Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 02 March 2021

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Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 02 March 2021

 


 

 


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ü  Zoom sees more growth after 'unprecedented' 2020

ü  Budget 2021: Five things to look out for

ü  Joe Biden takes swipe at Amazon over union fight

ü  Chinese investment in Australia plummets 61%

ü  Budget 2021: 'Now is not the time for tax rises', say MPs

ü  Ant Group shelves share buyback programme for current and departing
staff: Bloomberg

ü  Asian shares perk up as calmer bonds ease jitters

ü  Betting on death of petrol cars, Volvo to go all electric by 2030

ü  GameStop surges more than 18%, other 'meme stocks' also rally

ü  Huawei CFO’s lawyer disputes what HSBC knew as U.S. extradition case
resumes

ü  Oil optimism unwinding market's mad dash for storage

ü  To go electric, America needs more mines. Can it build them?

 

 

 


 <https://www.facebook.com/Hyundaizimbabwe/> 

 


 

Zoom sees more growth after 'unprecedented' 2020

Zoom boss Eric Yuan, whose business exploded during the pandemic, says
working from home is here to stay.

 

The video conferencing company expects sales to rise more than 40% this
year, reaching more than $3.7bn (£2.66bn).

 

The forecast pushed shares in the company up more than 6% in after-hours
trade in New York.

 

Investors have been watching for clues as to how the firm would fare as more
people get vaccinated and social distancing restrictions lift.

 

Zoom said it did not expect growth to continue at the pace it enjoyed last
year, but so far business remains strong.

 

The firm's sales in the last three months of 2020 were up 370% compared to
the same period in 2019, hitting $882.5m.

 

"The fourth quarter marked a strong finish to an unprecedented year for
Zoom," company boss Eric Yuan said. "As the world emerges from the pandemic,
our work has only begun."

 

'The future is here'

The pandemic, which prompted an abrupt shift to remote work for many
businesses around the world, transformed Zoom into a household name
practically overnight.

 

The firm, which charges businesses for its remote meeting software in
addition to more limited free use for the general public, saw sales soar
326% to $2.6bn in 2020. Profits jumped from just $21.7m in 2019 to $671.5m.

 

While some companies have started to ease staff back into the office, many
others have said they expect that some of the increased flexibility
introduced during the pandemic will linger.

 

"The future is here with the rise of remote and work from anywhere trends,"
Mr Yuan said in prepared remarks for investors. "We recognize this new
reality and are helping to empower our own employees and those of our
customers to work and thrive in a distributed manner."

 

Susannah Streeter, analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said Zoom's fate would
depend on how it manages to compete against firms such as Microsoft and
Google, which have introduced similar features.

 

"Although it stole an early march on other players in the first few months
of the crisis, it does now have much stiffer competition from the likes of
Microsoft and Google who have significantly upped their game," she wrote in
a research note.

 

"It may be that we have become so used to pandemic habits that we will stick
with our virtual social lives, particularly for long distance friendships
and work relationships. But just how large a slice of the live video pie
Zoom manages to hang on to will depend on how it matches up to its powerful
rivals."--BBC

 

 

 

Budget 2021: Five things to look out for

Chancellor Rishi Sunak will deliver his Budget on Wednesday, setting out the
government's tax and spending plans and forecasts for the UK economy.

 

This year the pandemic will take centre stage, as he faces pressure to
continue supporting people and businesses suffering financially, while
offering a plan to repay the record £270bn borrowed by government since the
crisis began.

 

Ahead of the speech, Mr Sunak has already promised more money for UK's
vaccination rollout; a £5bn scheme to help High Street businesses reopen;
and a mortgage guarantee scheme to help first-time buyers.

 

But there are rumours he plans to raise some taxes and he's warned of tough
economic times ahead.

 

Here are five things to look out for in Wednesday's speech:

 

1. More support for jobs and workers

The chancellor has already said he "is preparing a Budget that provides
support for people" as unemployment hovers at a five-year high and four
million workers are on furlough.

 

According to reports, Mr Sunak is set to extend the job support scheme -
which pays up to 80% of wages - until 30 June. That's just over a week after
the final lockdown restrictions could be lifted at the earliest.

 

He is also tipped to extend a £20-per-week uplift to Universal Credit for
six months, after intense pressure from MPs and charities to do more to help
the poor get through the pandemic.

 

Some want him to go further and make the uplift permanent - but the
chancellor may resist as he struggles to get government borrowing under
control.

 

2. Will he cut business rates?

Mr Sunak may have promised grants of up to £18,000 to get businesses going
again, but the bigger question is what he will do about business rates.

 

MPs across the board say the tax, which is calculated using the value of a
company's premises, is unfair and outdated. The boss of Next, Lord Simon
Wolfson, recently told the BBC rates could kill off the High Street if they
aren't reformed.

 

The chancellor is likely to leave the thorny question of what to do about
the tax - including levying a so called "Amazon tax" on online retailers -
until the autumn.

 

However, reports suggest he will extend the business rates holiday - brought
in last year to support shops - beyond its current end date of 31 March and
into the summer.

 

A lower VAT rate for pubs and restaurants and local authority grants for
struggling businesses are also expected to be extended.

 

3. Will he raise taxes?

Despite the anticipated generosity, the chancellor has said he will use the
Budget to "level" with the public about the challenges facing the economy
and the need to repay the vast amounts of public money spent during the
pandemic.

 

According to reports, Mr Sunak is likely to announce several tax increases -
although whatever he does will probably have to fit around the Conservative
party's manifesto pledge not to raise income tax, national insurance or VAT.

 

Many think he will instead raise corporation tax from its current level of
19% to 23%, which is still below the G7 average. It would be staggered over
the course of the parliament, reportedly bringing in £12bn.

 

There are also rumours he will freeze the personal income tax allowance,
which usually rises in line with inflation, pushing many taxpayers into
higher bands and netting HMRC about £6bn.

 

Labour leader Kier Starmer has argued tax rises risk "choking off" a rapid
economic revival after the pandemic.

 

The Treasury Committee of MPs has also said now is "not the right time" -
although they said "significant fiscal measures, including revenue raising"
would be needed in future.

 

4. Help for levelling up?

The chancellor is also likely to set out his vision for a post-Covid (and
-Brexit) economy, which could mean more money for "levelling up" different
parts of the UK.

 

According to the Financial Times, he is preparing to announce the locations
of freeports - special economic zones with low taxes that would help
stimulate regional growth.

 

He's also expected to announce more spending on measures to help the UK meet
its decarbonisation goals.

 

Details of the UK's first "green gilt" - a type of bond that would let
people invest in green infrastructure projects - could be shared.

 

There are also likely to be measures to promote more environmentally
friendly homes and renewable energy - although he is not expected to raise
fuel duty.

 

5. Stamp duty holiday extension

The stamp duty holiday introduced last year not only propped up the housing
market at the start of the crisis, it also drove up the average value of a
home by 8.5% in 2020.

 

That tax break is up at the end of March, and many buyers have found
themselves facing big bills if they don't complete their transactions on
time. However, Mr Sunak will extend stamp duty holiday to prevent this cliff
edge, reports suggest.

 

The government mortgage guarantee scheme will offer 95% mortgages for houses
worth up to £600,000.

 

It is based on the Help to Buy mortgage guarantee scheme, which closed to
new loans at the end of 2016, a policy the Treasury said "reinvigorated the
market for high loan-to-value lending after the 2008 financial crisis".

 

But housing charity Shelter said that scheme increased house prices by 1.4%,
making housing less affordable for many.--BBC

 

 

Joe Biden takes swipe at Amazon over union fight

In a statement aimed at Amazon, US President Joe Biden has warned companies
against intimidating staff considering joining a labour union.

 

Mr Biden said "the choice to join a union should be up to the workers - full
stop".

 

His remarks come in the middle of a historic vote in Alabama, where Amazon
warehouse workers are deciding whether to join a union.

 

It is the first such vote Amazon has faced in the US since 2014.

 

It follows months of criticism of the e-commerce giant for falling short of
coronavirus safety precautions, while making high demands on workers during
the pandemic, when its business has boomed.

 

In his video remarks, Mr Biden did not explicitly back the union effort, nor
did he mention Amazon by name. However, he said the White House was
committed to the right to collectively organise.

 

 

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.

 

"Today and over the next few days and weeks workers in Alabama - and all
across America - are voting on whether to organise a union in their
workplace. This is vitally important - a vitally important choice," he said.

 

"There should be no intimidation, no coercion, no threats, no anti-union
propaganda. No supervisor should confront employees about their
preferences."

 

Amazon worker fight: 'You're a cog in the system'

New York sues Amazon over 'deficient' Covid response

Amazon, which has been accused of taking aggressive steps to quash labour
activism, did not respond to a request for comment.

 

It has previously described its response - which staff and union organisers
have said include mandatory meetings and anti-union fliers throughout the
warehouse, among other measures - as providing "education, about a step it
says could lead union members being charged $500 in dues without a guarantee
of better pay or other benefits.

 

High-profile union fight

Nearly 6,000 people work at the Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, where
the organising drive is taking place. Mail-in ballots are due by 29 March.

 

If organisers are successful, it will be Amazon's first unionised workplace
in the US.

 

The fight has attracted support from many national Democratic heavyweights,
including former presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders. Mr Biden,
who was heavily backed by unions in his presidential campaign, has cast
himself as a friend to organised labour.

 

Republicans, who tend to oppose organised labour, have largely steered clear
of the fight - unlike other high-profile union drives, when they sided with
employers.

 

Stuart Appelbaum, the president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department
Store Union, which is leading the effort in Alabama, thanked Mr Biden for
what he said was a "clear message of support".

 

"As President Biden points out, the best way for working people to protect
themselves and their families is by organising into unions. And that is why
so many working women and men are fighting for a union at the Amazon
facility in Bessemer, Alabama," he said.-BBC

 

 

Chinese investment in Australia plummets 61%

image captionMany Chinese companies have looked to Australia's mining sector
for investment opportunities.

Chinese investment in Australia plummeted 61% in 2020, the lowest number in
six years.

 

The drop in investment comes amid a growing diplomatic rift between the two
countries.

 

The Australian National University's Chinese Investment in Australia
Database (CHIIA) recorded just over $780m (A$1bn ; £550m) in investment.

 

Only 20 Chinese investments were recorded in 2020, well below the 2016 peak
of 111.

 

Last year's decline came on top of a 47% drop from 2019, when Chinese
investment totalled $1.57bn.

 

Dr Shiro Armstrong, director of the East Asian Bureau of Economic Research,
where CHIIA is based, said the decline in Chinese investment in Australia
outpaced falling global foreign investment last year.

 

"Foreign direct investment fell globally by 42% according to the United
Nations (UN)," Dr Armstrong said in a media release. "UN data is measured
differently, but the fall in Chinese investment to Australia was much
larger."

 

Chinese companies have invested across all sectors of Australia's economy in
recent years, but last year they only bought into the real estate ($357m),
mining ($321m) and manufacturing ($119m) sectors.

 

The drop is at least partly due to Australia's investment settings during
the Covid-19 pandemic.

 

The government announced temporary measures in March that would subject
every proposed investment to scrutiny by Australia's Foreign Investment
Review Board (FIRB).

 

Previously, a review only applied for "non-sensitive" transactions if the
investment was worth $930m, or $213m for investors from countries without a
free trade agreement with Australia.

 

The aim was to prevent a fire sale of distressed Australian assets to
foreign owners, but it also delayed investments as the FIRB dealt with a
backlog, blowing out the review period from 30 days to six months.

 

The Australian government also announced additional reforms to its foreign
investment laws in July, which added a national security test and allowed
the treasurer to cancel deals retrospectively.

 

In August, the Treasurer Josh Frydenberg stopped the $600m sale of Japanese
beverage giant Kirin's wholly-owned Australian subsidiary Lion Dairy and
Drinks to China Mengniu Dairy.

 

Trade tensions

The latest figures come against a backdrop of increased diplomatic tensions
tensions between Australia and China.

 

Trade ties have been particularly strained since Australia first called for
a rigorous investigation into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic in April.

 

In response, China has imposed tariffs or trading restrictions on Australian
goods such as barley, wine, beef and lobster. In some cases, the tariffs of
wine have been more than 200%.

 

The tensions have also had an impact on coal, with dozens of coal ships
stranded off China's coast unable to unload their cargo.

 

This has caused alarm in Australia as China is its biggest trading partner,
accounting for close to 40% of exports.

 

Nevertheless, Australia's trade balance with China hit a six-month high in
December, as China's demand for Australian iron ore made up for restrictions
on other products.—BBC

 

 

Budget 2021: 'Now is not the time for tax rises', say MPs

Now is "not the time for tax rises" as they could undermine the UK's
economic recovery from Covid - but they may be needed at a later date, MPs
have said.

 

Ahead of the Budget announcement on Wednesday, a Treasury Committee report
says public finances are on an "unsustainable long-term trajectory".

 

It says some tax rises may not harm recovery, but advises against others.

 

The committee's chairman, Mel Stride, told the BBC it was "almost
inevitable" that some tax rises would occur.

 

There has been much speculation that the rate of corporation tax might rise,
and Mr Stride told the BBC's Today programme: "Putting up taxes is in
general not a great thing to do but we are where we are and I think the
committee view is that looking at income tax and looking at corporation tax
is... the right way to go."

 

Mr Stride added: "Each 1% increase in corporation tax raises about £3bn so I
think... [it] is almost inevitable that some level of rise in going to
occur."

 

He added that the UK had cut corporation tax rates from 28% to 19% and was
extremely competitive with the rest of the world so "there seems to be scope
for some modest increase".

 

The Conservatives' election promise was not to raise rates of national
insurance, income tax or VAT, but Mr Stride said that did not include the
level at which people started paying tax, and those levels could be frozen.

 

Freezing thresholds would mean more people paying more tax as wages rose.

 

Huge spending

The Treasury Committee's report said: "With our public finances on an
unsustainable long-term trajectory, our clear message is that Budget 2021 is
not the time for tax rises or fiscal consolidation, which could undermine
the economic recovery.

 

"But we will probably need to see significant fiscal measures, including
revenue raising, in the future."

 

The report, published as part of the Tax After Coronavirus inquiry, comes
after Rishi Sunak said he must "level with people" about the economy.

 

On Wednesday, Mr Sunak will use the Budget to set out the government's tax
and spending plans following a year of financial disturbance and high
government borrowing brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.

 

The huge amounts of money spent on pandemic support schemes have meant that
government borrowing for this financial year has now reached £270.6bn, which
is £222bn more than a year ago, according to the Office for National
Statistics.

 

More than £46bn has been spent covering salaries as part of the furlough
scheme, for example, and tens of billions of pounds on guaranteeing loans to
businesses.

 

chart

The committee recommends a number of actions it says could raise additional
money for the government without hampering economic recovery.

 

As well as mentioning corporation tax rises and income tax thresholds, it
suggested that stamp duty, a tax paid by people buying properties, is
"economically inefficient" and causes damage to the economy by "affecting
when and how often people buy homes".

 

The government should also look at introducing a "loss carry-back" for
trading losses, it said. This would allow losses made during the pandemic to
be set against up to three previous profitable years, generating a tax
refund for both incorporated and unincorporated firms.

 

It also called a review of the tax treatment of the self-employed "long
overdue" and said the current system is "confused, unfair and
unsustainable".

 

The chancellor has said he "is preparing a Budget that provides support for
people" as Covid lockdown rules are eased.

 

At the earliest, restrictions in England are set to be fully lifted by 21
June.

 

However, Mr Sunak also said he wanted to "be honest" with the public about
the pandemic's impact on the economy and "clear about what our plan to
address that is".

 

He warned high levels of borrowing had meant the UK was "more sensitive to
interest rate changes" and that debt could "rise indefinitely" if borrowing
continued after the recovery.

 

A Treasury spokesman said that, since the start of the pandemic, more than
£280bn had been invested to protect jobs and businesses.

 

"We've been able to respond comprehensively and generously through this
crisis because of our strong public finances," he said.

 

"The chancellor has made clear that once our economy recovers, we should
look to return the public finances to a more sustainable footing.

 

"We will level with people about how we'll do that - and at the Budget this
week we'll set out support for the economic recovery while being up front
about the need to repair the public finances once the recovery takes
hold."—BBC

 

 

Ant Group shelves share buyback programme for current and departing staff:
Bloomberg

(Reuters) - Jack Ma’s Ant Group Co has shelved a share buyback programme for
current and departing staff, partly because of uncertainty over how to value
the company, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing executives familiar
with the matter.

 

 

Asian shares perk up as calmer bonds ease jitters

HONG KONG/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Asia extended the global rally in stocks on
Tuesday as a halt in a recent bond markets sell-off eased investor nerves
and lifted riskier assets, although oil prices were on the defensive on
fears of slowing Chinese energy consumption.

 

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan firmed 0.97%
while Japan’s Nikkei was slightly down 0.12%.

 

Australian shares continued their climb on Tuesday, with S&P/ASX 200 index
rising as much as 1.05%, its highest since Feb. 19, as a rollout of another
vaccine in the United States and optimism over a coronavirus relief package
boosted hopes of a quicker global economic recovery.

 

Chinese blue-chips gained 0.58% in early trade while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng
advanced 0.9%, helped by steady and robust demand from investors in mainland
China for shares in the Asian financial hub.

 

China will begins its annual session of parliament on Friday in Beijing,
which is expected to chart a course for economic recovery and unveil a
five-year plan to fend off stagnation.

 

U.S. stocks [.N] rallied overnight, with the S&P 500 posting its best day in
nearly nine months, as bond markets calmed after a month-long selloff.

 

For now, all eyes will be on Australia’s central bank, which holds its
monthly policy meeting on Tuesday. Analysts expect the Reserve Bank of
Australia to hold key rates at a historic low but focus will shift to
commentary about its quantitative easing programme.

 

“There’s everything to like about the rally in EU and U.S. equity markets,”
said Chris Weston, the head of research at Pepperstone Group Ltd in
Australia.

 

“Financials outperformed, with 95% of stocks in the S&P 500 gaining on the
day,” he said, adding that “clearly investors are seeing the world in a new
light”.

 

U.S. stocks were roiled last week when a sell-off in Treasuries pushed the
10-year Treasury yield to a one-year high of 1.614%. The 10-year yield was
edging lower in early trade at 1.4204%. [US/]

 

However, demand for riskier assets did not slug the dollar, usually regarded
as a safe-haven currency, as investors bet on fast growth and inflation in
the United States. The U.S. dollar index gained 0.14% in early trade against
a basket of currencies to stand at 91.142, within sight of a three-week high
hit overnight. [USD/]

 

The Australian dollar was down 0.25% at $0.77510 ahead of the RBA meeting.

 

A stronger greenback weighed on gold, and the precious metal was on the
defensive at $1,711.4100 an ounce early Tuesday. [GOL/]

 

The exuberance in risk assets did not help energy markets. Oil prices fell
more than 1% overnight after data showed China’s factory activity growth
slipped to a nine-month low in February, owing in part to disruptions over
the Lunar New Year holiday. There were also fears among energy investors
that OPEC may increase global supply following a meeting this week. [O/R]

 

Brent crude fell 1.27% to $62.88 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas
Intermediate crude lost 1.3% to $59.85.

 

 

 

Betting on death of petrol cars, Volvo to go all electric by 2030

LONDON (Reuters) - Volvo’s entire car line-up will be fully electric by
2030, the Chinese-owned company said on Tuesday, joining a growing number of
carmakers planning to phase out fossil-fuel engines by the end of this
decade.

 

“I am totally convinced there will no customers who really want to stay with
a petrol engine,” Volvo Chief Executive Håkan Samuelsson told reporters when
asked about future demand for electric vehicles. “We are convinced that an
electric car is more attractive for customers.”

 

The Swedish carmaker said 50% of its global sales should be fully-electric
cars by 2025 and the other half hybrid models.

 

Owned by Hangzhou-based Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, Volvo said it will
launch a new family of electric cars in the next few years, all of which
will be sold online only. Volvo will unveil its second all-electric model,
the C40, later on Tuesday.

 

Samuelsson said Volvo will include wireless upgrades and fixes for its new
electric models - an approach pioneered by electric carmaker Tesla Inc.

 

Carmakers are racing to switch to zero-emission models as they face CO2
emissions targets in Europe and China, plus looming bans in some countries
on fossil fuel vehicles.

 

Last month, Ford Motor Co said its line-up in Europe will be fully electric
by 2030, while Tata Motors unit Jaguar Land Rover said its luxury Jaguar
brand will be entirely electric by 2025 and the carmaker will launch
electric models of its entire line-up by 2030.

 

And last November, luxury carmaker Bentley, owned by Germany’s Volkswagen,
said its models will be all electric by 2030.

 

Electrification is expensive for carmakers and as electric vehicles have
fewer moving parts, employment in the auto industry is expected to shrink.

 

Last week, the head of Daimler AG’sDE> truck division said going electric
will cost thousands of jobs in the company’s powertrain plants in Germany.

 

Volvo said it will invest heavily in online sales channels to “radically
reduce” the complexity of its model line-up and provide customers with
transparent pricing.

 

The carmaker’s global network of 2,400 traditional bricks-and-mortar dealers
will remain open to service vehicles and to help customers make online
orders.

 

Via volvocars.com customers will be able to choose from a simplified range
of pre-configured electric Volvos for quick delivery - but they will still
be able to order custom-made models.

 

 

 

GameStop surges more than 18%, other 'meme stocks' also rally

(Reuters) - GameStop and other “meme stocks” mounted a late-day rally on
Monday, with shares of the video game retailer climbing nearly 32% at one
point on little apparent news.

 

Shares of the videogame retailer, along with other stocks favored by retail
investors congregating in online forums such as Reddit’s popular
WallStreetBets, have roared back in recent sessions after a wild ride in
which they soared in late January and tumbled early last month.

 

Along with GameStop, which pared gains to close up 18.3%, cinema chain AMC
Entertainment finished up 14.6% and headphone maker Koss added 13.4%.

 

At one point, GameStop, which closed at $120.40, reached a session peak of
$133.99. Its low for the day was $99.97.

 

Some analysts said a tick higher in short positioning from last week may
have provided some fuel for the rally. A short squeeze - in which a flurry
of buying forces bearish investors to unwind their bets against the stock -
was a key catalyst behind GameStop’s late January run, when it gained as
much as 1600% before reversing.

 

The number of GameStop shares shorted stood at 17.74 million, analytics firm
S3 Partners said on Monday, with short interest accounting for about 32.6%
of the float, compared with about 26% a week earlier, according to S3
Partners. Short interest peaked at 142% in early January, S3 data showed.

 

“We’re definitely seeing some of the shorts who came on over the past week
probably covering and it’s helping boost today’s rally,” said Ihor
Dusaniwsky, managing director of predictive analytics at S3. “Looking at
today’s price movement, I’m sure these big red numbers are going to be
chasing out quite a few shorts out of their positions.”

 

GameStop short sellers were down $331 million in mark-to-market losses on
Monday, bringing year-to-date mark-to-market losses to $5.1 billion,
according to Dusaniwsky.

 

More than 48 million shares in GameStop changed hands, with volume
surpassing the 10-day moving average. So far the stock is up 539%
year-to-dated. However, it was still below its Jan.28 peak of $483.

 

 

 

Huawei CFO’s lawyer disputes what HSBC knew as U.S. extradition case resumes

VANCOUVER (Reuters) - Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou’s U.S.
extradition hearing resumed in a Canadian court on Monday with defence
countering prosecutors’ claims that Meng misled HSBC about the Chinese
telecom company’s relationship with its affiliate while doing business in
Iran.

 

As five days of hearings in the British Columbia Supreme Court started, the
defence drilled into the alleged sanction violations that led to Meng’s
arrest. The daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei is accused by the United
States of misleading HSBC about her company’s business arrangements in Iran,
causing the bank to break U.S. sanctions.

 

Meng, 49, was arrested at Vancouver’s airport in December 2018 on a U.S.
warrant and has been living under house arrest while her case makes its way
through Canada’s courts.

 

Defence lawyer Frank Addario kicked off a new phase of hearings with an
assertion that HSBC’s global client relationship manager, tasked with
overseeing its dealings with Huawei Technologies, knew that Huawei
controlled Skycom Tech Co Ltd’s accounts.

 

U.S. prosecutors allege Skycom operated as a Huawei affiliate in Iran and
that Meng misrepresented this relationship. Meng allegedly made statements
suggesting Skycom was sold to an arms-length third party, according to the
prosecutors, when it was in fact sold to a parent company controlled by
Huawei.

 

Addario countered that HSBC employee emails show that information about
Huawei's control of Skycom was shared freely before and after this
relationship was first reported by Reuters. (reut.rs/3q0dtIc)

 

Addario said that U.S. prosecutors’ evidence that HSBC made decisions based
on Meng’s statements “is very misleading in that it underplays the global
relationship manager’s knowledge.”

 

Canadian prosecutor Robert Frater opposed Addario’s call to admit new
evidence on Monday afternoon, insisting that an extradition hearing is not a
trial. He told the judge she’s “not here to draw inferences about their (the
bank employees) state of knowledge.”

 

Frater argued that Meng’s defence lawyers will have an opportunity to
cross-examine bank witnesses about their knowledge of Huawei’s affiliates at
trial.

 

Following testimony from Canadian border officials and police officers
involved in the case in late 2020, the latest hearings will also focus on
then-President Donald Trump’s alleged interference in the case, as well as
outstanding issues from witness testimony and other abuses of process
arguments.

 

Meng’s arrest caused tensions between Beijing and Ottawa, and soon
afterward, China detained two Canadians, who continue to have limited access
to legal counsel or diplomatic officials.

 

Meng’s case is scheduled to wrap in May.

 

 

 

Oil optimism unwinding market's mad dash for storage

LONDON/NEW YORK/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - When the world economy slammed on the
brakes last year, there was a rush to store a wave of unwanted crude and
products, but rising prices and optimism about demand is spurring a swift
unwinding of storage contracts.

 

At the end of February, the volume of refined products held on stationary
tankers for over 10 days stood at 19.2 million barrels, down 77% from a peak
of 84 million last May, IHS Markit estimates show.

 

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, a
group known as OPEC+, closely monitors global inventories, and the rate of
drawdowns will be a major factor discussed when it meets on output policy on
Thursday.

 

A year ago, traders were struggling to find storage capacity, and prices for
it surged as fuel consumption plummeted. Earnings for product tankers surged
to record highs above $100,000 a day last May versus less than $10,000
currently.

 

Remote salt caverns in Scandinavia and unused U.S. pipelines and railcars
were pressed into service.

 

But now, capacity is again becoming available, in Northwestern Europe, the
Mediterranean, Middle East and North America, brokers said.

 

“Parties are giving notice to terminate contracts by April-May,” said Krien
van Beek, a broker at ODIN-RVB Tank Storage Solutions in Rotterdam.

 

Brokers in the United States are also seeing lower prices offered for
storage of crude and products.

 

“In January the unrelenting price run-up (in oil futures) commenced, and
that scared people away who had been considering taking on storage
positions,” Ernie Barsamian, chief executive of the Tank Tiger, a U.S.
terminal storage clearinghouse.

 

“We are now in full backwardation and we are seeing contracts expire without
renewals,” he added.

 

Backwardation, where spot prices are higher than for later delivery,
encourages traders to draw down oil supplies and sell promptly.

 

In Europe, the six-month diesel spread reached $8 a tonne on February 19 in
its biggest backwardation in 13 months, Refinitiv data showed.

 

The spread was as low as minus $92 a tonne last April, when the world
population went under strict lockdowns.

 

Storage capacity is expected to become available in the second quarter,
especially in Scandinavia, according to ODIN-RVB Tank Storage. 

 

The six-month U.S. diesel futures spread reached 4.35 cents per gallon on
Feb. 19, its highest since January 2020. At the start of last March, it
stood at minus 3.2 cents.

 

The diesel futures benchmark on the New York Mercantile Exchange is also in
backwardation. Diesel for April delivery was trading at around 0.5 cent per
gallon more than for May. A year ago, it was in contango, trading at about
0.2 cent per gallon less than the May contract.

 

U.S. distillate inventories in the week to Feb. 19 fell to 152.7 million
barrels, their lowest since the end of 2020, Energy Information
Administration data showed.

 

ASIA AND MIDDLE EAST

While Singapore middle distillate inventories have surged to a 12-week high
this week, analysts and traders expect a tighter market in coming months as
regional refiners enter the spring maintenance season, and as demand
gradually rises as COVID-19 restrictions ease.

 

“With less of an incentive to store, we would certainly expect to see a
reduction in storage of diesel,” said Kevin Wright, lead analyst for
Asia-Pacific at data intelligence firm Kpler, which tracks oil shipments.

 

Global floating storage of clean products fell by 2.7 million barrels in the
week to Feb 22, Kpler data showed, with most of that fall coming in West
Africa and the Singapore Strait.

 

The front-month spread for the benchmark gasoil grade in Singapore has been
in backwardation since the start of February, prompting traders to draw on
stocks in storage.

 

Storage in the Middle East is also showing the same destocking trend,
brokers said, though at a slower pace.

 

Tank farm owners and operators are also struggling to secure storage
contract renewals in the Caribbean, sources said.

 

Curacao Refinery Utilities RV is trying to lease 5.8 million barrels of
storage capacity at the Bullenbay terminal. Negotiations have fallen apart
several times as potential customers offer low rates.

 

With some 100 million barrels of crude and products storage capacity, the
Caribbean is America’s largest oil storage hub overseas.

 

 

To go electric, America needs more mines. Can it build them?

(Reuters) - Last September, in the arid hills of northern Nevada, a cluster
of flowers found nowhere else on earth died mysteriously overnight.

 

Conservationists were quick to suspect ioneer Ltd, an Australian firm that
wants to mine the lithium that lies beneath the flowers for use in electric
vehicle (EV) batteries.

 

One conservation group alleged in a lawsuit that the flowers, known as
Tiehm’s buckwheat, were “dug up and destroyed.” The rare plant posed a
problem for ioneer because U.S. officials may soon add it to the Endangered
Species List, which could scuttle the mining project.

 

Ioneer denies harming the flowers. Their cause of death remains hotly
debated - as does the fate of the lithium mine.

 

The clash of environmental priorities underpinning the battle over Tiehm’s
buckwheat - conservation vs. green energy - is a microcosm of a much larger
political quandary for the new administration of President Joe Biden, who
has made big promises to environmentalists as well as labor groups and
others who stand to benefit by boosting mining.

 

To please conservationists, Biden has vowed to set aside at least 30% of
U.S. federal land and coastal areas for conservation, triple current levels.

 

But that aim could conflict with his promises to hasten the electrification
of vehicles and to reduce the country’s dependence on China for rare earths,
lithium and other minerals needed for EV batteries. The administration has
called the reliance on China a national security threat.

 

The administration will be forced into hard choices that anger one
constituency or another.

 

“You can’t have green energy without mining,” Mark Senti, chief executive of
Florida-based rare earth magnet company Advanced Magnet Lab Inc. “That’s
just the reality.”

 

Rare earth magnets are used to make a range of consumer electronics as well
as precision-guided missiles and other weapons.

 

Two sources familiar with White House deliberations on domestic mining told
Reuters that Biden plans to allow mines that produce EV metals to be
developed under existing environmental standards, rather than face a
tightened process that would apply to mining for other materials, such as
coal.

 

Biden is open to allowing more mines on federal land, the sources said, but
won’t give the industry carte blanche to dig everywhere. That will likely
mean approval of mines for rare earths and lithium, though certain copper
projects – including a proposed Arizona copper mine from Rio Tinto Plc
opposed by Native Americans - are likely to face extra scrutiny, the sources
said.

 

The White House declined to comment for this article.

 

DIGGING NEEDED

Demand for metals used in EV batteries is expected to rise sharply as
automakers including Tesla Inc, BMW and General Motors plan major expansions
of EV production. California, the biggest U.S. vehicle market, aims to
entirely ban fossil fuel-powered engines by 2035.

 

Biden has promised to convert the entire U.S. government fleet - about
640,000 vehicles - to EVs. That plan alone could require a 12-fold increase
in U.S. lithium production by 2030, according to Benchmark Minerals
Intelligence, as well as increases in output of domestic copper, nickel and
cobalt. Federal land is teeming with many of these EV metals, according to
the U.S. Geological Survey.

 

“There is no way there’s enough raw materials being produced right now to
start replacing millions of gasoline-powered motor vehicles with EVs,” said
Lewis Black, CEO of Almonty Industries Inc, which mines the hardening metal
tungsten in Portugal and South Korea.

 

Despite that shortage, proposed U.S. mines from Rio Tinto Ltd, BHP Group
Ltd, Antofagasta Plc, Lithium Americas Corp, Glencore Plc and others are
drawing stiff opposition from conservation groups. The projects would supply
enough lithium for more than 5 million EV batteries and enough copper for
more than 10,000 EVs each year.

 

Mining companies insist that federal lands can still be protected while the
U.S. boosts output of minerals needed to accelerate the EV transition.

 

Former U.S. President Donald Trump and the mining industry “pushed the
narrative that we need to mine everywhere and undercut environmental
safeguards in order to build more batteries,” said Drew McConville of The
Wilderness Society, a conservation group. “We have confidence that the Biden
administration is going to see through that false narrative.”

 

Earthworks and other environmental groups are now lobbying automakers to
only buy metals from mines deemed environmentally friendly by the Initiative
for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA), a nonprofit group. BMW, Ford Motor
Co and Daimler have agreed to abide by IRMA guidelines, and other automakers
may follow suit.

 

PROJECTS AT RISK

Biden has not weighed in on two controversial copper mine projects in
Minnesota’s environmentally-sensitive Boundary Waters region from PolyMet
Mining Corp and Antofagasta Plc’s Twin Metals subsidiary.

 

Tom Vilsack - the secretary of agriculture, the department that oversees the
Boundary Waters - has in the past opposed the Twin Metals project, arguing
that it threatened wilderness and marshlands.

 

Deb Haaland, the new secretary of interior, the department that controls
most federal land, previously voted for a bill that would have banned copper
sulfide mining in northern Minnesota. That bill, authored by U.S.
Representative Betty McCollum, a Minnesota Democrat, will be reintroduced
this month, her aides told Reuters.

 

Conservationists nonetheless remain concerned that the appeal of copper for
EVs and other renewable energy devices may help the mines ultimately get
approved.

 

“If these were coal mines, I’d feel much more comfortable knowing they
wouldn’t be approved,” said Pete Marshall of Friends of the Boundary Waters.

 

WORRIES ABOUT WILDLIFE, SACRED GROUNDS, FLOWERS

In Arizona, Biden promised Native Americans - whose votes helped him win the
battleground state - that they would have a “seat at the table” if he
defeated Trump. Many Native Americans are worried that Rio Tinto’s
Resolution proposed copper mine would destroy sacred sites considered home
to religious deities.

 

On Monday afternoon, Biden administration officials blocked a land swap Rio
needs to build the mine. Trump officials had previously approved that land
swap.

 

Other controversial projects include Idaho’s Stibnite proposed mine, from
John Paulson-backed Perpetua Resources Corp, which is under fresh scrutiny
by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency staff over fears it would pollute
Native American fishing grounds. The mine would produce gold and antimony,
used to make alloys for EV batteries.

 

In Nevada, the Department of Wildlife worries that the lithium mines planned
by Lithium Americas and others would harm trout, deer and pronghorn
habitats. The Lithium Americas mine received federal approval last month,
but ranchers have sued the U.S. government to reverse that decision.

 

“Renewable energy and electric cars aren’t green if they destroy an
important habitat and drive wildlife extinct,” said Kelly Fuller, of the
Western Watersheds Project, which opposes the Lithium Americas project.

 

In Nevada, the death of the Tiehm’s buckwheat flowers at ioneer’s proposed
mine site remains a point of contention. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
said that thirsty squirrels may have gnawed the roots of more than 17,000
flowers for water amid a drought in the state.

 

The Center for Biological Diversity, which opposes the mine, said there was
evidence that humans destroyed the flowers. “The targeted nature of the
damage, combined with the lack of feces, pawprints, hoofprints, or other
evidence of wildlife suggest human involvement,” the group said in a court
filing.

 

The Fish and Wildlife Service is now set to rule this summer on whether the
flower is an endangered species - a designation that would prevent
development on much of the land ioneer is trying to mine.

 

Ioneer has hired scientists to move the flowers to a new site, though it’s
unclear if that process will succeed. “We can extract this lithium and also
save this flower,” said James Calaway, ioneer’s chairman.

 

 

 

 

 


 


 


Invest Wisely!

Bulls n Bears 

 

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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

 


 

 

 

 


 <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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