Warren Buffett shares investing advice and a few apologies. Daily coronavirus deaths hit a record in India. Thugs-for-hire take investor disputes to extremes in Hong Kong. Here's what you need to know to start your day.
Warren Buffett made a few blunt admissions at his annual meeting of Berkshire Hathaway shareholders on Saturday. Among them were regrets over Apple stock sales — "probably a mistake" — and dumping airline shares early in the pandemic, although he said he still wouldn’t invest in airlines given current pressure on travel. Buffett, 90, and his 97-year-old longtime business partner Charlie Munger offered plenty of other insights into their thinking at the virtual meeting. Mega-cap tech stock valuations are not "crazy," Buffett said, if Treasury rates are supposed to be this low (and that is one big “if”). He described index funds as the best answer for most investors, and called SPACs "a killer." Buffett dodged a question on Bitcoin, but Munger was happy to let rip: “I don't welcome currency that is so useful to kidnappers and extortionists.”
Stocks in Asia are set for a muted start to the week with some major markets closed for a holiday and inflation concerns resurfacing. The dollar slipped versus major peers. Australian futures pointed lower, while those in Hong Kong also fell earlier. Markets in Japan and China are shut for holidays. U.S. stocks dropped from a record Friday, with economic data showing potential inflation pressures and hawkish remarks from a Federal Reserve official. Still, the S&P 500 Index capped its biggest monthly rally since November.
Daily coronavirus deaths in India hit a record 3,689 on Sunday. The crisis cost Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a key election, as the ruling BJP party conceded West Bengal’s state poll. President Joe Biden banned most travel to the U.S. from India beginning Tuesday, and Malaysia reported its first case of the so-called Indian variant. Talks start this week between the U.S. and World Trade Organization over expanding access to vaccines. India, South Africa and other countries are seeking a WTO waiver to ease intellectual property protections for Covid-19 vaccines. The U.S. administration is reluctant to let countries force drug makers to turn over proprietary know-how. Meanwhile, Singapore and Malaysia announced the return of cross-border travel for emergencies.
Around the world, companies are hiring and unemployment is falling across most advanced economies. But not every job is coming back. The pandemic has pushed out older employees and lower income workers are feeling the brunt of the crisis. Here’s a snapshot of the jobs recovery in the biggest advanced economies, and how much further there is to go. In Australia, one of the first nations to regain all jobs lost through the pandemic, the central bank is set to maintain its highly supportive policy settings at its meeting on Tuesday, as it faces up to the challenge of lifting wages and inflation from record lows.
When shareholders get angry at management, they typically vote down executive pay packages or stage protests. In Hong Kong, they call in the thugs. In March, about 18 intruders tried to force their way into a shareholder meeting and assaulted company employees, the firm said. Eight men were arrested, according to police. Hong Kong is rare among developed markets for incidents of violence involving hired muscle at shareholder events. Such disruptions are infrequent in a market with more than 2,500 public companies. But they underscore the challenge authorities face trying to clean up what former Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing CEO Charles Li once called the market’s “dark corners.”
What We’ve Been Reading
This is what’s caught our eye over the past 24 hours:
And finally, here's what Tracy's interested in today
Early last year we were debating whether the Covid-19 crisis would permanently change consumer behavior. People could be so scarred by a crisis which saw the shutdown of the entire economy that they might set aside some sort of permanent rainy day fund. On the other hand, not being able to go out or travel for months could lead to the opposite behavior, with people ready to make up for all that lost time by spending big once things started improving.
In the U.S., where a successful vaccine drive is allowing reopening, there are signs that we're getting both a boost in savings plus a spending surge. Friday's inflation data showed personal incomes jumping 21.1% in March, the biggest monthly increase on record. Meanwhile spending rose 4.2%, even while the personal savings rate surged to 27.6% from 13.9% the month before.
The decisive factor here is the government's stimulus program, which has managed to bridge the gap between a Great Depression-style hangover in consumer behavior with a Roaring Twenties-type scenario. Put simply, people have more money right now, and so saving more and spending more are no longer mutually exclusive scenarios.
You can follow Tracy Alloway on Twitter at @tracyalloway.
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