China considers raising power prices. Central bank chiefs sound reassuring notes on inflation. The world’s turning away from China’s Covid vaccines. Here’s what you need to know today.
China is considering raising power prices for industrial consumers to help ease the growing supply crunch. The rate hikes for factories could come in the form of higher flat fees or be linked to the price of coal. The energy shortage in China has unleashed turmoil in commodities markets, forcing silicon makers in the world’s top producer to dramatically slash output, a signal that the price of solar panels is about to rise. And the global spike in energy prices is creating more stock losers than winners in Asia. Meanwhile in the U.K. spot power prices have surged to the highest on record and three power suppliers just collapsed thanks to sky-high natural gas prices. Need a catch-up? Here’s why everyone is talking about the global energy shortage.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and his counterparts at the European Central Bank, Bank of Japan and Bank of England voiced cautious optimism Wednesday that supply-chain disruptions lifting inflation rates around the world would ultimately prove temporary. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden and his aides scrambled to break a deadlock among Democrats that has stalled progress on his economic plans as the White House and Congress stare down deadlines to keep the government running and avoid a default.
Governments that once relied on China’s vaccines are now turning to options from the U.S. and Europe instead, as concerns mount about efficacy against the delta strain, and the Western stranglehold on the more potent mRNA drugs loosens. Elsewhere, the U.S. seeing improving cases in 47 out of 50 states, tickets to the Beijing Winter Olympics will only be sold to people residing in China; and YouTube says it has removed about a million videos in a crackdown on vaccine misinformation. Finally, the Philippines fell to last place on Bloomberg’s Covid Resilience Ranking Here’s why — and what it needs to do next.
Asian stocks looked set for a muted open after U.S. equities pared most of their gains as a rally in tech shares petered out. Futures pointed to modest gains in Japan, while contracts edged higher in Australia and dipped in Hong Kong. Dip buyers helped push the S&P 500 higher. The dollar rose to the highest since November as investors opted for safe havens, Treasury yields were little changed near the highest since June, oil declined and Bitcoin traded around $41,000.
Japan’s 100th prime minister will be Fumio Kishida, the most experienced, most middle-of-the-road candidate up for the job, selected by LDP party members as the safe choice to succeed outgoing Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga. For good or ill, ex-banker Kishida is seen by investors as a continuity choice — stable, but unlikely to energize markets much. While he can all-but guarantee the LDP will install him as premier at a special session on Monday, keeping the job will require convincing a skeptical public he deserves it in a general election within weeks. Delivering a fresh stimulus package that won’t disappoint investors will be Kishida’s next challenge. These are his priorities.
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
We've spoken a lot this year about the bullwhip effect, or the idea that small shifts in consumer demand can end up leading to much larger supply chain disruptions. With no signs of various supply and logistics bottlenecks easing — if anything, they seem to be getting worse — it seems clear that the bullwhip effect is now in play. Problems in supply chains aren't getting resolved but rather continue to compound, and businesses aren't getting a chance to normalize but are having to deal with more and more extremes. The starkest example of this is the number of energy companies in the U.K. that are now going bust because of sky-high natural gas prices.
Higher prices from cascading bottlenecks put central banks in a seriously difficult position. In traditional economics, inflation is a monetary phenomenon that has a monetary solution in the form of higher interest rates. But this time around there's basically no chance that higher interest rates will solve the problem of higher prices caused by supply chain issues. Tightening monetary policy isn't going to create more semiconductors, or more capacity at the world's ports, or lead to more wind in the North Sea and warmer winters in Europe. But the longer these supply chain issues persist, the more pressure central banks are going to feel to do something (anything!) about them.
"need" - Google News
September 30, 2021 at 06:24AM
https://ift.tt/2YbG7y7
Five Things You Need to Know to Start your Day - Bloomberg
"need" - Google News
https://ift.tt/3c23wne
https://ift.tt/2YsHiXz
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Five Things You Need to Know to Start your Day - Bloomberg"
Post a Comment