April
13, 2021 4:20 AM By Gabriel
Crossley , Stella Qiu
BEIJING
(Reuters) - China’s exports grew at a robust pace in March in yet another boost
to the nation’s economic recovery as global demand picks up amid progress in
worldwide COVID-19 vaccination, while import growth surged to the highest in
four years.
The data suggests the world’s second
largest economy will continue to gather momentum as it emerges from the
COVID-19-led slump in early 2020, though a lagging consumer rebound and
resurgence in COVID-19 cases in many countries have raised risks for the
outlook.
Exports in dollar terms soared 30.6%
in March from a year earlier, but at a slower pace from a record 154.9% growth
in February. The analysts polled by Reuters have forecast a 35.5% jump in
shipments.
“Strong foreign demand is likely to
be sustained throughout the second quarter as the global economy further
recovers,” said Nie Wen, analyst at Nie Wen, economist at Hwabao Trust.
“But with the acceleration in global
vaccination efforts, industrial sectors in other countries are gradually
restarting. It remains to be seen that if China’s stellar export growth will
begin to slide.”
Despite sporadic COVID-19 cases in
China’s border cities, authorities have been able to largely contain the virus
in a boost to the lagging consumer recovery.
Beijing managed to largely bring the
COVID-19 pandemic under control much earlier than many countries thanks to
stringent anti-virus curbs and lockdowns at the initial phase of the outbreak
last year.
The data showed total imports jumped
38.1% year-on-year last month, the fastest pace since February 2017 on high
commodity prices, beating a 23.3% forecast and compared with 17.3% growth in
February.
The nation imported 1.02 million
tonnes of meat in March, the highest monthly volume since at least January
2020, while imports for soybeans iron ore, copper and crude oil also rose.
China posted a trade surplus of $13.8
billion last month, versus analysts expectations for the surplus to rise to
$52.05 billion from $37.88 billion in February.
More
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-economy-trade/chinas-exports-rise-at-robust-pace-in-march-imports-growth-highest-in-four-years-idUSKBN2C0093
Finally, more on
Biden’s America push to the far left. Uncle Sam, if he’s lucky will end up more
like Sweden. If he’s unlucky, more like Venezuela. Either way, it won’t be good
for US corporate profits.
Analysis: With quick fixes,
Biden's agencies reverse Trump's Wall Street-friendly rules April
12, 2021 12:08 PM By Katanga Johnson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S.
President Joe Biden’s interim regulators are wasting no time unraveling Wall
Street-friendly measures introduced under former Republican President Donald
Trump, using quick-fix legal tactics.
They have spiked or stalled more than
a dozen contentious Trump-era measures that critics said eroded consumer
protections, weakened enforcement, and curbed investors’ ability to push for
environmental, social and governance (ESG) changes.
Rather than embarking on the lengthy
process of rewriting the rules, the agencies have in many instances used speedy
legal tools, according to lawyers, consumer groups, and a review by Reuters.
These include delaying unfinished rules, issuing informal guidance, rescinding
old policy statements or issuing new ones, and choosing not to enforce existing
rules.
The swift changes have set off alarm
bells in the financial industry, which is having to adapt quickly to the
tougher new regime, and set the stage for potential legal challenges down the
road, said lobbyists and lawyers.
“The interim Democratic leadership
for these agencies are moving very quickly to tackle the deregulatory policy
shifts that occurred under Trump,” said Quyen Truong, partner at law practice
Stroock & Stroock & Lavan.
“The agencies’ use of guidance and
reversal of policy statements demands a quick turnaround of compliance for
firms.”
During the previous administration,
Trump-appointed regulators eased dozens of rules they said were outdated and
hurt jobs, drawing ire from Democrats who said the changes saved Wall Street
billions of dollars while increasing risks and hurting consumers.
With a slim majority in Congress, Democratic
lawmakers will struggle to repeal those rules, while delays here
to the presidential transition has left many nominees still awaiting
confirmation nearly three months in.
That has put the onus on interim officials to
start executing Biden’s agenda to help Americans recover from the pandemic and
to tackle social injustice and climate change.
Acting Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC) chair Allison Lee, for example, has been very active. She has returned
power to senior enforcement staff, who had it stripped from them in 2017, to
open probes without seeking senior approvals, and has reversed a 2019 policy
that critics said made it too easy for companies that broke the rules to
continue with business as usual.
More
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-biden-financial-regulators-analys/analysis-with-quick-fixes-bidens-agencies-reverse-trumps-wall-street-friendly-rules-idUSKBN2BZ16N
Winning isn’t everything – it’s the only
thing.
Vince Lombardi.
Inflation Watch. Finally, inflation watch.
Given our Magic Money Tree central banksters and our spendthrift politicians,
inflation now needs an entire section of its own.
Japan wholesale prices rise for
first time in more than a year, stoked by commodities surge April
12, 2021 2:38 AM By Leika Kihara
TOKYO
(Reuters) -Japanese wholesale prices marked their first annual increase in more
than a year in March, a sign that rising commodities costs are pinching
corporate margins and adding inflationary pressure to the world’s third-largest
economy.
Analysts, however, expect the impact
on consumer inflation to remain more modest in Japan than in the United States,
as soft wage growth and a slow vaccine rollout are seen weighing on household
spending.
That would add to reasons for the
Bank of Japan (BOJ) to maintain its massive stimulus programme and meet a
pledge to keep its money tab wide open until inflation exceeds 2% in a stable
manner.
“Risks to Japan’s prices remain
skewed to the downside, which means monetary policy must stay ultra-loose,”
said a source familiar with the BOJ’s thinking, a view echoed by another
source.
Japan’s corporate goods price index
(CGPI), which measures the price firms charge each other for their goods and
services, rose 1.0% in March from a year earlier, BOJ data showed on Monday,
marking the first rise in 13 months.
The jump in wholesale prices, which
was at the fastest pace since January 2020, exceeded a median market forecast
for a 0.5% increase and followed a 0.6% fall in February.
“While
there’s still a lot of uncertainty on the outlook, global economic activity is
picking up and keeping commodities prices high,” said Kouta Fujiwara, an
economist at NLI Research Institute.
More
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan-economy-prices/japan-wholesale-prices-rise-for-first-time-in-more-than-a-year-stoked-by-commodities-surge-idUSKBN2BZ049
U.S. budget deficit hits record
high for March as aid swells outlays April 12, 2021 7:05 PM
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S.
government posted a March budget deficit of $660 billion, a record high for the
month, as direct payments to Americans under President Joe Biden’s stimulus
package were distributed, the Treasury Department said on Monday.
The deficit for the first six months
of the 2021 fiscal year ballooned to a record $1.706 trillion, compared to a
$743 billion deficit for the comparable year-earlier period.
The COVID-19 pandemic did not have a
big impact on the first six months of fiscal 2020, as increased outlays tied to
rising unemployment due to pandemic-related lockdowns and major new aid
spending did not start until the very end of March 2020 and ramped up in the following
month, a Treasury official told reporters.
The March 2021 deficit was the third
highest U.S. monthly deficit on record, surpassed by gaps of $864 billion in
June 2020 and $738 billion in April 2020.
The March deficit, which compared to
a year-earlier fiscal gap of $119 billion, included receipts of $268 billion
and outlays of $927 billion - both record highs for that month.
The 13% increase in March receipts
was buoyed by an increase in taxes withheld from individuals, representing
strong earnings among higher-paid Americans who were able to work remotely, the
Treasury official said, as well as from improved overall employment levels
compared to a major drop in employment in the second half of March 2020.
The March outlays were further
increased by $339 billion in direct payments of $1,400 that were sent to many
individuals under Biden’s American Rescue Plan Act that was enacted last month,
the Treasury official said.
More funding from the $1.9 trillion
stimulus package will roll out in coming months, the official added, likely
keeping outlays elevated.
More
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-economy-budget/u-s-budget-deficit-hits-record-high-for-march-as-aid-swells-outlays-idUSKBN2BZ2B2
Covid-19 Corner This
section will continue until it becomes unneeded.
India Has 2nd-Most Cases; Italy
Eyes Vaccine Hubs: Virus Update Bloomberg News 12
April 2021, 23:53 BST Updated on 13 April 2021, 05:08 BST
India overtook Brazil as the country with the second-most
cases in the world. A study in Brazil showed that Sinovac Biotech Ltd.’s
vaccine is slightly more than 50% effective, raising new concerns over the
efficacy of the China’s suite of Covid-19 shots.
Italy is in talks to set up vaccine production hubs as the government
seeks to build up domestic capacity amid concern the country risks missing its
latest target for inoculations.
The U.K. hit its goal of offering a shot to all those over
50 three days early while England reopened shops, pub gardens, gyms
and hair salons after months of lockdown. The weekly death toll from Covid-19
in the U.S. rose for the first time since February and infections climbed for a
fourth straight week, despite surging vaccinations.
Key
Developments: More
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-12/india-has-2nd-most-cases-u-k-hits-vaccine-target-virus-update?srnd=coronavirus
Top Chinese official admits
vaccines have low effectiveness By JOE
McDONALD and HUIZHONG WU April 12, 2021
BEIJING (AP) — China’s top disease control
official, in a rare acknowledgement, said current vaccines offer low protection
against the coronavirus and mixing them is among strategies being considered to
boost their effectiveness.
China has distributed hundreds of millions of
doses of domestically made vaccines abroad and is relying on them for its own
mass immunization campaign.
But the director of the Chinese Center for
Disease Control and Prevention, Gao Fu, said at a conference Saturday their
efficacy rates needed improving.
“We will solve the issue that current vaccines
don’t have very high protection rates,” Gao said in a presentation on Chinese
COVID-19 vaccines and immunization strategies at a conference in the
southwestern city of Chengdu. “It’s now under consideration whether we should
use different vaccines from different technical lines for the immunization
process.”
He also praised the benefits of mRNA
vaccines, the technology behind the two vaccines seen as the most effective,
Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, months after questioning whether the then-unproven
method was safe.
In a message to The Associated
Press, Gao said late Sunday night he was speaking about the effectiveness rates
for “vaccines in the world, not particularly for China.” He did not respond to
further questions about which vaccines he was referring to.
He directed the AP to an interview
he did with the state-owned Global Times, which has published several articles
raising doubts about the safety of Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine. Gao was quoted by the
outlet Sunday as saying he was misunderstood and merely talking in general
terms about improving vaccine efficacy.
Beijing earlier tried to promote
doubt about the effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which uses
genetic code called messenger RNA, or mRNA, to prime the immune system.
---- “The mRNA vaccines developed in our
country have also entered the clinical trial stage,” said the official, Wang
Huaqing. He gave no timeline for possible use.
Experts say mixing vaccines, or
sequential immunization, might boost effectiveness. Researchers in Britain are
studying a possible combination of Pfizer-BioNTech and the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Gao concluded his presentation
Saturday with praise for mRNA vaccines and called for innovation in research.
More
https://apnews.com/article/beijing-immunizations-chengdu-coronavirus-pandemic-china-675bcb6b5710c7329823148ffbff6ef9
Tokyo adopts tougher virus rules,
starts vaccinating elders By
MARI YAMAGUCHI April 12, 2021
TOKYO (AP) — Tokyo adopted tougher measures
against the coronavirus Monday as it struggles to curb the rapid spread of a
more contagious variant ahead of the Olympics in a country where less than 1%
of people have been vaccinated.
Japan started its vaccination drive with
medical workers and expanded Monday to older residents, with the first shots
being given in about 120 selected places around the country.
The tougher COVID-19 rules, just three weeks
after a state of emergency ended in the capital, allow Tokyo’s governor to
mandate shorter opening hours for bars and restaurants, punish violators and
compensate those who comply. The measures remain through May 11.
The status was also raised for Kyoto in western
Japan and the southern island prefecture of Okinawa, where cases have surged in
recent weeks. The near-emergency status there is to continue through May 5, the
end of Japan’s “Golden Week” holidays, to discourage traveling.
Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike has asked residents to
avoid nonessential trips and practice social distancing. She asked bars and
restaurants in many areas of the prefecture to close at 8 p.m.
An elder care home in downtown Tokyo was among
the locations where vaccines were being administered Monday.
But Koike urged residents to buckle up and be
cautious while vaccinations are in an early stage.
More
https://apnews.com/article/world-news-tokyo-coronavirus-pandemic-japan-olympic-games-2c29ad28ee2557a094ed594355e84876
Next, some vaccine links
kindly sent along from a LIR reader in Canada. The links come from a most informative
update from Stanford Hospital in California.
World
Health Organization - Landscape of COVID-19 candidate vaccines . https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/draft-landscape-of-covid-19-candidate-vaccines
NY
Times Coronavirus Vaccine Tracker . https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/science/coronavirus-vaccine-tracker.html
Stanford
Website . https://racetoacure.stanford.edu/clinical-trials/132
Regulatory
Focus COVID-19 vaccine tracker . https://www.raps.org/news-and-articles/news-articles/2020/3/covid-19-vaccine-tracker
Some other useful Covid links.
Johns Hopkins Coronavirus
resource centre
https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html
Rt Covid-19
https://rt.live/
Centers for Disease Control
Coronavirus
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html
The Spectator
https://data.spectator.co.uk/city/national
Technology Update.
With events happening
fast in the development of solar power and graphene, I’ve added this section.
Updates as they get reported.
Plans unveiled for 'green
hydrogen' project near Glasgow 13 April, 2021
Plans have been submitted for a
major "green hydrogen" scheme near Glasgow.
The application by ScottishPower
includes a 20MW electrolyser, a device which splits water into hydrogen and
oxygen using electrical energy - in this case, via wind and solar power.
The planned facility will be located
near the UK's largest onshore wind farm, Whitelee, owned by ScottishPower.
The project includes a combined
solar and battery energy storage scheme to help power the electrolyser.
ScottishPower said the facility
would be able to produce up to eight tonnes of hydrogen per day.
It aims to supply hydrogen to the
commercial market before 2023.
The facility will be powered by a
40MW solar farm and a 50MW battery energy storage scheme, all of which will be
installed about three miles west of Lochgoin reservoir and adjacent to the
existing Whitelee extension substation.
It marks the first project for the
Green Hydrogen for Scotland partnership between ScottishPower, specialist gas
provider BOC and electrolyser manufacturer ITM Power.
It aims to create green hydrogen
production facilities with clusters of refuelling stations across Scotland.
The Glasgow scheme is designed to
provide carbon-free transport and clean air for communities across Glasgow, as
well as support industrial hydrogen demand in the region.
The city, which is set to host the
United Nations 26th Climate Change Conference later this year, plans to become
the first net-zero city in the UK by 2030.
More
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-56721727
Next to
I win, I told you so are the sweetest words.
Gore
Vidal, novelist.
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