith said many techniques used by the hackers have not come to light and that “the attacker may have used up to a dozen different means of getting into victim networks during the past year.”

Microsoft disclosed last week that the hackers had been able to read the company’s closely guarded source code for how its programs authenticate users. At many of the victims, the hackers manipulated those programs to access new areas inside their targets.

Smith stressed that such movement was not due to programming errors on Microsoft’s part but on poor configurations and other controls on the customer’s part, including cases “where the keys to the safe and the car were left out in the open.”

In CrowdStrike’s case, hackers used a third-party vendor of Microsoft software, which had access to CrowdStrike systems, and tried but failed to get into the company’s email.

CrowdStrike’s Kurtz turned the blame on Microsoft for its complicated architecture, which he called “antiquated.”

“The threat actor took advantage of systemic weaknesses in the Windows authentication architecture, allowing it to move laterally within the network” and reach the cloud environment while bypassing multifactor authentication, Kurtz’s prepared statement said.

Where Smith appealed for government help in providing remedial instruction for cloud users, Kurtz said Microsoft should look to its own house and fix problems with its widely used Active Directory and Azure.

“Should Microsoft address the authentication architecture limitations around Active Directory and Azure Active Directory, or shift to a different methodology entirely, a considerable threat vector would be completely eliminated from one of the world’s most widely used authentication platforms,” Kurtz said.

Alex Stamos, a former Facebook and Yahoo security chief now consulting for SolarWinds, agreed with Microsoft that customers who split their resources between their own premises and Microsoft’s cloud are especially at risk, since skilled hackers can move back and forth, and should move wholly to the cloud.

But he added in an interview, “It’s also too hard to run (cloud software) Azure ID securely, and the complexity of the product creates many opportunities for attackers to escalate privileges or hide access.”--BBC

Nigerian Lawmakers to Empower States to Determine Minimum Wage

The House on Tuesday debated the bill and passed it for second reading amidst opposition.

A bill seeking to amend the 1999 constitution to allow states to determine minimum wage has scaled second reading in the House of Representatives.

The House on Tuesday debated the bill and passed it for second reading amidst opposition.

The sponsor of the bill, Datti Garba, from Kaduna State, said the bill is part of the devolution of powers, which allows states to determine minimum wage based on capacity.

Item 34 on the exclusive legislative list places "labour, including trade unions, industrial relations; conditions, safety and welfare of labour; industrial disputes; prescribing a national minimum wage for the Federation or any part thereof; and industrial arbitration" on the federal government.

In 2019, President Muhammadu Buhari signed the National Minimum Wage of N30,000 into law, following the passage of the bill by the National Assembly.

The federal parliament passed the minimum wage bill on March 19, 2019 and it was transmitted to Mr Buhari on April 2. He signed this on April 18, 2019.

However, the implementation of the law by state governments has been difficult.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) accused eight states of not implementing the National Minimum Wage Act.

Debate

Leading the debate on the bill, Mr Datti explained that the bill seeks to remove the national minimum wage from the exclusive legislative list to the concurrent legislative list.

He noted "states should determine what they can pay, instead of the National Minimum wage that most states are not complying with".

He said: "Every attempt to impose minimum wage has always proven controversial. Labour leaders have been seeing minimum wage as collective bargaining. We all know that states are not equal, some states can pay, why some cannot afford it. Even in some states, some local governments, like Surulere local government where the Speaker (Gbajabiamila) is from can pay, but some local governments within the same state cannot.

"In the 1963 Constitution, minimum wage was in the concurrent legislative list. This decentralisation will allow each state to negotiate with labour union in their respective states.

"This proposal is egalitarian as the current approach is abitrary."

Also supporting the bill, Uzoma Abonta from Abia State said the bill is one of the 'finest' legislations in the 9th House.

He said the bill will help in decentralisation of the federation, and devolve more powers to the states.

"This bill is important. The minimum wage as constituted in the constitution is evil. The rent in Abia is different from Abuja. A collective minimum wage is hazardous.

"Right, some governors will be mischievous with this bill, but they will have to contend with other labour laws."

Also speaking in support of the bill, Fred Agbedi (PDP Bayelsa), said the bill will allow states "to allocate salaries they can afford, based on resources available to them".

Opposition

But the deputy Speaker of the House, Idris Wase, who is the Chairman of the Committee on Constitution amendment, described the bill as "anti-people" and urged his colleagues to reject it.

According to Mr Wase, states are unable to pay wages due to inability to prioritise and not due to lack of funds.

"I know what is going to happen when you allow states to decide minimum wage. It will lead more people into poverty. Even when they have the resources, they will not pay," he said.

Also speaking against the bill, Aminu Sulaiman said even if the House should allow the bill to scale second reading, "he will fight it at committee level".

"This bill is an incentive to states to undermine the collective bargaining power advantage of the union. We will follow this bill to the committee level and fight it."

Responding, Mr Datti argued that the current law on minimum wage has no implementation mechanism. He argued that most states are not complying with the legislation.

Following the long debate, the "ayes" had the majority votes when the bill was put to a voice vote by the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila.-Premium Times.

South Africa: Unemployment Rises to 32.5 Percent

South Africa's unemployment rate rose to 32.5% in the last three months of 2020, Statistician-General Risenga Maluleke has revealed.

The increase presents a 1.7 percentage point increase from the third quarter of 2020.

Despite the grim picture painted in the fourth quarter (Q4) Labour Force Survey, released on Tuesday, Stats SA said the Quarter 4 results 2020 show that the number of employed persons increased by 333 000 to 15 million.

During this period, the number of unemployed persons increased by 701 000 to 7.2 million compared to Quarter 3:2020, resulting in an increase of 1 million (up by 4.9%).

During the quarter, the number of discouraged work-seekers increased by 235 000 (8.7%), while the number of people not economically active for reasons other than discouragement decreased by 1.1 million (7.4%) between the two quarters, resulting in a net decrease of 890 000 in the not economically active population.

The QLFS said the movement was proportionately more towards the unemployed than for the employed, which resulted in a significant increase of 1.7 percentage points in the official unemployment rate to 32.5% - the highest since the start of the QLFS in 2008.

"The unemployment rate according to the expanded definition of unemployment decreased by 0.5 of a percentage point to 42.6% in Quarter 4: 2020 compared to Quarter 3: 2020," reads the report.

Despite this, employment increased in all sectors in the quarter.

"Formal sector employment increased by 189 000 (1.8%); informal sector employment by 65 000 (2.6%); private households by 76 000 (6.8%), and employment in agriculture increased by 2 000 (0.3%). Employment increased in all industries, except finance and mining. The industries which gained the most jobs were community and social services (170 000) and construction (86 000)," said Maluleke.

Compared to Quarter 4: 2019, employment contracted in all industries.

Stats SA said most job losses were observed in finance (256 000), community and social services (241 000) and manufacturing (230 000).

Additional questions were included in the Quarter 4:2020 questionnaire, as with Quarter 2 and 3 of 2020, to capture changes brought about by the national lockdown.

The national statistics agency said results indicate that of the 15.0 million persons who were employed in Quarter 4: 2020, almost eight out of ten people (78.3%) were expected to work during the national lockdown by the companies/organisations they work for.

"Those who actually worked were predominately men in most industries, except in the community and social services sector and private households, where the majority were women," said Stats SA.

The report further notes that about nine out of ten people employed within the construction industry who worked during the lockdown were men. Those who were expected to work in the reference week during the national lockdown but could not do any work during that period indicated the national lockdown as the main reason for not actually working (66.0%).

Compared to the third quarter of 2020, where 10.9% indicated that they worked from home, this proportion declined to 8.0% in the 4th quarter of 2020.

Working from home was more prevalent in Gauteng and the Western Cape and among professionals and managers. The majority of those in employment continued to receive pay during the lockdown. However, those with lower levels of education were more likely to receive reduced salaries than those with higher levels of education.-SAnews.gov.za.

Nigeria: Zenith Bank Becomes Nigeria's Biggest Bank By Asset

The climb may be temporary though.

Jim Ovia-led Zenith Bank Plc saw a 34 per cent surge in its asset base in 2020, lifting the value from N6.347 trillion to N8.481 trillion in one year and making it Nigeria's biggest bank by asset, its audited financial statements showed on Tuesday.

The lender, however, could cede that position to its fierce rival, Access Bank, when its own financial statements are issued any moment from now.

Access Bank executed no fewer than four major expansion deals on the continent last year including acquisitions in Kenya, Zambia, Cameroon and Mozambique, which should catapult its asset estimate well beyond the N7.925 trillion reported in September, and has lined up more of such transactions in eight other countries across Africa.

A 12.2 per cent increase in net interest income enabled Zenith Bank to scale up turnover from N662.251 billion to N696.450 billion.

But earnings were somewhat limited by a slump in net income on fees and commission from N100.106 billion to N79.332 billion, and the lender's provision for loans likely to go bad, which soared from N24.032 billion to N39.534 billion.

That deterioration in credit quality by as much as 64.5 per cent in 12 months underscores the December projection of credit rating agency Fitch.

Nigerian banks should brace up for harder times this year, the New York-based firm warned, seeing the impaired loans in the system jump to between 10 to 12 per cent of the total credit asset by December 2021 as the pandemic weighs.

Dividend Per Share

Pre-tax profit stood at N255.861 billion up from N243.294 billion, meaning a 5.2 per cent growth.

Profit for the year went up by 10.4 per cent from N208.843 billion to N230.565 billion.

The earnings per share of Nigeria's second most capitalised bank stood at N7.34, up from N6.65, while its shareholders fund lifted from N941.886 billion to N1.117 trillion.

The lender's board of director also announced on Tuesday a final dividend per share of N2.70, having earlier paid an interim dividend of N0.30 for 2020, bringing the total to N3. That compares to 2019's total of N2.80.

Shares in Zenith Bank closed in Lagos on Tuesday at N26 per share, up by 4.84 per cent.-Premium Times.

Invest Wisely!

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INVESTORS DIARY 2021

Company

Event

Venue

Date & Time

Companies under Cautionary

ART

PPC

Dairibord

Starafrica

Fidelity

Turnall

Medtech

Zimre

Nampak Zimbabwe

FMHL

 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

DISCLAIMER: This report has been prepared by Bulls ‘n Bears, a division of Faith Capital (Pvt) Ltd for general information purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy or subscribe for any securities. The information contained in this report has been compiled from sources believed to be reliable, but no representation or warranty is made or guarantee given as to its accuracy or completeness. All opinions expressed and recommendations made are subject to change without notice. Securities or financial instruments mentioned herein may not be suitable for all investors. Securities of emerging and mid-size growth companies typically involve a higher degree of risk and more volatility than the securities of more established companies. Neither Faith Capital nor any other member of Bulls ‘n Bears nor any other person, accepts any liability whatsoever for any loss howsoever arising from any use of this report or its contents or otherwise arising in connection therewith. Recipients of this report shall be solely responsible for making their own independent investigation into the business, financial condition and future prospects of any companies referred to in this report. Other  Indices quoted herein are for guideline purposes only and sourced from third parties.

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