Geopolitical worries have added another layer of volatility to an already-jumpy market as investors priced in the possibility of escalating conflict between Russia and Ukraine, though some doubted the issue would weigh on U.S. asset prices over the longer term. Reports of rising tensions between the two countries slammed stocks on Friday and lifted prices for Treasuries, the dollar and other safe-haven assets. Investors were already rattled by a hawkish turn from the Federal Reserve.The market is reacting because an actual invasion has not yet been priced in," said Michael Farr of Farr, Miller and Washington LLC. "The severity of an invasion, if one occurs, will correlate to the severity of the market’s reaction." The United States and Europe stepped up their warnings of an imminent attack

Chinese technology stocks tumbled in Hong Kong, tracking a slump in US peers and digital assets as traders turned cautious on policy tightening risks and the city recorded the most Covid-19 cases in 18 months. The Hang Seng Tech Index lost 2.8 per cent at the close of Monday trading, the steepest in two weeks as Alibaba Group Holding and JD.com led the pullback for a second day. The Hang Seng Index retreated 1.2 per cent, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index erassed losses to end little changed. Major Asian markets were mixed. Shares in South Korea retreated by 1.5 per cent, while Australian stocks lost 0.5 per cent. The Japanese benchmark rose 0.2 per cent. “The start of Fed hiking cycles tends to pose a modest headwind to Asian equities,” strategists at Goldman Sachs wrote in a report

Chinese electric carmakers Nio and Xpeng saw deliveries dip in January versus December but were still higher compared to a year ago. Xpeng said Tuesday it delivered 12,922 electric vehicles in January, a more than 19% dip from December. But that still represents a 115% year-on-year rise. It’s the fifth straight month that Xpeng has delivered over 10,000 units in a single month. But in November and December, it managed to exceed 15,000 deliveries.As of Jan. 31, Xpeng said cumulative deliveries of its electric cars — the P7, P5, G3 and G3i — surpassed 150,000 units. Both Nio and Xpeng have been grappling with the global chip shortage which continues to plague the auto industry. In an earnings call in July, Xpeng CEO He Xiaopeng said that the global chip shortage remains the “biggest producti

The U.S. economy created far more jobs than expected in January but despite the disruption to consumer-facing businesses from a surge in COVID-19 cases, pointing to underlying strength that should sustain the expansion as the Federal Reserve starts to raise interest rates. The Labor Department's closely watched employment report on Friday also showed a whopping 709,000 more jobs were added in November and December than previously estimated. Wage gains accelerated last month and the labor pool expanded.The upbeat report ended days of anxiety among economists and White House officials who had frantically tried to prepare the nation for a disappointing payrolls number. Strong employment gains, accompanied by the biggest annual increase in wages since May 2020, pave the way for the U.S. centra

Online food delivery group Meituan (3690.HK) led a rout of Chinese technology company shares on Friday, as authorities announced a series of regulatory moves to boost growth while keeping financial risks under control. China's state planner, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), on Friday issued rules to promote a faster recovery from the pandemic in the services sector, including guidance for online food delivery platforms to reduce service fees to help to lower operating costs for catering businesses. Those rules were announced as the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission warned against using the metaverse as a tool for illegal fund-raising, saying that some companies were engaging in illegal fund-raising, fraud, and virtual real estate speculation. Investo

UK lenders HSBC and Standard Chartered, which derive most of their profits in Asia, are trading near two-year highs in Hong Kong, as investors bet higher interest rates globally will bolster their bottom lines. Both lenders, alongside their industry peers, have seen their shares advance since the start of the new year as it became clearer that central banks, from the Federal Reserve to the Bank of England, would need to increase their policy rates to address a rapid rise in inflation.The rapid growth of Western economies as they recover from the coronavirus pandemic, alongside higher fuel costs, have contributed to rising costs of living. Recent government reports showed prices climbed the most in nearly 40 years in the US and by nearly three decades in the UK.Before the pandemic hit in ea

Baidu, Inc. BIDU is scheduled to report fourth-quarter 2021 results on Mar 1.For the fourth quarter, the company expects revenues between RMB 31 billion ($4.81 billion) and RMB 34 billion ($5.27 billion), suggesting a growth rate of 2-12% year over year.The Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues is pegged at $5.15 billion, indicating growth of 11.1% from the year-ago reported figure.Further, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings is pegged at $1.49 per share, suggesting a decline of 51.6% from the prior-year reported figure. The consensus mark has been unchanged for the past 30 says.BIDU beat estimates in all the trailing four quarters, delivering an earnings surprise of 27.6%, on average.Baidu’s fourth-quarter revenues are expected to have been driven by strength in Baidu core owing to

E-commerce sites operated by China's Tencent Holdings Ltd (0700.HK) and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (9988.HK) were included on the U.S. government's latest "notorious markets" list, the U.S. Trade Representative's office said on Thursday. The list identifies 42 online markets and 35 physical markets that are reported to engage in or facilitate substantial trademark counterfeiting or copyright piracy. China-based online markets Baidu Wangpan, DHGate, Pinduoduo, and Taobao also continue to be part of the list, along with nine physical markets located within China "that are known for the manufacture, distribution, and sale of counterfeit goods," the USTR office said. Alibaba said it will continue working with government agencies to address concerns in intellectual property protection across it

Asian shares rallied on Wednesday as fears of a Russian invasion of the Ukraine this week dissipated after Moscow indicated it was returning some troops to base in an apparent de-escalation, delivering investors a measure of relief. The tension between world powers over the Ukraine situation, which has developed into one of the deepest crises in East-West relations for decades, has been front-and-centre of investors' minds. But while the immediate risk of a flare-up in tensions over Ukraine waned, some market watchers warned that save-haven assets could find a renewed bid in the case of new escalations over the conflict. There seems to be a growing belief that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin is leaning on a diplomatic solution and the market has walked back some positioning placed for

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank was ready to raise interest rates in March and didn’t rule out moving at every meeting to tackle the highest inflation in a generation. “The committee is of a mind to raise the Fed funds rate at the March meeting” if conditions are there to do so, Powell told a virtual press conference on Wednesday, while noting that officials have not made any decisions about the path of policy because it needs to be “nimble.”He was speaking after the Federal Open Market Committee concluded its two-day meeting with a statement that declared “it will soon be appropriate to raise the target range for the federal funds rate,” citing inflation well above its 2% target and a strong job market.In a separate statement, the Fed said it expects the process

A decision by Western allies on Saturday (Feb 26) to block "selected" Russian banks from the SWIFT payments system will inflict a crippling economic blow, but also cause much pain to their own companies and banks. And the allies still have room to do more. The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) is a secure messaging system to ensure rapid cross-border payments which has become the principal mechanism to finance international trade.Russian banks denied access to SWIFT will find it harder to communicate with peers internationally, even in friendly countries such as China, slowing trade and making transactions costlier. But the allies, who also vowed curbs on Russian's central bank to limit its ability to support the rouble, have not yet said which banks would

Zhejiang Geely Holding will build a fleet of electric autonomous taxis for Waymo, the self-driving unit of Google parent Alphabet, the automaker said on Wednesday. Geely will supply new minivans developed under its Zeekr luxury electric vehicle brand for the Waymo One autonomous ride-hailing service. The vehicles will be designed at a Geely facility in Sweden, and will later be equipped with Waymo's self-driving platform. The vehicles could be assembled in the U.S. or China, with deliveries slated to begin within the next several years. One of China's top private-sector automakers, Geely seeks to gain access to cutting-edge self-driving technology through the tie-up. It hopes to eventually retail Zeekr vehicles in the U.S. as well. With groupwide sales of about 2.1 million new vehicles in

Short video platform Kuaishou is laying off 30% of its staff, beginning with individuals in the company’s international business division, according to a report from Sina. The reorganization is taking place at a time when major internet companies in China are seeking ways to cut costs and reverse losses. The layoffs were mainly for mid-level employees with an annual salary of RMB 1 million (USD 157,000) or above. The downsizing comes after the social video giant posted an RMB 7.1 billion (USD 1.1 billion) net loss for the third quarter. CEO Cheng Yixiao said during the earnings call that Kuaishou will cut costs in the immediate future. Kuaishou is China’s second largest short video platform. It has been aggressively expanding its overseas operation over the past four years to compete with

Oil prices spiked to their highest levels since 2008 on Monday after Secretary of State Andrew Blinken said the U.S. and its European allies were considering banning imports of Russian oil. The Biden administration has been facing pressure from Congress to impose energy sanctions on Russia, a move that the White House has resisted, citing concerns over their impacts on oil prices. That seemed to change over the weekend, when Blinken said on CNN that the U.S. and allies were looking “at the prospect of banning the import of Russian oil, while making sure that there is a still an appropriate supply of oil on world markets.”Oil prices have climbed more than 25% over the last five sessions alone, the fastest price increase in a decade. Oil Takes Off With Ban on Russian Supplies on the Table Ma

.China's biggest search engine operator, reported an 80% plunge in quarterly profit. This could be due to a slump in advertising revenue, with China's efforts to regulate medical beauty advertisements, which have also hit the advertising industry overall.Still, with a recent slowdown in the pace of new regulatory missives that has stoked market optimism, investors will watch closely for clues on whether the worst is over and executives.On the other hand, Baidu has recently taken the wraps off a “robocar,” an autonomous vehicle with doors that open up like wings and a big screen inside for entertainment. It is a prototype and the company gave no word on whether it would be mass-produced.Baidu has also been running so-called robotaxi services in some cities including Guangzhou and Beijing wh

HSBC annoucced a $2bn share buyback and posted at 74% increase in Q3 earnings, making it the latest global lender to turn bullish on the economic outlook nearly 2 years after the start of the pandemic. Earnings were given a big boost by a $659m release from its reserves for potential bad loans - 85% of which were related to the UK as fears about a wave of company bankruptcies faded and growth rebounded.- HSBC's situation was completely different a year ago when the naml's provision for bad debts exceeded $8bn at the peak of coronavirus lockdowns eventually pushing down annual profit by 45%- HSBC's overall third quater pre tax profit jumped to $5.4bn from $3.1bn beating expectations.- Revenue rose for the first time in 2 yearsThe recovery of one of the world's global lender means that the w

Hong Kong stocks fell on Friday morning as Chinese technology giants from Meituan to Alibaba Group Holdings faltered amid concerns about Chinese companies delisting in the US. The Hang Seng Index retreated 1.1 per cent to 23,517.99 at 10am local time, reversing two days of gains and putting it on track for a weekly loss of 0.9 per cent. The Hang Seng Tech Index declined 1.8 per cent, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.3 per cent. Alibaba sank 2.8% to HK$119.20, deepening a rout as it continues to trade at record low. Food delivery platform operator Meituan declined 3.3%, while online gaming giant Tencent lost 2.5%.The Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday announced its final plan for putting in place a new law that mandates foreign companies open their books to US

China's Geely on Monday launched a new electric semi truck as automakers look to bring new technology to the commercial vehicles market. Geely’s commercial vehicle group, Farizon Auto, is planning to roll out the new Homtruck in 2024 and is targeting international markets too. Geely's Homtruck launch comes as a number of automakers Geely's Homtruck launch comes as a number of automakers from Mercedes owner Daimler to Warren Buffet backed BYD have annouced their own electric trucks. Tesla, one of the biggest player in the EV market which has annouceddits own truck called SEMI in 2017 which has delayed production of that vehicle for sometime.- The homtruck will have different power options including methanol hybrid or pure electric.- The homtruck is built with autonomous driving in mind. Gee

BYD reports 70,022 plug-in car sales in September (Up 276% year over year) which is the 4 record month in the row. The results was four time better than a year ago and plug-ins currently stand for 89%of BYD sales. It just a matter of time before the company will focus 100% for BEVs and PHEVs.BYD car sales breakdown:BEVs : 36,306 (up 197% year over year )PHEVs: 33,716 (up 428% year over year )Total: 70,022 (up 276% year over year)BYD is a company to watch for its high growth and high volume. With 180,587 plug-ins sold , the company is second to only Volksswagen with 196,800 plug-ins sold. Look for BYD to bring its first six-digit number quater for electric vehicles sales with its current growth tragectory.If you are looking to invest in the red-hot EV market, look no further than BYD which

While metaverse hype has swept the world this year, one of China’s tech giants in the game has revealed a version of the virtual ecosystem that’s underwhelming so far. The metaverse can be loosely defined as the next generation of the internet — a virtual world in which humans interact through three-dimensional avatars. Social network giant Facebook jumped into the trend in October, changing its name to Meta and announcing plans for $10 billion in related investments in the next year. China is similarly abuzz with metaverse headlines. Beijing-based Baidu plans to hold its annual developers’ event Monday in the virtual world of its metaverse app, XiRang. The company claims it will be China’s first metaverse conference. Development of the app began last December, but it is still “negative s