News Archives for Business & Finance - 2021-02-25

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Business & Finance - 2021-02-25

Energy

Oil holds close to 13-month high, supported by sharp drop in US output

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell nixes rate hike fears.
US dollar languishes near three-year lows.
Crude prices hit highest level since January 2020.
OPEC+ to meet on March 4, discuss modest output increase.

Published 25 Feb, 2021 09:37pm

Commodities

Gold falls 1pc as elevated US yields hit safe haven appeal

Fed Chair Powell reaffirms extended loose monetary policy.
SPDR Gold Trust holdings slip to lowest since May 2020.
Palladium scales more than one-month high.

Published 25 Feb, 2021 09:35pm

Commodities

Copper jumps to 9-1/2 year high on inflation fears

Copper is about 6% below its record high of $10,190 a tonne hit in February 2011.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange had climbed 1.2% to $9,417 a tonne.

Published 25 Feb, 2021 09:32pm

Forex

Dollar dips, Aussie jumps on global growth optimism

US dollar at three-year lows vs Aussie dollar.
Euro-dollar crosses $1.22.

Published 25 Feb, 2021 09:28pm

Stocks

Global share rally, rising oil prices buoy Gulf bourses

Brent oil climbed to a 13-month high of $67.30, after US government data on Wednesday showed a drop in crude output as a deep freeze in Texas disrupted production last week.
Saudi Arabia's benchmark share index rose 0.9%, with Al Rajhi Bank rising 2% and Saudi Telecom Company climbing 3.3%.

Published 25 Feb, 2021 09:25pm

Stocks

Wall St edges lower as tech shares fall, bond yields rise

Jobless claims dip, but still remain elevated.
Best Buy slips on downbeat annual sales forecast.
Big tech stocks fall; banks, energy shares gain.
Indexes down: Dow 0.11%, S&P 0.20%, Nasdaq 0.26%.

Published 25 Feb, 2021 09:23pm

Stocks

TSX falls as energy, materials stocks drag

The energy sector dropped 0.1%, while the materials sector, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, lost 1.3%.
Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was down 65.27 points, or 0.35%, at 18,419.26.

Published 25 Feb, 2021 09:21pm

Stocks

Micro-cap stock surge shows investor risk taking, GameStop effect

The Russell Microcap index, whose components have a median market value of about $350 million, has climbed 26% nearly two months into 2021.
The micro-cap gauge ceded some gains during volatility earlier this week while other indexes held up better.

Published 25 Feb, 2021 09:16pm

Facebook promotes value of personalized ads in new campaign

The campaign called "Good Ideas Deserve To Be Found" highlights several advertisers that have grown their business on Facebook and Instagram, such as Houston-based fashion brand House of Takura.
Facebook's ad spending behind the campaign is in the millions of dollars, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Published 25 Feb, 2021 09:14pm

Industry

US auto sales to rise in February despite weather woes

Retail sales of new vehicles are estimated to reach about 975,600 units in February, a 3.3% increase from a year ago, when adjusted for selling days, the consultancies said.
Despite challenges posed by inclement weather in most of the country, retail sales demand continues to be strong.

Published 25 Feb, 2021 09:12pm

Commodities

Container shortage slows Indian sugar exports, fuels price rally

Exports seen at 5 mln T vs 5.7 mln T yr ago -trade body head.
Contract signed for 3 mln T, only 1 mln T shipped so far.
Containers not available due to lower imports –dealers.

Published 25 Feb, 2021 09:08pm

Inflation bets send yields up to new milestone

The 10-year yield was up 6.9 basis points at 1.4578% and reached as high as 1.468%, the highest in a year.
"It's starting to become a momentum trade and the sell-off is becoming a global phenomenon," said Subadra Rajappa, head of US rates strategy at Societe Generale.

Published 25 Feb, 2021 08:58pm

Commodities

Indian export rates ease as supply picks up

Indian rice output to increase by 1.2% this year.
Supplies build in Vietnam, export prices unchanged.
Thai rates ease to $520-$560 a tonne.

Published 25 Feb, 2021 08:52pm

Twitter expects annual revenue to double in 2023, shares up 8pc

The company expects to reach at least 315 million monetizable daily active users (mDAU) by the fourth quarter of 2023.
Chief Executive Jack Dorsey said earlier this month that Twitter would explore launching content subscriptions and letting users receive tip payments from followers.

Published 25 Feb, 2021 08:49pm

Industry

Lufthansa adds more summer holiday destinations in bet on recovery

Germany's largest airline said it was planning to add around 20 new destinations from Frankfurt and 13 from Munich to locations such as the Caribbean, the Canary Islands and Greece.
COVID-19 vaccines and testing, along with strict hygiene rules at airports and on planes, will be prerequisites for travel this summer, it said.

Published 25 Feb, 2021 08:39pm

Money & Banking

Botswana cbank to keep policy accommodative, sees inflation rising into target range

Annual inflation - running at 2.3% last month - was last within the bank's 3%-6% target range in September 2019.
It dropped below 1% last year as the COVID-19 pandemic depressed economic activity.

Published 25 Feb, 2021 08:25pm

Forex

Loonie notches a 3-year high as Canada's bond yields jump

Canadian dollar strengthens 0.2% against the greenback.
Loonie touches its strongest since February 2018 at 1.2468.
Price of US oil falls 0.9%.
Canada's 10-year yield touches a 13-month high at 1.481%.

Published 25 Feb, 2021 08:21pm

Money & Banking

Nigeria's Zenith Bank targets 5.5pc rise in pretax profit in 2021

Zenith said it was aiming for 10% loan growth this year, down from 18.6% in 2020 after a currency depreciation at the end of last year helped boost the value of loans priced in naira.
The lender identified small businesses, agriculture, healthcare and manufacturing as some of the growth sectors this year.

Published 25 Feb, 2021 08:21pm

Stocks

GameStop shares rise in early trade before being halted

The stock hit $160 at the open before being halted after several minutes of trading. Shares were changing hands at around $129 before the second halt.
A short squeeze takes place when the price of a heavily shorted stock rises sharply, forcing short-sellers who had bet against the stock to buy it at those prices to avoid further losses.

Published 25 Feb, 2021 08:13pm

Commodities

Argentina says strikes deal to restart beef exports to Mexico

Argentina last year exported a total 900,699 tonnes of beef, of which 51% went to China.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) forecasts that Mexico will import 130,000 tonnes of beef in 2021.

Published 25 Feb, 2021 08:08pm

Financial

Canadian pension fund OMERS reports first annual loss since financial crisis

Many Canadian pension funds struggled to navigate the coronavirus pandemic last year, leading to widespread shutdowns of the economy and historic market falls.
"We've woken up this year already in pretty good shape but it didn't happen to coincide with year-end," he said.

Updated 25 Feb, 2021 08:06pm

Money & Banking

US bank regulators say pandemic drove up risk in leveraged lending

A new regulatory report found that the level of "non-pass" loans nearly doubled in 2020, rising from 6.9% to 12.4%, with most of those riskier loans held by nonbanks.

Updated 25 Feb, 2021 08:08pm

Companies

GSK narrows focus on elderly in trial to treat pneumonia from COVID-19

A trial started in May last year has shown that the drug known as otilimab helps patients over 70 with severe COVID-19 get off mechanical ventilation or high-flow oxygen support faster.
The benefit for younger trial participants was not clear enough to merit further investigation, prompting the re-focus on the elderly in a follow-up trial with a targeted 350 participants.

Published 25 Feb, 2021 07:08pm

Companies

Merck to buy drug developer Pandion Therapeutics for $1.85bn

The $60-per-share deal represents about 134% premium to Pandion's closing price on Wednesday.
Pandion's lead drug candidate, PT101, last month met its main goals of safety and tolerability in an early-stage trial in patients with autoimmune diseases.

Published 25 Feb, 2021 06:59pm

Companies

Abu Dhabi's TAQA plans international bond sale

TAQA has investments in power generation, water desalination, oil and gas exploration and production, pipelines and gas storage.
In July, TAQA closed a deal for Abu Dhabi Power Corporation (ADPower) to transfer the majority of its power and water generation, transmission and distribution assets to TAQA.

Published 25 Feb, 2021 06:58pm

Companies

Moderna sees $18.4bn in sales from COVID-19 vaccine in 2021

Moderna also said Chief Medical Officer Tal Zaks would leave the company in late September.
Moderna on Wednesday said it was expecting to produce 700 million doses in 2021, while attempting to scale up production to as much as 1 billion doses.

Published 25 Feb, 2021 06:52pm

Commodities

Copper jumps to new 2011 highs on inflation fears

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was up 2.2% at $9,513.50 a tonne.
Copper is about 6% below its record high of $10,190 a tonne hit in February 2011.

Published 25 Feb, 2021 06:47pm

Energy

Europe's wind power capacity not growing fast enough to meet climate targets-industry

Europe installed 14.7 gigawatts (GW) of new wind energy last year, 19% less than what was expected before the coronavirus pandemic hit. Europe now has a total of 220 GW wind energy capacity.
WindEurope expects Europe to build 105 GW of new wind farms over the next five years but this will be below the pace needed to deliver the European Union's energy and climate targets.

Published 25 Feb, 2021 06:40pm

Energy

Saipem gives no guidance as pandemic takes toll

"2021 is certainly not a back to normal year," Chief Executive Stefano Cao said in a conference call on results.
"We don't expect any improvement in the outlook before the second half of the year," he said.

Published 25 Feb, 2021 06:37pm

Commodities

China's gold imports via Hong Kong fall in January on COVID-19 travel curbs

Gold prices in the top consumer of the metal, flipped back into a discount - a situation that prevailed for most of 2020 as the pandemic curbed demand - in the week to Jan. 29.
Net gold imports via Hong Kong to China stood at 4.2 tonnes in January compared with 5.6 tonnes in December, while they were down 55% on an annual basis.

Published 25 Feb, 2021 06:35pm

Companies

Global LNG demand expected to almost double by 2040: Shell

Demand was 360 million tonnes last year, up slightly from 2019's 358 million tonnes, despite volatility caused by lockdowns during the coronavirus pandemic.
While COVID-19 derailed expected forecasts...the industry reacted swiftly to changing market conditions, diverting cargoes to shifting demand centres and through adjusting supply.

Published 25 Feb, 2021 06:33pm

Companies

Tesla short-sellers sitting on $3.5bn weekly profits-Ortex

The electric carmaker's shares slumped 17% the week through Wednesday off record high levels, as Bitcoin, in which Tesla invested $1.5 billion, pulled back sharply.

Published 25 Feb, 2021 06:30pm

Money & Banking

TD Bank, CIBC beat profit expectations on lower loan loss provisions

Canadian banks have largely avoided an increase in soured loans as several government assistance measures, expected to end this summer, helped profits surpass pre-pandemic levels.
TD reported a 14% rise in net income at its Canadian retail banking arm to C$2.04 billion ($1.63 billion), while its US retail business recorded a drop of 13%.

Published 25 Feb, 2021 06:28pm

Commodities

Cocoa gains, with New York hitting two-month high

May New York cocoa rose 0.9% to $2,577 a tonne.
May arabica coffee rose 1.1% at $1.3880 per lb, after peaking at a more than one year high of $1.3960 on Wednesday.
May raw sugar was little changed at 18.13 cents per lb, having hit a near four-year peak of 17.52 cents set on Tuesday.

Published 25 Feb, 2021 06:26pm

Commodities

Hit by Brazil shipment delays, Chinese soybean crushers forced to shrink output

Shortages of beans expected to last until at least mid-April.
China's soybean, soymeal prices rally as cargoes get delayed.
Higher meal inventories to cushion impact of delayed cargoes.

Published 25 Feb, 2021 06:20pm

Industry

Sports retailer Fanatics enters China via JV with Hillhouse Capital

The move by Jacksonville, Florida-based Fanatics, whose annual revenue tops $3 billion, is a bet on what the company sees as untapped demand in China for sports equipment and apparel.
China has been a market we followed for a while, and we've been meeting with multiple partners in China trying to figure out how we approach it in the best way.

Published 25 Feb, 2021 06:18pm

Industry

Domino's misses quarterly revenue estimates

Total revenue rose to $1.36 billion from $1.15 billion in the fourth quarter ended Jan. 3, compared with estimates of $1.39 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Published 25 Feb, 2021 06:07pm

Stocks

Indian shares end higher as Reliance, energy stocks gain

The NSE Nifty 50 index ended 0.77% higher at 15,097.35 and the S&P BSE Sensex closed up 0.51% at 51,039.31, ahead of December-quarter gross domestic product data due on Friday.
Reliance, which fell 3.5% on Monday, has since recovered and is up more than 4% so far this week.

Published 25 Feb, 2021 06:03pm

Stocks

Sri Lankan shares extend gains as financials, industrials rise

Conglomerate Expolanka holdings jumped 15.1% as the top boost on the index, while Browns Investments gained 7.4%.
Tess Agro added 40% to end the day as the top percentage gainer on the index.

Published 25 Feb, 2021 06:00pm

Forex

Nigerian, Zambian, Kenyan currencies seen under pressure

The naira is seen easing on the spot market after it fell 0.21% to 410.29 per dollar on Thursday.
The kwacha is likely to face continued pressure against the dollar going into next week due to heightened demand for hard currency amid limited inflows.

Published 25 Feb, 2021 05:51pm

Forex

Turks' FX holdings dip to $235bn, still near record

When adjusted with the parity effect, the data showed the hard currency holdings fell by only $27 million in the period.
The central bank is watching keenly for a reversal in this dollarization trend before it starts rebuilding its depleted FX reserves.

Published 25 Feb, 2021 05:44pm

Brazil's Petrobras returns to profit in Q4

The result was strong enough for Brazil's biggest company to end the Covid-shaken year with a surprise annual profit of 7.1 billion reais.

Published 25 Feb, 2021 05:16pm

Money & Banking

Brazil bank lending spreads widen to 23.4pc points in January: central bank

The amount of outstanding loans in Brazil remained steady in the month at 4 trillion reais ($736 billion) and over the last 12 months loan growth accelerated 16%, the central bank said.

Updated 25 Feb, 2021 05:45pm

Qantas posts huge loss, says no international flights until October

Qantas had posted a US$1.9-billion loss for the year ending June 30 as the coronavirus pandemic gripped the global economy.

Published 25 Feb, 2021 05:11pm

How much FATF grey-listing cost Pakistan’s economy?

The study results suggest that FATF grey-listing, starting in 2008 and till 2019, may have resulted in cumulative real GDP losses of approximately $38bn.

Published 25 Feb, 2021 04:16pm

SBP amends clauses to facilitate Housing Finance & Capital Market

The SBP has also allowed banks/DFIs to use their names with their own SPVs in compliance with applicable laws, however, banks/DFIs’ names shall not be used in the RMBS/CMBS issued by such SPVs.

Published 25 Feb, 2021 02:22pm

Facebook to invest $1 billion in news industry after Australia row

Facebook on Tuesday restored Australian news pages, ending an unprecedented week-long blackout.

Published 25 Feb, 2021 01:15pm

Pakistan faces an unexpected dilemma: too much electricity?

But even as supply surges, electric power is still not reaching up to 50 million people in Pakistan who need it, according to a 2018 World Bank report, though expansion of transmission lines is planned.

Published 25 Feb, 2021 12:32pm

Oil prices hit 13-month highs on tighter supplies, Fed assurance on low rates

Brent crude futures for April gained 19 cents, 0.3%, to $67.23 a barrel by 0400 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude for April was at $63.30 a barrel, up 8 cents, 0.1%.

Published 25 Feb, 2021 12:04pm

Asian shares jump after Powell nixes rate hike fears

Powell’s reassurance gave a fresh impetus to reflation trades and boosted risk asset prices while also driving U.S. bond yields back up to one-year highs.

Published 25 Feb, 2021 12:00pm

Moody’s term Pakistani banks strong growth despite pandemic ‘a credit positive’

For 2021 Moody's expects profitability to remain at 2020 levels mainly because of a squeeze in net interest margins after the interest rate cuts.

Published 25 Feb, 2021 11:42am

Govt to release Rs 5.5bn under DLTL payments for exporters

The advisor informed that the DLTL scheme includes Rs. 1,738 million for non-textiles sector and Rs. 3,762 million for textiles sector.

Published 25 Feb, 2021 11:02am

SBP grants Exchange Companies Five days forward sale facility

As per the SBP, forward sale facility may be availed up to maximum five working days (including both transaction and settlement days).

Published 25 Feb, 2021 10:12am

Industry

Aasim made Convener FPCCI body

KARACHI: Chairman APSA, Aasim A Siddiqui has been appointed as ‘Convener’ of FPCCI central Standing Committee on...