September, 2022

• 20 September

  The supply chains are not broken. Not everywhere!

  

  The world is fretting over the demise of global supply chains and the threat of deglobalisation, with the US trying to lure manufacturing activity back home — or at least closer. Yet supply chains have actually evolved for the better in some places — particularly in Asia — despite all the challenges since 2020 as Covid roiled global trade. The ...

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• 20 September

  Are Thai VCs absorbing all oxygen?

  

  Thailand has a plethora of innovative startups, from artificial intelligence to agricultural technology, but their progress is stymied by a huge problem that threatens the nation’s economic development: Big Business. Corporate-linked investors dominate the nation’s funding scene, said Charle Charoenphan, co-founder of Techsauce, a Bangkok-based startup accelerator and organiser of an annual summit bearing the same name. That’s hurting the ...

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• 20 September

  Small-town sewers get tech-like premiums

    Biotech, social media and cryptocurrencies are the usual hotspots for crazy asset prices. This year, though, one of the highest valuations offered in any US acquisition is for the sewer system of a tiny township in Pennsylvania. NextEra Energy Inc, the world’s biggest utility by market capitalisation, announced in June it was buying the wastewater system of Towamencin township, ...

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• 20 September

  As binary as it gets — Bulls, bears and pivot

    It’s a binary world. To an extreme extent, opinions on the market are divided, and they are split on one key issue: Will the Fed have to “pivot” towards easier monetary policy in the next few months, or won’t it? This question vitiates investment decisions in almost any asset you care to mention. Everywhere you look, choices are contingent ...

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• 20 September

  SoftBank-backed Oyo seeks to resurrect IPO over growth

  

    Bloomberg Oyo Hotels, the once high-flying Indian startup, is reviving plans for a stock-market debut after cost cuts and a recovery in travel helped it reduce losses. The hotel-booking company filed fresh financial documents and is now targeting an initial public offering in early 2023 provided that India’s stock market continues to hold up and economic conditions improve, according ...

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• 20 September

  Adani’s rise to world’s second-richest boosts Indian equities’ clout

  

    Bloomberg Indian billionaire Gautam Adani’s ascent to rank as the world’s second-richest person has helped fuel a world-beating jump in the nation’s stocks and bolstered their clout among emerging-market equities. Eight firms controlled by Adani’s ports-to-power conglomerate, including recent cement acquisitions, have contributed more than a fifth of the 109-member MSCI India Index’s surge since end-June, data compiled by ...

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• 20 September

  Korea’s exports of key memory chip plummet as demand chills

  

    Bloomberg South Korea’s exports of its most lucrative memory chip fell by the most since 2019, indicating a deepening slump in technology demand central to global economic growth. Shipments of dynamic random access memory fell 24.7% from a year earlier in August, compared with a 7% decline in the previous month, according to data released by the trade ministry. ...

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• 20 September

  Sony to open theme-park in Thailand

    Bloomberg Sony Pictures Entertainment will open a theme and water park based on popular characters from films produced by Columbia Pictures next month in Thailand as it seeks to cash in on a rebound in tourism. The Columbia Pictures’ Aquaverse will open on October 11 in partnership with local developer Amazon Falls Co, in Bangsaray, about 90 minutes from ...

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• 20 September

  China’s provinces suffer major fiscal hit from Covid zero

  

  Bloomberg China’s doubling down on its zero-tolerance stance towards Covid-19 is draining local-government coffers, posing a fresh threat to the economy and bond investors. Jilin province, in the northeast of the country, has warned of “increasingly outstanding conflicts” between spending and income. Finances at almost half of its 60 county and district level governments are so tight they are exposed ...

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• 20 September

  Royals, world leaders attend Queen’s funeral

  

  Bloomberg The evocative bugle call of the “Last Post” echoed around a hushed Westminster Abbey as Queen Elizabeth II’s state funeral drew to a close— a poignant mark of remembrance and gratitude for the UK’s longest-serving monarch. After four extraordinary days in which hundreds of thousands of people queued for miles to pay tribute to the Queen at her lying-in-state ...

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