Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 13 March 2021

Sat Mar 13 10:13:41 CAT 2021

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Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 13 March 2021

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ü  Mathias Cormann set to head OECD despite climate record

ü  UK exports to European Union drop 40% in January

ü  Roblox: 'We paid off our parents' mortgage making video games'

ü  Ant Group boss Simon Hu steps down in restructuring

ü  Microsoft and Google openly feuding amid hacks, competition inquiries

ü  Court ruling suspends U.S. ban on investment in Xiaomi

ü  Tesla investor sues Musk, claims tweets violate SEC settlement

ü  Boeing unveils order for troubled 737 MAX, shares jump

ü  U.S. producer prices rise; consumers' inflation expectations ease

ü  Wall Street Week Ahead: Energy shares look for next spark as investors eye recovering economy

ü  Zambia: Nationalizing Zambia's Copper Mines

ü  Africa: Making Turkey Great Again

ü  Nigerian Govt Deceives Citizens, Raises Petrol Price Above N200

ü  Sudan's Inflation Jumped By Over 30 Percent in February

ü  Nigeria: New Airlines Emerge in Nigeria As Global Aviation Is Threatened

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Mathias Cormann set to head OECD despite climate record

Mathias Cormann, Australia's longtime former finance minister, is set to take over as chief of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Mr Cormann, a centre-right politician, had faced opposition stemming from his record on climate change.

He tried to abolish Australia's renewable energy targets and has called carbon pricing a "very expensive hoax".

Sweden's Cecilia Malmström was also vying to lead the group, which includes 37 of the world's biggest economies.

The Paris-based OECD, which helps develop and coordinate policies among its members, is expected to finalise Mr Cormann's selection next week. He would serve a five-year term starting in June.

Greenpeace International, which helped spearhead outside opposition to Mr Cormann's candidacy, called his selection a "missed opportunity" for the group, which includes the US, UK, Germany and Japan among others.

"We have little confidence in Mr Cormann's ability to ensure the OECD is a leader in tackling the climate crisis when he himself has an atrocious record on the issue, including opposition to carbon pricing," executive director Jennifer Morgan said.

"This was a missed opportunity for the OECD member states to draw a line in the sand and disqualify anyone with a history of blocking climate action from senior international appointments."

Mr Cormann has responded to the criticism, saying he was "absolutely committed to ambitious and effective action on climate change", but that there were different ways to achieve it.

Who is Mathias Cormann?

As the next leader of the Paris-based OECD, Mr Cormann is facing an agenda that includes tackling the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, addressing climate change and reaching a global deal on how to tax technology companies.

A native German speaker who was born in Belgium, Mr Cormann moved to Australia in his mid-20s, working in health insurance and politics.

Prospects brighter for global economy, says report

OECD: No deal on digital tax risks trade war

He holds the record as the country's longest-serving finance minister, serving from 2013 to 2020. He also represented western Australia as a Liberal Party senator from 2007 to 2020.

Known to favour lower taxes, he pledged during his campaign for the OECD job to deploy "every policy and analytical capability available through the OECD to help economies around the world achieve global net-zero emissions by 2050".

The group should help identify "market-based ... solutions which maximise reduction outcomes in a way that preserves energy affordability and is economically responsible" he added.

Australia Prime Minister Scott Morrison claimed the selection as a win for his country, calling it "the most senior appointment of an Australian candidate to an international body for decades," in a statement to the Sydney Morning Herald.

Why was he selected?

OECD insiders said that the breadth of Mr Cormann's political experience and personality played a role in his selection as did his detailed knowledge of the issues in hand. Backing from the US was also reportedly key.

Insiders also told the BBC that having an Australian in charge would provide good geopolitical balance for an organisation based in the heart of Europe. The most recent country to join was Colombia, and Costa Rica is in the process of doing so.

However, there has also been criticism over the lack of transparency in the selection process, which was led by the UK.

One observer described it as "cloak and daggers" and questioned whether that was appropriate for an organisation whose members are democracies.

Former EU trade commissioner Cecilia Malmström was the other finalist of the 10 candidates who entered the contest to succeed Mexico's Angel Gurria, who has led the group for 15 years.

The possible selection of Mr Cormann prompted debate in the UK, which is set to host an important climate change summit in Glasgow later this year.

In December Labour's Shadow International Trade Secretary Emily Thornberry wrote to Boris Johnson saying that supporting Mr Cormann "would make a mockery of your own claims to leadership on climate change and would send entirely the wrong signal to the world about how seriously the UK takes the issue".--BBC

UK exports to European Union drop 40% in January

UK goods exports to the European Union fell 40.7% in January, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), while imports tumbled 28.8%.

The figures show the biggest drop since records began in 1997, and are the first since new trading rules between the UK and the EU came into force.

The ONS said temporary factors were likely to be behind much of the falls.

Meanwhile, new data showed the UK economy shrank by 2.9% in January amid the third lockdown.

The economy is 9% smaller than it was before the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Both imports from and exports to the EU fell "markedly" in January, the ONS said. The value of goods exported from the UK to the EU fell by £5.6bn in January 2021, while imports from the EU dropped by £6.6bn.

The ONS said the fall in goods coming into the country were largely seen in machinery and transport equipment, and chemicals from the EU.

Car imports, as well as medicinal and pharmaceutical products, were particularly affected.

Accountancy firm KPMG pointed to Brexit as the likely culprit for the plunge in trade between the UK and the EU. In contrast, the UK's trade with non-EU countries grew by 1.7% in January.

KPMG said intense stockpiling in December 2020 had brought some trade flows ahead of the Brexit deadline.

The ONS said companies may have been using up that stock instead of buying new goods in January.

In addition, the end of the temporary trading arrangement between the UK and the EU coincided with the discovery of a new strain of Covid-19 in the UK, which caused further complications and delays, after lorry drivers were required to take tests before crossing the border at the English Channel.

GDP growth chart

Should we be worried?

The figures are the first since the Brexit transition period ended and show the steepest falls since comparable records began.

However, the ONS said data showed that things had begun to pick up. Firms were reporting that trade was getting easier and trade levels started to recover towards the end of the month.

The number of businesses saying they were unable to export between the middle and the final week of January had fallen by 5.4%, it said, and those saying they could not import had dropped by 3%.

The ONS said the data for the period was "erratic", while Goldman Sachs called it "noisy", meaning there was a lot going on and it was too early to tell how much of the fall was a temporary blip.

However, the head of economics at the British Chambers of Commerce, Suren Thiru, said: "The significant slump in UK exports of goods to the EU, particularly compared to non-EU trade, provides an ominous indication of the damage being done to post-Brexit trade with the EU by the current border disruption.

"The practical difficulties faced by businesses on the ground go well beyond just teething problems and with disruption to UK-EU trade flows persisting, trade is likely to be a drag on UK economic growth in the first quarter of 2021."

A government spokesperson said: "A unique combination of factors, including stockpiling last year, Covid lockdowns across Europe, and businesses adjusting to our new trading relationship, made it inevitable that exports to the EU would be lower this January than last.

"This data does not reflect the overall EU-UK trading relationship post Brexit and, thanks to the hard work of hauliers and traders, overall freight volumes between the UK and the EU have been back to their normal levels since the start of February."

The Office of National Statistics was keen to add the relevant health warnings alongside the Brexit trade figures this morning.

Some of the drop in both imports and exports may be attributable to firms on both sides of the channel stockpiling ahead of the end of the Brexit transition period - so they didn't need to move as many goods in January. Some will also be down to the pandemic and in some industries that's difficult to disentangle from any Brexit effect.

Nevertheless, as economists have noted this morning, there's no sugar-coating a fall of 40.7% in exports of goods to the European Union in January, our first month under the new trade agreement negotiated by Boris Johnson and signed on Christmas Eve.

>From the time of the referendum, the BBC has been highlighting the danger that it's not just tariffs that could jeopardise exports. The additional risk, well-known and well-discussed in Parliament, has always been that non-tariff barriers - such as vet checks on meat and poultry to the European Union - will boost exporters' costs sharply.

These costs will have to be passed on in higher prices, sharply reducing exporters' competitiveness. And that's if they can pull off the no-mean-feat of getting their goods across the Channel at all. The deal simply didn't get rid of non-tariff barriers to trade. Food exporters especially are now feeling the impact.

The ONS said January's contraction in the economy, down 2.9%, was a "notable hit".

Retailers, restaurants and hairdressers were all affected by the latest Covid-19 lockdown.

Jonathan Athow from the ONS, said. "Manufacturing also saw its first decline since April with car manufacturing falling significantly."However, increases in health services from both vaccine rollout and increased testing partially offset the declines in other industries."

Economic activity in health stood out, increasing by 8.7%, mainly through Covid testing and vaccine schemes.

Pantheon Economics noted a 28.1% drop in output from the food services and accommodation sectors between December and January which "reflected many cafes and restaurants giving up on offering takeaway and delivery services, while the pandemic was raging".

It also said households "slammed the brakes on discretionary expenditure", sending retail and wholesale output down 9%.

What's the outlook for the economy?

The contraction during January reflects a difficult period for the economy as the third lockdown kicked in.

But it was much smaller than expected and commentators in the main struck a positive note.

Pantheon Economics said the GDP figures were "less dreadful than expected".

Capital Economics said the drop was smaller than during last April's lockdown, which fell 18.3% on the month.

Its UK economist, Paul Dale, said: "Overall, January's lockdown left the economy in a fairly big hole. But the government's easing roadmap has provided the ladder and the vaccinations are providing the willingness to climb out of it.

"By early next year, we think the economy will be peaking (sic) its head out of the top as GDP returns to the pre-pandemic level."

KPMG said: "Once restrictions are eased the economy is expected to pick up quickly, aided by the significant support the government has put in place. We expect growth of 4.6% this year." --BBC

Roblox: 'We paid off our parents' mortgage making video games'

When identical twins Ben and Matt Horton began making serious money from creating video games, their parents couldn't believe it.

"It was quite bizarre at first, because I was doing a paper round and they were blown away," says Ben. "They said there was no way a paper round can make this much."

His brother Matt adds: "It was a significant amount of money. They thought we were doing shady stuff online."

As it turned out, the brothers had produced their first big hit - a game called Boat Ride, launched on the online gaming platform Roblox - and they were just 13.

Seven years later, Ben and Matt work full-time on gaming, with Ben specialising on the software side and Matt doing video production.

Their games have been played more than 100 million times and each of them earns £100,000 a year.

It all began as a hobby when the pair had some free time over the Christmas holidays. They were already enthusiastic gamers on Roblox and found it easy to start developing their own games.

"Anyone can learn, a 10-year-old kid can learn to make a game," says Ben.

Now the brothers share a flat in their hometown of Crawley, having dropped out of sixth-form to concentrate full-time on game development. Their closeness as twins is important to them.

"We're not telepathic, but I kind of know what he's thinking and he knows what I'm thinking," says Matt. "In our whole life, we've not spent more than two days apart from each other."

Despite their new-found wealth, the two say they are "not big spenders" and are "not very materialistic".

Treating the family to a holiday and helping to pay off their parents' mortgage have been their biggest items of expenditure, with most of their income invested.

"We just want to be able to live comfortably for the rest of our lives," says Ben.

'More than just a game'

Roblox has seen huge success built on the work of developers like Ben and Matt.

It's already the world's largest user-generated games site, and its value rose 60% to $47bn after its first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

Versatility is one of the key reasons it's been a hit, says Candice Mudrick, head of market analysis at gaming data company Newzoo.

"The Roblox business model is more than a game - it's a platform that encourages creators to build experiences for other users. While many games have some form of user-generated content, it's more uncommon to find games whose entire business model is built upon it," she says.

But competition is stiff among top developers on the platform. The firm recently said that more than 1,250 developers earned at least $10,000 in robux, the platform's currency which can be converted to cash, in 2020. Only about 300 earned $100,000 or more.

"This indicates that although the broader creator community is strong, the top earners are still a small group," said Ms Mudrick.

She added that a big challenge for the firm and its army of developers will be "maintaining its young audience as they age, while at the same time also expanding to new, older, demographics".

Quinn Byron-Dyer started playing Roblox when he was just 10 years old.

A decade later, he was at intern at the company's head office in San Mateo, California, and he now supports himself through his work as a Roblox developer.

Quinn, now 22, says playing and building games on the platform initially appealed to his "creative side".

"I got more seriously into developing stuff about 2015 onwards and from then, the money just built up from there I guess," he says.

A recent graduate with a degree in computer games design, he believes that Roblox is popular because it's "really easy to get into".

"You don't need any requirements, you can start making stuff for free, you don't have to have any qualifications."

And importantly, Roblox provides the audience. "It is so much easier to get people playing your game when there's already loads of people playing similar games out there," Quinn says.

How much has he earned from Roblox? He says he's not sure.

But as someone who has worked on hit games such as Murder Mystery 2, which has been visited 4.4 billion times, Quinn is looking forward to getting his own place once he moves out of his parents' house, post-pandemic of course.

How do his parents feel about his career? "They were obviously a bit unsure at first, about what it all means," he says. "Because it was all very new, quite a new industry, it took a bit for them to understand what it was all about, but they are supportive of it."

Fiona, meanwhile, joined the platform in 2008.

She's a developer based in Toronto who teamed up with her partner to create Super Power Fighting Simulator. The action game, in which players enter different realms and fight battles, has attracted more than 100 million users.

She says that level of popularity generates about $30,000 to $40,000 per month.

"Roblox has changed my life," she says. "I went from playing Roblox every day as a kid, to making a successful income from it."

"I've seen many young developers who have been able to make millions per year from developing on Roblox," she adds.

Fiona made the decision to buy shares in company on its stock market debut, and is keen to keep working on Roblox games. "I'm excited to see where Roblox takes us within the next five to ten years," she says.--BBC

Ant Group boss Simon Hu steps down in restructuring

The chief executive of China's Ant Group has stepped down "for personal reasons" as the online payment giant undergoes a restructuring.

Simon Hu will be replaced by executive chairman Eric Jing, the company said.

Ant is controlled by billionaire Jack Ma who first made his name through the trading platform Alibaba.

The firm has come under intense regulatory pressure and was forced to drop its planned $37bn public share sale last year.

China re-opens door to Ant Group's stock market debut

Is the Ant Group shake-up a sign of things to come?

Ant Group is China's biggest payments provider, with more than 730 million monthly users on its digital payments service Alipay.

But it also acts as a marketplace for loans. It takes a fee to match borrowers with banks, who then take on the risk.

It also offers savings accounts and insurance, all through its mobile phone app.

However Jack Ma has attracted controversy in China, criticising the state-dominated banking sector, and the company is in the cross-hairs of regulators, eager to bring it into line with more traditional banks and lenders, and to contain its market dominance.

Late last year the Chinese authorities blocked Ant Group's planned initial public offering (IPO) in Shanghai and Hong Kong.

Ant Group executives were told to restructure the company's operations to turn it into a holding company and to comply with stricter financial regulations.

Ant Group, formerly known by the name of its payments app Alipay, is affiliated with Alibaba, and like the Chinese trading platform has expanded its services outside its home country, including in Europe and the United States.--BBC

Microsoft and Google openly feuding amid hacks, competition inquiries

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Google and Microsoft are at knives drawn.

Driven in part by pressure from lawmakers and regulators over the extraordinary power the two technology companies wield over American life, the California-based search engine giant and Washington-based software firm are wrestling to throw each other under the bus.

Tensions between Microsoft Corp and Alphabet-owned Google have been simmering for a while but the rivalry has become unusually public in recent days as executives from both firms have been put on the defensive over competing crises.

Google faces bipartisan complaints - and journalistic ire - over its role in gutting the media industry’s advertisement revenue, the subject of a Congressional antitrust hearing on Friday.

Microsoft, meanwhile, faces scrutiny for its role in back-to-back cybersecurity breaches.

In the first, the same allegedly Russian hackers who compromised the Texas software firm SolarWinds Corp also took advantage of Microsoft’s cloud software to break into some of the company’s clients. The second, disclosed on March 2, saw allegedly Chinese hackers abuse previously unknown vulnerabilities to vacuum up emails from Microsoft customers around the world.

Addressing lawmakers on Friday at a House Judiciary antitrust subcommittee on news, Microsoft President Brad Smith was due to fire a shot at Google, telling representatives that media organizations are being forced to “use Google’s tools, operate on Google’s ad exchanges, contribute data to Google’s operations, and pay Google money,” according to excerpts of his testimony published by Axios.

Google fired back, saying that Microsoft’s “newfound interest in attacking us comes on the heels of the SolarWinds attack and at a moment when they’ve allowed tens of thousands of their customers — including government agencies in the U.S., NATO allies, banks, nonprofits, telecommunications providers, public utilities, police, fire and rescue units, hospitals and, presumably, news organizations — to be actively hacked via major Microsoft vulnerabilities.”

Court ruling suspends U.S. ban on investment in Xiaomi

(Reuters) - A U.S. federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked the Department of Defense from forcing American investors to divest from Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp on the grounds the company has ties to China’s military.

The Defense Department, under the Trump administration in mid-January, added Xiaomi and eight other firms to a list that requires Americans to sell their interests in the firms by a deadline. The restrictions were set to go into effect next week.

Xiaomi in late January filed a complaint in a Washington court seeking to be removed from the list, calling its inclusion “unlawful and unconstitutional” and arguing it was not controlled by the People’s Liberation Army.

U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras in Washington, D.C., said on Friday that the court “concludes that defendants have not made the case that the national security interests at stake here are compelling.”

The Defense Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In a statement, a Xiaomi spokesperson welcomed the ruling and called the designation of Xiaomi as a Chinese military company “arbitrary and capricious.”

“Xiaomi plans to continue to request that the court declare the designation unlawful and to permanently remove the designation,” the spokesperson said.

Tesla investor sues Musk, claims tweets violate SEC settlement

(Reuters) - Tesla Inc Chief Executive Elon Musk has been sued by a shareholder who accused him of violating his 2018 settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over his Twitter use.

According to a complaint unsealed late Thursday in Delaware Chancery Court, which also names the electric car company’s board as defendants, Musk’s “erratic” tweets and the failure of Tesla directors to ensure he complied with the SEC settlement have exposed shareholders to billions of dollars of losses.

The complaint highlighted several Musk posts on social media platform Twitter, including his assessment last May 1 that Tesla’s stock price was “too high,” prompting a more than $13 billion tumble in Tesla’s market value.

Chase Gharrity, the plaintiff, said Musk’s actions and the directors’ inaction have caused “substantial financial harm,” and that they should pay damages to Palo Alto, California-based Tesla for breaching their fiduciary duties.

The lawsuit was filed even though Tesla’s share price has soared nearly fivefold since Musk’s “too high” tweet, giving Tesla a valuation well above $600 billion, and the SEC has not publicly accused Musk of recent violations.

“It could pressure the SEC into taking some sort of recourse,” said Charles Elson, a University of Delaware professor and corporate governance specialist.

Tesla did not immediately respond on Friday to requests for comment. Gharrity’s lawyers, Musk’s lawyers in the SEC case, and the SEC did not immediately respond to similar requests.

The SEC settlement followed Musk’s August 2018 tweet that he had “funding secured” to possibly take Tesla private in a $72 billion transaction. In reality, Musk was not close.

Musk and Tesla each paid $20 million in civil fines, and Tesla lawyers agreed to vet some of Musk’s tweets in advance.

The settlement was later amended to clarify when pre-approvals were required, prompted by a unvetted tweet by Musk about Tesla’s vehicle production forecast.

Last April, a San Francisco federal judge said Tesla and Musk must face a lawsuit claiming Musk’s going-private tweet defrauded shareholders. That case remains pending.

The case is Gharrity v Musk et al, Delaware Chancery Court, No. 2021-0199.

Boeing unveils order for troubled 737 MAX, shares jump

(Reuters) - Boeing Co unveiled a new order for its 737 MAX on Friday, pushing its shares up 6% as it renews efforts to recapture investor confidence following a two-year safety crisis.

The deal to sell 24 of the 737-8 model to a backer of Canadian low-cost carrier Flair Airlines comes after Reuters reported it was poised to win another, much larger deal with Southwest Airlines.

Shares in Boeing rose 6.2% to $267.86.

Boeing has been trying to rebuild its image with passengers and airlines following the nearly two-year grounding of the MAX after crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia killed 346 people.

This week marked the second anniversary of the second accident, with a final investigative report expected any day.

Boeing said Miami-based private equity firm 777 Partners, which has a stake in Flair Airlines, agreed to buy 24 737-8 airplanes with an option to purchase a further 60.

Flair, which was recently relaunched by veterans of European budget giant Wizz Air, is now operating one plane for domestic flights. It said it would lease 13 of the 24 aircraft from 777 Partners starting this year.

Reuters on Wednesday reported Boeing was on the verge of a deal to sell dozens of 737 MAX 7 jets to Southwest Airlines in potentially its largest 737 MAX order since the jet’s safety ban was lifted.

Both deals would provide a much-needed injection of cash for the U.S. planemaker, which ended last year with more than $60 billion in debt and an historic loss of $12 billion.

The coronavirus pandemic has further complicated the MAX’s recovery by decimating demand for air travel and new jets.

Ultra low-cost carriers, or ULCCs, are seen as the winners of the COVID-19 crisis as they offer a no-frills experience at low prices.

They are pervasive in Europe’s fragmented market, with Hungarian Wizz Air - a key Airbus customer - competing with the likes of Ireland’s Ryanair, a top Boeing user like Southwest.

They have grown more slowly in North America.

In December, Alaska Airlines agreed in December to buy 23 737 MAX 9 jets and Ryanair ordered 75 jets.

At Southwest, Boeing was fending off a challenge from the newer Airbus A220, building on a position as the airline’s exclusive supplier as Airbus struggles to reduce production costs for the Canadian-designed A220, industry sources said.

Analysts have described Southwest as a must-win for Boeing and crucial to its broader recovery.

Analysts caution it faces a list of other challenges, from production of its 787 Dreamliner to the delayed development of its 777X and financial overruns on a U.S. Air Force tanker.

U.S. producer prices rise; consumers' inflation expectations ease

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. producer prices increased strongly in February, leading to the largest annual gain in nearly 2-1/2 years, but considerable slack in the labor market could make it harder for businesses to pass on the higher costs to consumers.

That was supported by a survey on Friday showing an easing in consumers’ near-term inflation expectations early this month, even as their confidence in the economy rose to a one-year high.

Receding new COVID-19 cases, an acceleration in the pace of vaccinations and more pandemic relief money from the government are seen allowing wider economic re-engagement in the spring.

Inflation is expected to accelerate in the coming months and exceed the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, a flexible average, by April. Part of the anticipated spike would be the result of price declines early in the pandemic washing out of the calculations. Many economists, including Fed Chair Jerome Powell, do not expect the strength in inflation will persist beyond the so-called base effects.

“Beyond a rise in the metrics this year on base effects and a fuller reopening of the economy that will revive demand, price pressures are unlikely to keep accelerating, given an incomplete recovery in the labor market,” said Rubeela Farooqi, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics in White Plains, New York.

The producer price index for final demand rose 0.5% last month, with the costs of energy products and food surging, the Labor Department said. That followed a 1.3% jump in January, which was the biggest advance since December 2009.

In the 12 months through February, the PPI accelerated 2.8%, the most since October 2018. The PPI increased 1.7% year-on-year in January. Last month's rise in the PPI was in line with economists' expectations. (Graphic: Inflation, )

Reuters Graphic

Manufacturing and services industries have been flagging higher production costs as the year-long pandemic gums up the supply chain. Surveys this month showed measures of prices paid by manufacturers and services industries in February racing to levels last seen in 2008.

These inflation jitters have boosted U.S. Treasury yields.

The government has provided nearly $6 trillion in relief since the pandemic started in the United States in March 2020, with President Joe Biden on Thursday signing legislation for his $1.9 trillion package. At the same time, Fed is pumping in money through monthly bond purchases, raising fears in some quarters of the economy overheating.

But the worst recession since the Great Depression, which started in February 2020, has left at least 20.1 million Americans on unemployment benefits.

“Supply-chain issues are temporarily putting upward pressure on producer prices along with higher energy prices,” said Ryan Sweet, a senior economist at Moody’s Analytics in West Chester, Pennsylvania. “These pressures should begin to moderate. We expect growth in consumer prices to accelerate through the first half of this year, but this will be transitory.”

Consumers’ one-year inflation expectations moderated to 3.1% in mid-March from 3.3% in February, the University of Michigan said in a separate report on Friday. Its preliminary consumer sentiment index rose to 83.0, the highest since last March, from a final reading of 76.8 in February.

A 6.0% jump in the cost of energy goods accounted for more than two-thirds of the broad-based rise in the PPI last month. Energy prices rose 5.1% in January. Wholesale food prices jumped 1.3%. Goods prices rose 1.4%.

Excluding the volatile food, energy and trade services components, producer prices climbed 0.2%. The so-called core PPI accelerated 1.2% in January. In the 12 months through February, the core PPI increased 2.2% after gaining 2.0% in January.

The Fed tracks the core personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index for its inflation target. The U.S. central bank has signaled it would tolerate higher prices after inflation persistently undershot its target.

The core PCE price index is at 1.5%. The government reported this week that the core CPI barely rose in February after being unchanged for two straight months.

In February, wholesale core goods prices gained 0.3% after rising 0.8% in January, driven by the dollar’s weakness against the currencies of the United States’ main trade partners.

The cost of services edged up 0.1% last month after accelerating 1.3% in January, which was the biggest increase since December 2009. Healthcare costs dipped 0.1% after surging 1.2% in January. Portfolio fees dropped 1.1% after soaring 9.4% January. Those healthcare and portfolio management costs feed into the core PCE price index.

With the PPI and CPI data in hand, economists are estimating that the core PCE price index rose by as much as 0.18% in February. That would lift the annual increase in the core PCE price index to as high as 1.6%. The data is due to be released on March 26.

Healthcare and rents will determine the inflation path.

“If medical services strength combines with stronger rents later this year, as we expect, the two large components of services inflation would be supportive of the view that core PCE inflation is running more stably at or above 2%,” said Andrew Hollenhorst, an economist at Citigroup in New York.

Wall Street Week Ahead: Energy shares look for next spark as investors eye recovering economy

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors betting on U.S. energy shares have enjoyed a blistering rally, as the sector leads a move into value and economically sensitive stocks that has gripped the equity market. How much further that run continues could hinge on the success of the economic recovery, supply dynamics in oil markets and whether companies can stay disciplined on spending. The near doubling in the price of crude has helped make shares of oil and gas companies - for years a losing bet - one of the best performing areas of the market, with outsized gains in the stocks of companies such as oil major Exxon Mobil Corp and Diamondback Energy Inc, which have surged 89% and 231%, respectively, since early November.

With a gain of over 80% in that time, the S&P 500 energy sector is back to levels last seen in February 2020, when the stock market began its plunge as the COVID-19 outbreak took its toll on the economy.

“Shares are being bid up because there are expectations for greater demand,” said Michael Arone, chief investment strategist for State Street Global Advisors. “We need to see the follow-through.”

The outlook for energy shares is at the center of a number of market themes, including how long the economic “reopening” trade can last, whether energy and other value stocks can continue outperforming tech and growth shares and if the market is primed for a potential rise in inflation. With the benchmark S&P 500 nearing the 4,000 level for the first time, the health of the economy, the pace of inflation and a recent rise in bond yields are expected to be hot topics when the U.S. Federal Reserve meets on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Ample crude supply that weighed on global oil prices and concerns over a push toward “green energy” were among the factors pulling down energy stocks for most of the past decade. Oil prices plummeted in the coronavirus-fueled downturn amid global travel restrictions and shutdowns but roared higher in recent months, buoyed by breakthroughs in vaccines against COVID-19.

Recent data has shown signs of an economic recovery continuing to gain momentum. The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits dropped to a four-month low last week, while U.S. consumer sentiment improved in early March to its strongest in a year.

Prices for U.S. crude are up 35% year-to-date.

Investors are watching supply dynamics as another catalyst for crude prices and energy stocks.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies last year cut output substantially as demand collapsed due to the pandemic. The group earlier this month agreed to extend most output cuts into April.

Any efforts by President Joe Biden’s administration to regulate U.S. drilling could support prices by keeping supply in check, investors said. “There is more likely to be an aggressive regulatory regime, which would rein in supply, which would be a positive for commodity prices,” said Burns McKinney, portfolio manager at NFJ Investment Group.

Investors said they want to see whether companies are spending on new drilling, which could oversupply the market and eventually weigh on prices, or pay down debt and bolster dividends.

Five international oil majors cut their capital spending by about 20% on average last year to $80 billion and are expected in aggregate to generally maintain that spending level in 2021, according to Jason Gabelman, senior energy equity research analyst at Cowen. Energy companies “need to maintain their discipline, they need to stick to capital budgets that are constrained and not drill as much and give investors confidence that this is not going to be a short-lived cycle,” said Christian Ledoux, director of investment research at CAPTRUST.

Setbacks in fighting the virus could undercut the reopening trade and energy shares along with it. Such a scenario risks playing out in Europe, where a more contagious variant of the coronavirus has pushed Italy and France to impose fresh lockdowns.

Another factor is how quickly travel might rebound to pre-pandemic levels.

“You may see reopening and people driving more and spending more on commerce, but ... if people are traveling less globally, that is going to result in oil demand not fully recovering to where it was,” Gabelman said.

Zambia: Nationalizing Zambia's Copper Mines

The Zambian government has taken over operations at a major copper mining company in what is seen as a move towards increasing its direct control of the key mining sector. Economists are urging Lusaka to tread carefully.

Economists in Zambia paid close attention when the government announced that it would acquire Mopani Copper Mines Limited. The copper and cobalt exporting firm is jointly operated by companies based in Switzerland and Canada. The Zambian government owns only 10% of the company.

There had been a string of conflicts with the Swiss-based Glencore plc and Canada-based First Quantum Minerals Limited over a temporary shutdown of its mines in the northern Copperbelt Province. The points of contention were due to the COVID pandemic and retrenchments, taxes, and electricity pricing.

For John Tembo, a resident in Lusaka, the government's Mopani mine takeover could be a double-edged sword. "The people who are going to retire, where is the money going to come from?" Tembo posed. "If the government is taking over, they have to do it in the quickest way by paying off the retirees," Tembo told DW.

More than 73,000 people are employed in Zambia's extractive industry, representing 2.4% of the workforce in the southern African nation of nearly 18 million people.

"The mines need to belong to the government and not foreigners. The opposite means the country's minerals only benefit foreigners," Emmanuel Chisala, a Lusaka resident, told DW.

Vague takeover details

Little about the deal valued at $1.5 billion (€1.2 billion) has been made public. Still, speculation is swirling over the government's end game and the effect it could have on Zambia's bid to win a desperately-needed International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout loan.

"The Mopani mine takeover is a good idea because Zambia needs to be in charge of its assets," Jerice Anosis, who resides in the capital, told DW. "My worry is how Zambia will pay back the debt because right now we owe a lot. We have a lot of debt to pay."

The Mopani deal will be financed through a loan to be serviced via its future sales, according to economist Professor Oliver Saasa. Zambia, he said, plans to repay that loan by giving Glencore creditors 3% of the mine's revenue. That would transpire over the next three years, after which the creditors will receive between 10% and 17.5%, he said.

If big companies slow down on big investments because of Mopani Copper Mines' fate, mining consultant Ron Smit said that developments in the sector are likely to stall.

"These actions by government that look like they are unilateral, are never, never good in any country," Smit told DW. "You would really hope for a sector where government and the industry are in better conversations with each other so that these issues can be avoided."

Are gold mines next?

Zambia's government appears to have its eye on the gold mining sector too. Lusaka reportedly plans to start buying gold directly from miners to bolster foreign reserves, which it says will speed up economic recovery.

But Smit said this places any government in the impossible position of being both a player and a referee on the same field.

"I am very much in favor of very strong governance over the mining sector, but I' am not in favor of government ownership of mines or any other industry for that matter."

President Edgar Lungu is pushing for Zambians to secure majority stakes in selected strategic mines to benefit from their country's mineral wealth beyond taxes.

Mining accounts for 77% of Zambia's total exports, nearly 28% of government revenues also come from the sector, according to the Zambia Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).

Zambia's debt challenges

Professor Saasa is just one of several experts warning the government to consider the effects that the deal could have on the country facing a hard fiscal crisis and the liquidity challenges it could bring to the copper mining company. "It is sending another signal, whether real or perceived, that Zambia is a difficult environment in which to do business." Chibamba Kanyama, a Zambian economist, told DW.

According to Kanyama, the acquisition of more debt might make the IMF question Zambia's seriousness about debt sustainability. Zambia entered negotiations with the global financial institution for a loan after it became the first country in Africa to default on its debt since the pandemic started. Experts say that loan is unlikely to come by election time in August 2021.

"It makes us get very concerned as to whether we have understood all the risks that pertain to mining and whether we have put adequate measures to control that," Kanyama said.

Africa: Making Turkey Great Again

Without much fanfare, Turkey has steadily spread its political, economic and even military foothold across Africa. It's gone from just 12 embassies and US$100 million in foreign direct investment in 2003 to 42 embassies and US$6.5 billion in 2021. Plus a five-fold increase in trade from 2003 to 2019 and 51 African cities now served by Turkish Airlines.

Turkey's ambassador to South Africa Elif Ülgen says embassies will also be opened in Guinea-Bissau and Togo this year, with Eswatini and Lesotho in the pipeline. 'Turkish footprint in Africa is getting larger than most European countries in a very short period of time,' former United Nations Economic Commission for Africa chief Carlos Lopes tweeted this week.

Turkey no doubt sees untapped economic opportunity in Africa as other Middle Eastern and Western powers do. But its expansion into the continent also seems to be part of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's broader and seemingly boundless ambition to make Turkey great again. In a sense, to resurrect the Ottoman Empire, which disintegrated at the end of World War I.

Since 2003, when he became prime minister until now as president, Erdogan has visited Africa 27 times. Ali Bilgic, a Turkish foreign policy expert at Britain's Loughborough University, points out that 2005 was 'The Year of Africa' in Turkey.

It obtained observer status at the African Union (AU) in 2005 and in 2008 became AU 'strategic partner', co-hosting the first Turkey-Africa summit in Istanbul. The second Turkey-Africa summit was held in Malabo in 2014. The third, due to be held last year in Istanbul, was postponed because of COVID-19.

Turkey's growing official development aid reached US$3.9 billion in 2019. It has also shown a China-like propensity for building large state infrastructure, e.g. an Olympic swimming pool in Senegal, an expanded port and its biggest overseas military base in Mogadishu, and a large mosque in Djibouti, the Financial Times reports.

Erdogan has impressed African countries with his tangible commitment to the continent. In 2011, he paid his first official visit to Somalia when few foreign leaders were venturing there because of the high risk posed by al-Shabaab. In 2016 he visited again to open a Turkish embassy in Mogadishu - a rare event as most countries, including South Africa, run their diplomatic relations with Somalia from afar. Ülgen calls this embassy the 'flagship' of Turkey's African presence.

Erdogan's 2011 visit was to provide famine relief, marking the start of Turkey as a 'humanitarian actor' in Africa and economic partner, says Bilgic. Last June, for example, Turkey shipped medical equipment to Niger and Chad to help fight COVID-19.

But all this benevolence shouldn't blind us to Erdogan's strategic ambitions in Africa. Like other second-tier powers that have recently come to Africa, such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and India, Erdogan seems to have realised that a solid African presence is essential for any would-be global player.

Since 2015, Turkey has also become a rising power in the defence industry, Bilgic says. 'Turkey's military base in Somalia and training of Somali military are some signs of Turkish geopolitical efforts to establish Turkey as an important political and military power in the Horn of Africa. In 2020, Turkey also secured agreements with Nigeria in the area of defence industry,' he says. 'Turkey aims to become an economic, humanitarian and military power in sub-Saharan Africa.'

He says one cannot separate Turkish economic, political, humanitarian and military objectives from each other. 'In that sense, Turkey is following the steps of many developed Western powers in Africa. However, unlike them, Turkey presents itself as an "Afro-Eurasian" state - so not an external power with a colonial past, but someone from the continent, a partner.'

Ülgen agrees that Turkey has an advantage in carrying no colonial baggage but disagrees that its expansion into Africa has anything to do with asserting power or 'making Turkey great.' There is no overall 'Africa strategy', she insists. Each country is dealt with on its own merits.

It's purely about providing business opportunities to Turkish companies - and wanting to make a difference to Africa. She notes that the links go back to the Ottoman era and that 32 African countries have embassies in Ankara, 'which shows the desire for good relations is mutual.'

Others, though, would see Africa also to some degree as a proxy battleground of Turkey's Middle East and even European rivalries - and its growing presence in sub-Saharan Africa as partly designed to counter the influence of its Middle East nemeses, the UAE and Egypt.

This analysis would to some extent explain Turkey's strong friendship with Ethiopia, backing it for example in its stand-off with Egypt over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam it's building on the Blue Nile. Of a total of US$6 billion already invested by Turkish companies in sub-Saharan Africa, US$2.5 billion has gone to Ethiopia, says the Financial Times.

Turkey's aggressive entry into the Libyan civil war in 2019, on the side of the United Nations-backed Tripoli government, was motivated by a mixture of economics - to secure off-shore gas concessions - and some of the same geopolitical interests. Opposing Tripoli was General Khalifa Haftar, de facto chief of staff of the rival Libyan government in Benghazi, backed by the UAE, Egypt, Russia, and to some degree France.

Turkey's intervention in the war - backed financially by its Middle East ally Qatar - was decisive in halting Haftar's advance on Tripoli. It created the stalemate that led to a ceasefire in October 2020 and a political agreement among all major players that should culminate in December's elections.

In the course of its engagement in Libya, Turkey bumped up against not only its Middle East rivals but also France. This led to a potentially explosive moment when a French warship stopped a Turkish vessel delivering arms to Tripoli.

Bilgic says analysts commonly err in separating Turkey's expansion into sub-Saharan Africa - which seems to be mainly about trade, aid and investment - from its geopolitical interests in North Africa, particularly Egypt and Libya. 'They are highly related,' he says, and adds that the France-Turkey competition in North Africa 'might spill down into sub-Saharan Africa.'-ISS.

Nigerian Govt Deceives Citizens, Raises Petrol Price Above N200

The NNPC said on March 1 there was no plan to raise fuel prices.

The Nigerian government has increased the pump price of petrol to N212.61 a litre, less than two weeks after assuring the nation there would be no hike.

The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) announced late Thursday that the retail price for a litre of petrol for the month will be between N209.61 and N212.61.

The ex-depot price, which is the amount sold by fuel depot owners to marketers, will be N206.42, while the landing cost stands at N189.61 per litre, the agency said.

The announcement comes amid a partial scarcity of fuel that has lingered for weeks. There had been concerns the government, which says it has deregulated the sector and no longer pays subsidy, would raise rates as crude oil prices have seen a rebound in the global market.

The state-owned NNPC, which regulates the sector and is the sole importer of refined petrol, however, assured there was no such plan for February and March.

On March 1, the NNPC said in a statement by its Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Kennie Obateru, that contrary to speculations of imminent increase in the price of petrol in the country, there would be no increment in the ex-depot price of petrol in March.

It said, "the Corporation was not contemplating any raise in the price of petrol in March in order not to jeopardize ongoing engagements with organized labour and other stakeholders on an acceptable framework that will not expose the ordinary Nigerian to any hardship."

PREMIUM TIMES reported Wednesday that the scarcity in Abuja, Lagos and other cities was caused by depot owners hoarding the product, and raising prices in anticipation of a hike by the government.

The new prices are expected to promptly impact on cost goods and services with inflation at a three-year high, making it harder for more people to afford food and other basic needs.-Premium Times.

Nigeria: New Airlines Emerge in Nigeria As Global Aviation Is Threatened

New airlines are emerging in Nigeria to take care of the low capacity in the air transport industry. Signals from different parts of the world have shown that it will take years for the air transport industry to recover fully from the devastating effects of COVID-19, as many renowned airlines are going under, some merging, while thousands of aviation workers are losing their jobs.

And with indications that the Nigerian industry currently suffers from low capacity, new airlines are emerging even it is believed that more operating aircraft are needed in the country.

The former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Aero Contractors, Captain Ado Sanusi, told THISDAY that in Nigeria there would be growth in the industry because the sector is currently underserved that it therefore needs more airlines and more aircraft to meet the surging demand.

He noted that as road transport continues to be unsafe due to security threats and rail transport is yet to connect all parts of the country, there would continue to be high demand for air travel in the country.

But industry analysts said Nigeria's case is going to be an isolated one because global prediction indicated that 2021 would still be a tough year for the aviation industry and that the sector would begin to ease out next year, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

Reports indicate that Virgin Airways has fired more than 3,000 people including 600 Pilots. Virgin Australia has filed for bankruptcy. African carrier, Air Mauritius has gone into administration just as South African Airways has become bankrupt.

Finish carrier, Finnair has returned 12 planes and laid off 2,400 people. Ryanair grounded 113 planes and got rid of 900 pilots for the moment and possibly 450 more in the coming months.

Norwegian airliner, ASA has completely stopped its long-haul operations and the Boeing 787s in its fleet have been returned to the lessors.

Scandinavian airline, SAS has returned 14 planes and fired 520 pilots and the Scandinavian states are said to be studying a plan to liquidate Norwegian and SAS to rebuild a new company from their ashes.

In the Middle East, Ethihad cancelled 18 orders for A350, grounds 10 A380 and 10 Boeing 787 and laid off 720 staff.

Emirates grounded 38 Airbus A380s and cancelled all orders for the Boeing 777x (150 aircraft, the largest order for this type) and over 56 of the airline's personnel are to be refitted. They "invite" all employees over 56 to retired

Hungarian carrier, Wizzair has returned 32 A320s and laid off 1,200 people, including 200 pilots, another wave of 430 layoffs planned in the coming months and remaining employees would see their wages reduced by 30 per cent.

Also IAG (British Airways' parent company) has abandoned the takeover of Air Europa (and will pay €40 million compensation for that), while IAG (Iberia) grounded 56 planes; IAG (British Airways) grounds 34 planes and everyone over 58 years has been asked to retire.

THISDAY also gathered that currently, 60 new aircraft stored at Airbus with no buyers in sight (order cancellations) including 18 A350s.

But in Nigeria a new airline, United Nigeria Airlines took to the sky last month and Green Africa Airways, NG Eagle and Binani Air are queuing for Air Operator Certificate (AON).

However, travel expert and organiser of Akwaaba African Travel Market, Ambassador Ikechi Uko told THISDAY that what Nigeria needs is not necessarily new airlines but more aircraft, noting that what Nigerian travellers need are more aircraft seats, not airlines because if only two airlines provide the needed seats it would even serve the country better than have many airlines because when there are more airlines they would jostle for passengers and eventually destroy the market value.

"Currently Nigeria is experiencing low capacity. There are no enough aircraft seats to meet the demand of passengers. I wanted to go to Abuja and I learnt that there are no seats. More Nigerians want to travel by air because road travel is not safe. I just heard that there was security threat on the Lagos-Benin road today (Wednesday) and every motorist stopped and parked his car on the road. No one wanted to move because no one knew what was ahead. So many people would want to fly, which is the most reliable and safest means of travel that is also the fastest," Ambassador Uko said.

THISDAY learnt that presently Nigerian airlines' fleet is depleted. Many aircraft have been ferried overseas for maintenance and due to the lockdown many Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facilities were shut down for a long time due to COVID-19 lockdown so they were behind in their maintenance schedule for aircraft delivery to airlines.-This Day.

Sudan's Inflation Jumped By Over 30 Percent in February

Khartoum — Sudan's Central Bureau of Statistics announced yesterday that annual inflation jumped to 330.78 per cent in February from 304.33 per cent in January, an increase of more than 30 per cent.

Food and beverage prices continued to rise, causing inflation to continue to rise from the record high of 300 per cent for the second month in a row.

In addition, the Socialist Doctors Association revealed a significant increase in the prices of imported medicines, ranging between 464 and 691 per cent.

The association said in a statement yesterday that the Council of Pharmacy and Toxicology issued a decision for pharmaceutical companies to release the value of medicine in dollars, which caused and increase from SDG55 to SDG255 for long-term medicines and SDG380 for other medicines.

The statement noted that locally manufactured medicines have increased in price by between 57 to 300 per cent. "Due to Sudan's medical supply debt of EUR144 million, and policies which encouraged privatisation and control of the medicine market by the drug mafia, Sudan is now suffering from a scarcity of medicine," it said.

The announcement comes after the government unified the exchange rate, which led to an increase in the US dollar rate to SDG375, an increase of about 600 per cent. The Sudanese markets are witnessing a continuous increase in the prices of all essential commodities, along with scarcity of particular goods such as bread, fuel, and medicine.

In February, economic expert Sidgi Kaballo said he expected the US Dollar exchange rate to rise to SDG600 by May "unless the government takes urgent measures". Following the change in policy, Finance Minister Jibril Ibrahim said that unifying the currency (setting the official exchange rate at the parallel market exchange rate) will bring Sudan stability, stimulate remittances from Sudanese living abroad, and attract foreign investments.

FEWS NET, the Famine Early Warning System Network of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), expects more food insecurity and shortages the coming months in most parts of Sudan.-Radio Dabanga.

Invest Wisely!

Bulls n Bears 

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INVESTORS DIARY 2021

Company

Event

Venue

Date & Time

Old Mutual

analysts briefing

24/03/21 | 2:30pm

Willdale

AGM

Boardroom, Willdale Administration Block, Teneriffe, 19.5km peg Lomagundi Road, Mt Hampden

25/03/21 | 11am

TSL

AGM

Virtual | https://eagm.creg.co.zw/eagmzim/ Login.aspx | in the Auditorium, Ground Floor, 28 Simon Mazorodze Road, Southerton

25/03/21 | 12pm

CFI

AGM

Farm & City Boardroom, 1st Floor Farm & City Complex, 1 Wynne Street

31/03/21 | 11am

Good Friday

02/04/21

Easter Sunday

04/04/21

Easter Monday

05/04/21

Independence Day

18/04/21

Public Holiday in lieu of Independence Day falling on a Sunday

19/04/21

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.

(c) 2021 Web: <http://www.bullszimbabwe.com>  www.bullszimbabwe.com Email:  <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> info at bulls.co.zw Tel: +263 4 2927658 Cell: +263 77 344 1674

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