Closing Report 31.12.2021

MARKETS END UP THE YEAR MIXED DOWN

AMERICAN MARKETS MID DAY

Indexes in the US started the week higher with the S&P 500 closing at record high while the Dow Jones jumped over 200 points as US retail sales increased 8.5% year-over-year, powered by an ecommerce boom, according to a Mastercard Inc. Meanwhile, tech stocks surged that day while airlines stocks fall as US airlines cancel around 6 000 flights over COVID. That day, Canadian markets were closed due to Christmas holidays. US trading session closed mixed on Tuesday, despite the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shortened the recommanded time for being in isolation after contracting the virus, meanwhile the institution commented that the Omicron coronavirus variant accounted for 58.6% of new cases in the United States. In company news, Boeing Co rose 1.46% as Indonesia lifted a ban on its 737 MAX, three years after the crash of one of the aircraft and loss of all 189 people on board. Canadian markets were still closed for Boxing Day. On Wednesday, Wall Street end up higher after the Korea Economic Daily reported that  Samsung Group is negotiating with Biogen Inc. to acquire the company for around $42 billion, while Meta (former Facebook)  allegedly tried to cause a conflict between the two largest political parties in the US in an attempt to prevent a unified congressional front from being formed against the company. Also, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his United States counterpart Joe Biden will speak of « a range of topics, including upcoming diplomatic engagements with Russia » on December 30, White House revealed. Thursday trading session closed red after the  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that Americans should avoid cruise travel regardless of whether they have been vaccinated against COVID-19 or not. Today, US markets opened mixed line as the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) informed travelers that more flight cancellations and delays are expected, meanwhile, Tesla announced on Friday they have recalled 199,741 vehicles for repairs.

EUROPEAN MARKETS CLOSING

Major European markets started the week higher after Christmas weekend while Omicron news are still dominating the headlines with the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson not expected to unveil stricter COVID-related curbs in England while the Swiss Agency for Therapeutic Products (Swissmedic) revealed it approved a booster dose of the Johnson & Johnson single-shot coronavirus vaccine for people aged 18 and over. United Kingdom was on holiday for Christmas that day. On Tuesday, shares in Europe extended gains after as investors are less worried about Omicron variant meanwhile, the German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach announced  that the federal government has purchased one million treatment courses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 drug, with the first delivery in January. On another hand, France has imposed restrictions on public gatherings and remote work requirements, but is leaving schools open. Meanwhile, United Kingdom was still closed for Boxing Day. On Wednesday, European stock markets edged lower as global COVID-19 infections hit a record high over the previous seven-day period, Reuteurss reported. Meanwhile, Russia’s Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Kirill Dmitriev estimated the pandemic will see a gradual end in 2022. On thursday, markets in Europe closed mixed as the British government decided not to push any new restrictions this year despite record daily new infections while Paris imposed an outdoor mask mandate starting on friday. Today, for the last trading of 2022, markets closed earlier ahead of New Year’s Eve and in the red zone after the UK, Greece, Spain and Italy all reported record daily rises in new infections from the COVID-19 while the Britain’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) also revealed its data showed that one in 25 or 2,024,700 people in England had COVID-19 in the week ending December 23.

ASIAN PACIFIC MARKETS CLOSING

Shares in Asia-Pacific region started the week lower with the NIKKEI 225 plummeted by 0.37% as retail sales went under investors’ expectations in November by 1.9% on an annual basis to land at ¥12.79 billion, according to a preliminary report by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Meanwhile, Chinese left million of people under lockdown due to its zero COVID policy while the Chinese National Health Commission (NHC) said on Sunday that the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country grew by 206 since the previous update, marking the highest daily jump in infections since April 2020. On Tuesday, stocks in Asia were mostly up, focuins mainly on data with the Japan’s industrial production index landed at 100.4 in November, surging by 7.2% month-on-month, according to a report released by the country’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) and it’s  unemployment rate landed at 2.8% in November on a monthly seasonally adjusted basis, according to a report by the nation’s Statistics Bureau. The NIKKEI 225 surged 1.10% that day. Wednesday trading session closed lower due to the tech sell off and COVID worries while a US index of Chinese shares also fell as regulatory tightening of overseas share sales and the economic risks from a property slowdown weight on investor sentiment. However, the People’s Bank of China is expected to add more stimulus to boost the economic recovery in 2022. On Thurday, major shares in the region traded mixed nevertheless economic data from South Korea showed a 5.1% surge in November industrial output could signal an easing in global supply bottlenecks. This morning, Asian markets traded mostly higher while Japan’s NIKKEI 225 and South Korea’s KSOPI were closed for the holiday.

COMMODITIES & FOREX MARKETS

• Oil exports in Saudi Arabia skyrocketed 123% on annual basis in October, the country’s General Authority for Statistics (GaStat) revealed on Sunday.
• Commercial crude oil inventories in the United States, which are not taking into account those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, fell by 3.6 million barrels to 420 million barrels in the week ending December 24, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported on Wednesday.
• The dollar edged higher in early European trade Thursday, but remained near the bottom of its recent range in holiday-thinned volumes as fears over the Omicron Covid-19 variant continued to subside.
• The chief economist at the IMF, Gita Gopinath, recently urged developing countries to regulate cryptocurrencies and not ban this asset class.

Frances Haugen warn about the Meta’s « metaverse »

Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen warned on Tuesday that the ‘metaverse’, the global virtual reality world at the heart of the social media giant’s growth strategy, will be addictive and deprive people of even more personal information while giving the struggling business another online monopoly. In an interview with the Associated Press, Haugen said his former employer rushed to trumpet the Metaverse recently due to the intense pressure he was facing after revealing deep-seated issues at the company, in disclosures that have boosted legislative and regulatory efforts around the world to crack down on Big Tech.

Meta, the new name for Facebook’s parent company, has denied trying to distract from the issues it faces by pushing the Metaverse. In a presentation last month, Zuckerberg described how the Metaverse would allow mixed reality business meetings where some participants are physically present while others teleport as avatars. The company launched a virtual meeting software called Horizon Workrooms for use with its virtual reality headsets, so colleagues can better communicate, think and socialize virtually, instead of, for example, looking at each other on a Zoom call grid.

“If your employer decides they are now a metaverse company, you have to provide a lot more personal data to a company that has demonstrated that they are lying whenever it is in their best interest », she said. Haugen said Facebook’s systems amplify hatred and extremism online, fail to protect young people from harmful content, and the company incentive to solve the problems, in revelations that highlight a internal crisis in the company which provides free services to 3 billion people. “They’re going to hire 10,000 engineers to work on video games when they haven’t actually gotten security on their main product,” Haugen said.

For that, she faulted Zuckerberg personally, saying he has exhibited a pattern of prioritizing growth over making sure Facebook is good for users.
« Unless he wants to prioritize the security of the platform, he should step back and let someone else focus on that. » The company has denied that it puts profits before safety. “Yes, we are a business and we make a profit, but the idea that we do it at the expense of the safety or well-being of people misunderstands where our own business interests lie,” he said, adding it planned to spend more than $ 5 billion in 2021 on safety and security and employs more than 40,000 people who work to keep users safe. Zuckerberg has previously dismissed Haugen’s claims as a « coordinated effort » to paint a false picture of the company.

The legislators of the European Union questioned her intensely on Monday, before applauding her at the end of the 2h30 hearing. Facebook has said it broadly supports regulations, with legislative efforts in the EU and UK being much more advanced than in the US. Haugen has stopped in London and Berlin to speak to officials and lawmakers and spoke at a technical conference in Lisbon. She has also addressed French lawmakers in Paris on Wednesday.