elean

GameStop, other ‘Reddit rally’ stocks bounce after selloff, then dip after hours

elean 4 2 月

4 minutes

SINGAPORE (REUTERS) - GameStop and other social media darlings rebounded in calmer trading on Wednesday (Feb 3) from their sharp sell-off in the prior session as investors turned their focus to the possibility of tighter US trading regulations. However, the so-called "Reddit rally" cooled again in after hours trade, as GameStop and AMC Entertainment, the main targets hyped on investment forums, fell. Mass buying over the past two weeks by amateur traders following posts on social media fueled a fierce rally in companies that big hedge funds had bet against, including videogame retailer GameStop and cinema operator AMC. GameStop had soared as high as US$483 (S$643.60) last week, fueled by posts on the Reddit forum WallStreetBets, then dived and on Tuesday fell briefly below US$90. On Wednesday GameStop shares closed up 2.68 per cent at around US$92.41. They seesawed all day but within a range, while shares of AMC rose 14.71 per cent a day after dropping 41 per cent. After the closing bell, GameStop was off 2.61 per cent while AMC dipped 2.23 per cent. Some professional investors bemoaned the volatility and warned that retail investors who piled in could ultimately face big losses. "...

Keppel submits lowest bid for Brazil’s Petrobras platform: Sources

elean 4 2 月

2 minutes

RIO DE JANEIRO (REUTERS) - A consortia led by Singapore's Keppel Shipyard offered Brazil's Petrobras the lowest price to build a floating platform for Buzios, Latin America's second-largest oil field, three people close to the competition said. Keppel offered to build P-78, a 180,000-barrels-per-day production unit that Petrobras plans for its deepwater Buzios field, for 12.52 billion reais (S$3.12 billion), the sources said, asking not to be named as the information is confidential. A winner has not been selected and the result is unclear, the sources said. Petroleo Brasileiro, as Brazil's state-controlled producer is known, declined to comment. Keppel did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Singapore shipyard, which partnered with Hyundai Heavy Industries Holding and Brazil-based BrasFELS shipyard for the bid, beat two Asian competitors, sources said. A consortia led by Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering offered to build the P-78 platform for 14.11 billion reais. Samsung Heavy Industries placed the highest bid, 15.15 billion reais, the people said. The competition marks Petrobras' comeback as a key customer for Asian shipyards, since Petrobras decided to re...

American Airlines warns of 13,000 layoffs as pandemic pain persists

elean 4 2 月

3 minutes

NEW YORK (REUTERS) - American Airlines said on Wednesday (Feb 3) that some 13,000 employees are at risk of furlough when a US aid package for airline workers expires on April 1, blaming slow vaccine rollouts and new international travel restrictions for dampening demand. "We are nearly five weeks into 2021, and unfortunately, we find ourselves in a situation similar to much of 2020," chief executive Doug Parker and president Robert Isom said in a memo to employees which was also included in a regulatory filing. American furloughed 19,000 workers when a previous round of government payroll support ended on Oct 1 but recalled them in December after a fresh US$15 billion (S$20 billion) for the industry through March. Aviation unions are already pushing for another US$15 billion in US payroll assistance to protect jobs through the summer. "The vaccine is not being distributed as quickly as any of us believed, and new restrictions on international travel that require customers to have a negative COVID-19 test have dampened demand," American said, adding that the company will not fly all of its aircraft this summer as planned. United Airlines has sent fresh furlough warnings to 14,000 em...

Air travel’s 2021 rebound threatened by Covid-19 flare-ups, IATA says

elean 4 2 月

2 minutes

PARIS (BLOOMBERG) - Forecasts for a significant recovery in air travel this year could be wide of the mark as new coronavirus strains extend travel restrictions, according to the airline industry's trade body. Passenger traffic may improve by only 13 per cent compared with last year in a worst-case scenario, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said on Wednesday (Feb 3). That compares with an official forecast of a 50 per cent rebound issued in December. Tough curbs on cross-border trips in response to new Covid-19 flareups could stifle a recovery despite strong pent-up demand, IATA chief economist Brian Pearce said in a media briefing. Herd immunity may be required before restrictions are eased, something that could be delayed by the identification of new viral strains. "There's a recovery, but it's a much smaller recovery," Mr Pearce said. "What we've seen in recent weeks is governments taking a much, much tougher, more cautious approach." Passenger traffic fell by almost two thirds last year compared with 2019, IATA said. While the steepest drops came in April, the re-imposition of lockdowns meant the December figure was 70 per cent lower, extending to 85 per cent ...

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, the latest tycoon to pursue his ‘passion’

elean 4 2 月

4 minutes

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Bill Gates set out to heal the world. His Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen bought sports teams. Ted Turner raced yachts. And Donald Trump went into politics. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the world's richest man, plans to build rockets and save the planet. Mr Bezos, 57, is the latest in a line of corporate titans who have stepped away from their day jobs to devote themselves to other activities. Mr Bezos, whose net worth is US$197 billion (S$262.5 billion) according to Forbes magazine, announced on Tuesday he was resigning as chief executive officer of the online retail giant he launched 27 years ago. He said he would remain executive chairman of Amazon but would devote more time to "passions" such as his private space firm Blue Origin and the Bezos Earth Fund, to which he made a US$10 billion donation last year. In stepping away from the executive suite, Mr Bezos is following in the footsteps of other tycoons who temporarily - and in some cases permanently - walked away from running the businesses that made them rich. Mr Gates, 65, and Allen, who died of cancer in 2018 at the age of 65, founded Microsoft in 1975 and built it into the world's leading computer softwar...

Alibaba offers few answers as crackdown uncertainty persists

elean 3 2 月

2 minutes

HONG KONG (BLOOMBERG) - Alibaba Group Holding offered investors few clues into how the regulatory crackdown on Jack Ma's tech empire will impact its future growth after reporting a stronger-than-expected 37 per cent increase in quarterly sales. The e-commerce giant has established a special taskforce to conduct internal reviews and is actively communicating with antitrust regulators on complying with their requirements as investigations continue, Alibaba said on Tuesday (Feb 2). It's also unable to make a complete assessment of how the ongoing "rectification" of affiliate Ant Group will affect its business, according to the statement. The stronger-than-expected earnings may be overshadowed by an ongoing antitrust probe that has already wiped more than US$130 billion (S$173 billion) off the e-commerce giant's value since its October record. Uncertainty began in November when regulators first torpedoed Ant Group's record initial public offering, then launched their investigation into the online retailer. Alibaba's stock has dropped 13 per cent since Ant's aborted debut, the worst performance on Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng Index. The shares in New York fell 3.9 per cent. "Ant Grou...

Alphabet profit rockets, fueled by Google ads

elean 3 2 月

3 minutes

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Google parent Alphabet on Tuesday (Feb 2) reported that its quarterly profit rocketed some 50 per cent to US$15.2 billion (S$20.2 billion) at the end of last year as its digital ad business thrived. Alphabet revenue in the final three months of last year hit nearly US$57 billion, compared with US$46 billion in the same period in 2019, according to the internet titan. The strong quarter "was driven by Search and YouTube, as consumer and business activity recovered from earlier in the year," Alphabet chief financial officer Ruth Porat said in the earnings release. Google is among the technology titans that have flourished as people hunkered down at home due to the pandemic rely on the internet and computing capabilities hosted at datacenters for work, school, shopping and socialising. "All three of Google's main lines of ad business outperformed our forecast, including YouTube," said eMarketer insider intelligence analyst Nicole Perrin. Ad revenue related to online searches was up more than 17 per cent at Google, Ms Perrin noted. Overall, Google took in slightly more than US$46 billion in revenue from digital ads, with US$6.9 billion of that money made from a gr...

Singapore property firms face setback as workers stay at home

elean 3 2 月

4 minutes

SINGAPORE (BLOOMBERG) - Singapore's battered property firms are hitting a snag in their recovery after rising coronavirus infections led to an extension of remote work in the city-state. Shares of commercial developers and real estate investment trusts (Reits) have fallen since authorities announced last month that working from home will remain the default arrangement. The government is trying to minimize the risk of transmission at offices after some cases in the workplace led to community clusters. The move adds to headwinds for developers and Reits, amid questions over what the future holds for offices worldwide even after the pandemic. It will be harder to lease out vacancies and there will be pressure to lower rents if the work-from-home arrangement persists, said Terence Chua, an analyst at Phillip Securities Research Pte. "The new default will cast a pall over occupancies going forward," said Justin Tang, the head of Asian research at United First Partners in Singapore. Mapletree Commercial Trust, which owns Singapore's largest mall VivoCity and a nearby office building in its portfolio, has fallen 3.2 per cent since the Jan 22 announcement. Far East Hospitality Trust has dr...

Asia’s fragile aviation recovery snuffed out by resurgent Covid-19 cases

elean 3 2 月

4 minutes

SINGAPORE (BLOOMBERG) - A fragile recovery in Asian aviation is being snuffed out by a resurgence of Covid-19 cases in the region, pushing back forecasts for when air travel will get back to pre-virus levels and weighing on jet fuel margins. Chinese seat capacity on domestic and international flights has fallen more than 20 per cent from the end of September, when it almost got back to January 2020 levels, according to OAG Aviation, a flight data and analytics provider. People are being encouraged not to travel over the Lunar New Year period, which runs through early March, suggesting capacity may not rise until late this quarter. The rapid rebound in Chinese aviation had been a rare bright spot for jet fuel, which has taken the biggest hit among oil products from the pandemic. The drop in flights is more bad news for Asian refiners that are also struggling with weakening demand for other transport fuels. It's been offset, however, by increased consumption of kerosene due to a colder-than-normal winter. "The depth of the latest Covid-19 spike, its impact on aviation and subsequent consumer demand suggests that the hoped for recovery toward the back end of 2021 may not be as strong ...

Who is Andy Jassy, Amazon’s next CEO?

elean 3 2 月

2 minutes

BENGALURU (REUTERS) - Amazon Web Services (AWS) chief Andy Jassy will replace billionaire founder Jeff Bezos as Amazon.com's next chief executive officer. Here's what we know about the incoming CEO: • Mr Jassy, 53, joined Amazon in 1997, three years after it was founded by Mr Bezos. He has an MBA from Harvard Business School. • "I took my last final exam at HBS, the first Friday of May in 1997 and I started Amazon next Monday," Mr Jassy said in a Harvard Business School podcast in September. "No, I didn't know what my job was going to be, or what my title was going to be. It was super important to the Amazon people that we come that Monday." • Mr Jassy is married to Elana Rochelle Caplan and is the father of two children. He is also a self-proclaimed sports and music fan. • In 2006, Mr Jassy founded Amazon's AWS, Amazon's cloud service platform used by millions of businesses across the world. The service competes with Microsoft's Azure and Alphabet's Google Cloud. Mr Jassy is known for understanding technical details, and he has regularly taken jabs at legacy player Oracle and cloud rival Microsoft, which AWS continues to exceed in sales. • Mr Jassy has occasionally spoken out on s...

S&P 500 posts biggest gain since Nov 24, led by gains in tech shares

elean 2 2 月

3 minutes

NEW YORK (REUTERS) - The S&P 500 registered its biggest daily percentage gain since Nov 24 on Monday (Feb 1) after a steep sell-off last week, and technology-related shares led the advance, while a move by retail traders into silver drove up mining shares. Investors also watched talks over the latest US Covid-19 relief package. The iShares Silver Trust ETF - the largest silver-backed ETF - jumped 7.1%. Silver prices climbed to an eight-year peak of just over $30 an ounce before paring gains. US small-cap miners Hecla Mining Co and Coeur Mining Inc surged. Last week, retail traders drove big gains in companies such as GameStop Corp. GameStop was down 30.8% on Monday. The frenzy may have changed course but is likely to stick around for a while, said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial in Newark, New Jersey. "The fact of the matter is this is a powerful move in the markets, and it's not just going to dissipate," she said. The S&P 500 technology and consumer discretionary sectors, up more than 2% each, gave the S&P 500 its biggest boosts in the broad market rally. Amazon.com, due to report results Tuesday, was among the biggest positive influences, along with...

S’pore wants to grow manufacturing base, attract top players

elean 2 2 月

3 minutes

Singapore is working to grow its strong manufacturing base and attract top players to anchor their operations here, said Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing yesterday. Manufacturing remains a key pillar of Singapore's economy. Building on its existing strengths in the sector, the country aims to expand its capacity and capabilities in emerging areas of growth, such as biomedical science, agri-tech, urban mobility and sustainability. Mr Chan told the media after a visit to biotech firm Illumina that with leading firms in the industry setting up operations - and growing - here, good job opportunities will be available for Singaporeans. Since Illumina set up in Singapore in 2008, it has not only increased its production capacity here but also helped to grow the ecosystem of supporting small and medium-sized enterprises, he added. Mr Chan said the firm is the kind of manufacturing leader that Singapore wants to attract. Illumina has 1,300 staff here, producing specialised products. These include about 95 per cent of global demand for microarray bead chips and 85 per cent of global core sequencing consumables - equipment used in diagnosing medical conditions. "This is what we mea...

1,000 positions set to be filled at firm’s new S-E Asia HQ here

elean 2 2 月

2 minutes

Gaming hardware and fintech firm Razer will hire for about 1,000 positions for its new South-east Asia headquarters at Singapore's one-north technology business park. The firm's chief executive Tan Min-Liang wrote about the decision in a LinkedIn post yesterday morning. It is, however, unclear what type of positions those will be, and whether they will be contract, temporary or full-time positions. Mr Tan also did not mention the firm's timeline for hiring. Razer declined to comment. The Hong Kong-listed company first announced plans for its regional headquarters in December 2018. The $100 million building was expected to have 19,300 sq m of office space, research and development labs, and design studios across seven storeys. Boustead Projects' joint venture company is the developer for the project. Echo Base, a start-up backed by Mr Tan that aims to incorporate next-generation technologies in real estate developments, was announced to be involved in the project as well. Razer currently has an office in Chai Chee industrial estate. The new one-north headquarters was originally expected to be ready for moving in by the middle of last year, but the official opening has been shifted t...

SPH, GfK to debut biennial study measuring S’pore media consumption

elean 2 2 月

3 minutes

Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) has partnered market research company GfK to conduct a new biennial study on media consumption, using a novel single-source approach that combines survey data with digitally collected data. Commissioned by SPH, the study will focus on a more consumer-centric and single-source panel to give a refreshed view of how audiences consume media. It aims to understand the "changes to the audience profile with the proliferation of multiple media platforms, products and formats, with insights that will go beyond just reach and frequency", said SPH in a press statement yesterday . The study will be released in two waves of data that track audience behaviour and changes. SPH is targeting to release the first integrated report, which includes the use of print, radio and digital, in June. A second integrated report is scheduled for release at the end of the year. Some 3,000 individuals will be selected for each of the main surveys to provide data on their print and radio habits. This will be combined with digital data collected by GfK and SPH to result in a broader picture of media consumption. Meanwhile, GfK will offer the industry its own software solution to prov...

Company Briefs: Grab

elean 2 2 月

2 minutes

Grab South-east Asian ride-hailing giant Grab Holdings said yesterday that it has closed a US$2 billion (S$2.7 billion) loan facility, up from the original US$750 million. The term loan was upsized after strong interest from investors, Grab said, adding that the interest margin rate was lowered by 100 basis points from the original launch guidance. Structured as a five-year term loan B, this makes it the largest term loan B facility in the Asian technology sector. The loan would be used to finance corporate activities and diversify its financing resources. THE BUSINESS TIMES Asos British online fashion group Asos has bought brands including Topshop from collapsed retail giant Arcadia, administrators said yesterday, under a deal which could put 2,500 jobs at risk. Administrator Deloitte said that Asos has sealed the purchase of key brands Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge and HIIT for £330 million (S$603 million). However, the deal will not include retail stores and therefore casts a shadow over the future of 2,500 jobs, according to a source. About 300 employees across design, buying and retail partnerships will transfer to Asos, Deloitte added. AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE HNA Group China's...

Blank-check company craze that’s taken Wall Street by storm now spreading to Asia

elean 1 2 月

3 minutes

HONG KONG (BLOOMBERG) - A raft of funds and financiers in Asia is leveraging their deal-sourcing capabilities and understanding of US capital markets to jump on one of the hottest bandwagons on Wall Street - special-purpose acquisition companies or SPACs. Among them are former Deutsche Bank and Lehman Brothers banker Joaquin Rodriguez Torres, who is now talking with more than a dozen companies in the region for his SPAC Poema Global Holdings that just raised US$345 million (S$458.6 million). Others diving into the action include LVMH-backed L Catterton's Asia unit, Hong Kong tycoon Richard Li, Singapore-based health-care entrepreneur David Sin and former hedge fund manager George Raymond Zage. "Asia is the next big treasure trove for SPAC candidates," said MR Torres, co-founder of investment fund Princeville Capital. "Funds that have expertise in both companies operating in Asia and how US capital markets work hold significant advantage." Known as blank-check companies, SPACs raise money from investors and then look to acquire another business, usually a private one. A record 248 SPACs debuted on US exchanges in 2020, raising nearly US$83 billion, and at least 93 have already begun...

GameStop: US senators call for action against hedge funds as Wall Street braces for more market mayhem

elean 1 2 月

5 minutes

WASHINGTON (AFP, REUTERS) - Progressive US senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren called on Sunday (Jan 31) for action against what they said were the Wall Street abuses by hedge funds revealed by the recent frenzy over GameStop shares. "We need an SEC investigation," Ms Warren told CNN, referring to the federal Securities and Exchange Commission. "What's happening with GameStop is just a reminder of what's been going on on Wall Street now for years," the Democratic senator said. "It's a rigged game, and it's been a set of players who come in and manipulate the market." Amateur investors who organised over Reddit and other online forums have in recent days targeted shares of companies including GameStop that had been "short-sold" by hedge funds in a bet that the price of the shares would fall. The Reddit group's tactics caused massive spikes in share prices. The SEC said on Friday that it was "closely monitoring and evaluating the extreme price volatility of certain stocks' trading prices" and would "act to protect retail investors when the facts demonstrate abusive or manipulative trading activity that is prohibited" by federal law. But Ms Warren called for more decisive act...

Singapore retail investors to vote on fate of struggling shipping firm PIL

elean 1 2 月

4 minutes

SINGAPORE (BLOOMBERG) - Creditors to distressed Singapore shipper Pacific International Lines will vote on Monday (Feb 1) on a restructuring deal that involves a capital injection from a unit of Temasek Holdings. It's an important day for investors who oppose the plan like Singapore businessman Kuah Ann Thia, an unsecured noteholder - the most vulnerable in the bond world. He and other individual investors hold parts of PIL's $60 million security that came due in November but which the shipper hasn't repaid. Mr Kuah had initially felt relief last year when he heard that the Temasek unit was providing a US$600 million (S$798 million) package comprising debt and equity to PIL. But he said he became worried when he saw the company's restructuring plan. Under the so-called scheme of arrangement, it could be at least five years before unsecured noteholders saw actual cash payments, according to presentation materials. In contrast, some secured lenders like banks could get payments for their claims subject to the company having sufficient excess cash. PIL said in May last year it received an in-principle approval from a majority of its financial lenders, constituting 97.6 per cent of the...

HSBC, banks repayment hopes fade with Hin Leong liquidation plan

elean 1 2 月

2 minutes

SINGAPORE (BLOOMBERG) - HSBC Holdings and other global banks owed US$3.5 billion (S$4.66 billion) by Hin Leong Trading may recoup less than expected from the collapsed Singapore oil trader after a sale process failed to attract bids for the company. Hin Leong's court-appointed managers plan to file an application next week to wind up the company after three potential bidders walked away from the process to buy Hin Leong and two related companies as a combined entity, according to a letter PricewaterhouseCoopers sent to creditors this week that was seen by Bloomberg. Assets of Hin Leong's sister companies Ocean Tankers Ltd. and Xihe Holdings may still draw interest from potential bidders, according to the letter. Banks including HSBC and DBS Group Holdings were already facing recoveries of pennies on the dollar following one of the largest corporate collapses ever in Singapore. An acquisition of Hin Leong and Ocean Tankers and Xihe Holdings as a combined entity would have eased the pain for lenders and helped them recover more than the firm's US$257 million in estimated assets. The liquidation of a company usually results in a fire sale of its assets, which raises less than a formal...

Skyscrapers lose lustre for Japanese companies during Covid-19 pandemic

elean 1 2 月

3 minutes

TOKYO (BLOOMBERG) - Japan's decades-long love affair with status-symbol office towers is now fading, as the pandemic upends work styles and puts a strain on company finances. In a country where companies have long taken pride in owning their buildings, advertising agency Dentsu Group and logistics firm Nippon Express are now considering selling their Tokyo headquarters. Avex, an entertainment company, also plans to offload its head office in the Japanese capital. Companies around the world are paring office space as workers stay at home during the pandemic, giving firms an opportunity to save costs and raise cash. In Tokyo, office vacancies have surged to a five-year high and may continue to climb as the government urges people to work remotely to curtail the latest wave of coronavirus cases. "Not many companies in Japan have sold headquarters buildings before, but we may see more of it," said Kakyu Tanaka, a senior researcher at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Research Institute. Firms that are faced with tough business prospects but have room to reduce office space through remote work may do so, he said. With thousands of its employees working from home, Dentsu is looking to sell its 48-fl...

Copyright © 2020 ASEANPR.Com All rights reserved.