WORLDWIDE : HEADLINES
Fujifilm says will invest $2 billion in new large-scale cell culture production site in U.S
TOKYO – Fujifilm Holdings Corp said on Wednesday it will invest $2 billion to establish new large-scale cell culture production site in the United States.
The new plant will help accelerate growth of the Japanese company’s biopharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing business (CDMO), Fujifilm said in a release. The new site will be built near an existing Fujifilm site with production expected to start in the spring of 2025.
Full coverage: REUTERS
S&P Dow Jones to remove ADRs of Chinese telecom companies after NYSE decision
S&P Dow Jones Indices said on Wednesday it will remove the American Depositary Receipts of three Chinese telecom companies, China Mobile Ltd, China Telecom Corporation Ltd and China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd, from its benchmarks.
“S&P DJI’s announcement to move forward with removing the above-referenced ADRs from its indices is due to the New York Stock Exchange’s (NYSE’s) latest confirmation that the ADRs will be delisted,” it said in an emailed statement.
The NYSE said on Wednesday it will delist the three Chinese companies effective Jan. 11, confirming its latest reversal on the matter a day after U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin told the NYSE chief he disagreed with an earlier decision to reverse the delistings.
The flip-flopping highlights the confusion over which firms were included in an executive order issued by President Donald Trump in November barring U.S. persons from investing in publicly traded companies Washington deems to be tied to the Chinese military.
Investors had sold positions in the securities after the NYSE first announced plans last week to delist China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom. But the shares rose after NYSE said it would not do so and tumbled again after the latest about-face.
Less than 24 hours before its latest announcement, S&P Dow Jones Indices too had said it would not remove the ADRs of the firms, in line with NYSE’s decision at the time.
Full coverage: REUTERS
WORLDWIDE : FINANCE / MARKETS
Stocks ride higher on Democrat Senate win, dollar founders
SINGAPORE/NEW YORK -Bonds nursed losses and Asian stock markets rose on Thursday in anticipation of a big borrowing and big spending Democrat administration driving growth, following runoff elections that gave the party control of both houses of U.S. Congress.
U.S. Treasuries suffered their steepest selloff in months and the S&P 500 index made a record high after Democrat victories in two Georgia races handed them narrow control of the Senate and the power to pass their agenda.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.5% to just shy of a record high, led by jumps of more than 1.5% in South Korea’s chipmaker-heavy Kospi and Australia’s miner-and-bank heavy ASX 200.
Japan’s Nikkei rose 2% to its highest since 1990. S&P 500 futures rose 0.6% and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.9% as markets seemed to shake off a late New York session fade when chaotic protests in Washington unnerved traders. [.N]
“It’s basically a re-flation trade,” said Mathan Somasundaram, head of Sydney-based research firm Deep Data Analytics, who added that the Democrat sweep was unexpected by most investors and “changes a lot.”
“Even though its a razor-thin margin, it gives Democrats a two-year window (to pursue their agenda),” he said. “Anything that benefits from rising prices is going to do well…when you look at the policy settings they are trying to get through, it’s about printing (money for) Main Street and not Wall Street.”
Georgia voters elected the first Black senator in the state’s history, Raphael Warnock, and the Senate’s youngest member, Jon Ossoff. Together with Vice-President Kamala Harris’ tie-breaker vote, the wins allow the Democrats to control the chamber.
Full coverage: REUTERS
Oil steady after U.S. Capitol drama; tighter supplies in focus
TOKYO – Oil prices were steady on Thursday after supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol, with investors focusing on the likelihood of tighter supplies after Saudi Arabia unilaterally agreed to cut output.
Brent crude was up 8 cents at $54.38 a barrel by 0125 GMT, after gaining 1.3% overnight. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) gained 11 cents to $50.74, having slipped earlier in the Asian session. The contract rose 1.4% on Wednesday.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, said it would voluntarily cut one million barrels per day (bpd) of output in February and March, after OPEC+, which groups the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers, including Russia, met earlier this week.
Crude inventories were down by 8 million barrels in the week to Jan. 1 to 485.5 million barrels, against a Reuters poll showing analysts expected a 2.1 million-barrel decline.
The drop in crude stocks is a typical year-end occurrence as energy companies take oil out of storage to avoid tax bills.
Full coverage: REUTERS
Dollar in doldrums as Democrat sweep clears way for larger fiscal stimulus
TOKYO – The dollar languished near its lowest level in nearly three years on Thursday after Democrats won control of the U.S. Senate, clearing the way for a larger fiscal stimulus under President-elect Joe Biden.
Currency markets were largely unperturbed by scenes of chaos in Washington as supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump stormed Capitol Hill.
Analysts generally assume a Democrat-controlled Senate would be a net positive for economic growth globally and thus for most risk assets, but negative for bonds and the dollar as the U.S. budget and trade deficits may widen further.
The dollar index was little changed at 89.321 in early Asian trade on Thursday, after dipping to its lowest since March 2018 at 89.206 overnight.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note climbed as high as 1.054% on Wednesday for the first time since the market mayhem of mid-March.
Masafumi Yamamoto, chief currency strategist at Mizuho Securities in Tokyo, sees the dollar’s fortunes split with Democrats controlling both Houses.
“The dollar will remain weaker against commodity currencies like the Aussie and emerging market currencies,” which benefit when risk sentiment is positive, he said.
Full coverage: REUTERS
