From China’s clampdown on Ant Group to JP Morgan Chase being downgraded, and more.
The controversial European Super League saw JP Morgan in the firing line and Apple moved away from Intel. Australia found itself in a strong position to benefit from the expected commodities supercycle, while Archegos Capital continued to wreak havoc on bankers. Meanwhile, China continued its face-off with billionaire Jack Ma.
Own goal
Sustainability rating agency Standard Ethics, has downgraded JP Morgan Chase after finding out that the US bank was funding the failed European Super League (ESL) breakaway attempt.
Six of England’s richest clubs, including Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal, were among the 12 European teams that hoped to gain permanent membership of a new tournament. However, the project collapsed in disarray this week after backlash from fans to heads of government across the UK and Europe, reported the Guardian.
Apple chips
The first redesign of the iconic desktop iMac in almost 10 years has been revealed, with the latest machine using chips designed in-house. The latest version is thinner with slimmer edges, available in seven different colours, has a 1080p camera, better speakers and microphones and boasts a 24-inch screen size.
The new iMac starts at $1 299 (R18,543.87), which is $200 (R2,855.10) dollars more than the previous model with Intel chips. The Mac line generated about $8.7 billion (R124.2 billion) in the fiscal first quarter ended December 2020.
Domino effect
Credit Suisse Group AG shored up more than $20 billion (R285.51 billion) of exposure to investments related to Archegos Capital Management, but struggled to monitor them before the fund was forced to liquidate many of its positions, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The investment firm’s stock bets grew in the lead-up to its March collapse, but systems had not been fully implemented to keep up with the rapid growth.
Credit Suisse reported a $4.7 billion (R67.09 billion) loss, slashed its dividend and said a number of senior employees would leave.
Cash follows China
Users are shifting their cash in the face of China’s clampdown on billionaire Jack Ma’s payment group, with the Ant Group’s money market fund shrinking to more than a four-year low.
The money-market fund, once the world’s largest, acts as the main repository for leftover cash stored by hundreds of millions of users of Ant’s Alipay payments app, reported the Financial Times.
Ant’s IPO, which would have been the world’s largest, was halted in November and Ma’s Alibaba e-commerce company was recently fined a record $2.8 billion (R39.97 billion) for anti-competitive behaviour.
Australia resource boom
Mining dynamo Australia is showing its mettle through IPOs in the resources sector.
The Australian Stock Exchange recorded 42 IPOs in mining-related businesses over the past 12 months despite the Covid-19 pandemic, streets ahead of hotspots like Toronto (28) and London (2), according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
This puts the country in a strong position to leverage off the expected commodities supercycle. This, in addition to the global economic recovery, sets the scene for all-time highs in resources earnings this year.
