Stock Markets

Quotes – As Hong Kong marks 25 years since handover, people discuss highs and lows

Published

1 month ago

June 28, 2022

letizo News

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Quotes - As Hong Kong marks 25 years since handover, people discuss highs and lows

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Hong Kong film director Kiwi Chow poses after an interview with Reuters, in Hong Kong, China June 10, 2022. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu

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HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong has weathered financial crises, mass demonstrations and COVID-19. As the city prepares to mark the 25th anniversary of its handover to Chinese rule, Reuters spoke to five people who described the highs and lows since 1997.

CHARLES LI, FORMER CEO OF HKEX:

“That period (1997) is really a period full of anticipation and much hope that this is the beginning of a very long ride and the best is yet to come.”

“Looking back, it largely has turned out to be the way that we have anticipated.”

“I think the best moment is sometime in April 2014 at Boao [Forum]. There were about two years of hard work prior to that, preparing, negotiating, and everything else for Shanghai-Hong Kong Connect because that’s a transformative milestone for our markets. And for the first time, we were able to connect the two markets together.”

“The lowest moment for me, at least emotionally, probably was the past February and March, when the fifth wave of the pandemic hit … This last one made a lot of people feel that this is almost like the last straw on the camel’s back.”

KIWI CHOW, DIRECTOR OF A DOCUMENTARY, “REVOLUTION OF OUR TIMES”, ON THE 2019 PROTESTS:

“I feel the best scenes post-1997 was the Hong Kong in 2019. It did bring tremendous trauma, but I stress again, there were a lot of beautiful scenes in 2019, there was a lot of brilliance of human nature.”

“The lowest time was also 2019. So it was the best of times, and it was the worst of times. Seeing so many suffer in pain. The images shown in the news and my documentary were only the surface.”

“I hope the Hong Kong in 2047 will be a beautiful Hong Kong, a Hong Kong with freedom, a Hong Kong with a democratic society and the rule of law. This is the dream that has kept me positive and moving forward.”

FRED HU, FOUNDER AND CHAIRMAN OF PRIMAVERA CAPITAL GROUP:

“I still think on the whole it has been a successful journey in terms of the handover, in terms of the ‘one country two systems’,” Hu said, referring to the system that governs Hong Kong since its return to Beijing.

“The best moment was summer 2008 when Beijing hosted the summer Olympics. The games were just spectacular … I also felt a genuine, spontaneous, bottom-up outpouring of emotions for the Chinese nation among Hong Kong’s population, rank and file. In terms of public mood and how Hong Kong felt being part of China, that’s the best moment.”

“No doubt the lowest was the second half of 2019 when the initially peaceful protest degenerated into ugly violence; (and) when a normally super-calm stable city was thrown into turmoil and unrest … I was absolutely appalled by the violence and I was absolutely disappointed by the lack of constructive dialogue and compromises required to restore all the stability sooner than later.”

DAVID CHIN, UBS’s HEAD OF INVESTMENT BANKING FOR ASIA-PACIFIC:

“Starting right after the handover, (it was) the Asian financial crisis,” Chin said, referring to one of the low points for Hong Kong. “I still remember … the stock market dropped by more than 1,000 points a day and then the Hong Kong government had to intervene to protect the peg and the stock market. And then people (would) say ‘that’s the end of Hong Kong as a capitalist market economy’. That was bad.”

“I’m still optimistic, but that is guided by my past 25 years.”

SUM WAN-WAH, FORMER JOURNALIST AND BOOKSHOP CO-FOUNDER:

“During 1997, many said Hong Kong will die but in the end it didn’t. Hong Kong had a rather good development.”

“In the first few years … it was like there was a real ‘one country, two systems’. Hong Kong could keep its original lifestyle and status. To me, those were the best moments.”

“The worst moment of course was after the national security law was implemented. There were many things we could do in the past that we no longer can. Apart from the news, there are many things that will violate the law. The values we believed in are now at risk.”

Stock Markets

Morgan Stanley: bear market rally to continue

Published

3 weeks ago

July 17, 2022

Valentin

One of Wall Street’s best-known bears, Michael Wilson, thinks the S&P 500 will rise another 7% before turning down, so the bear market rally will continue for now, writes Market Watch.

After the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite joined their strongest weekly gains since at least May last Friday, Wilson, who is chief strategist and head of U.S. equity markets at Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), told clients that there could be another 5% to 7% before the downward trajectory of U.S. stocks resumes during the latest bear market recovery.

Wilson has held a bearish view of the stock market for about 2 years and correctly predicted a sell-off this year.

Wilson explained in a research note sent out to clients on Monday that a pullback in the 38-50% drop in the stock market this year “would not seem like something unnatural, not consistent with the previous bear market rally.”

While growth concerns have triggered a sell-off in commodities and lowered inflation expectations, the fact that the U.S. economy is already slowing and heading toward recession means that any market rally is likely to be short-lived, and U.S. stocks are likely to eventually fall.

Wilson mentioned in the note that the bear market is not over yet, although it may appear otherwise in the next few weeks as the market takes the rate cut as a sign that the Fed can still manage a “soft landing” and prevent a meaningful revision to earnings forecasts.

U.S. stocks rose last week as investors now hope the slowing economy and falling commodity prices may inspire the Fed to raise interest rates less sharply. Federal funds futures, a derivative used by investors to bet on the pace of the Fed’s monetary policy changes, estimate with a high probability that the Fed will be forced to start cutting interest rates again as soon as next summer.

They also consider the lower peak in the federal funds rate: it will peak around 3.5% at the end of 2022 instead of 3.75% just a couple of weeks ago. Wilson also pointed out the drop in Treasury yields: the 10-year Treasury bond yield went from 3.230% to a low of 3.07% on Friday before rebonding again on Monday.

Wilson expects the S&P 500 index to fall to around 3,400 points if the U.S. Federal Reserve manages to get a “soft landing” for the economy — which Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said last week would be “a very difficult thing to do.”

Wilson expects that if the U.S. economy plunges into recession, the S&P 500 index will fall to around 3,000 points. In any case, Wilson believes that U.S. stocks are still highly valued because the risk premium — that is, the measure of compensation that investors receive for the extra risk of owning stocks instead of bonds — remains about 300 basis points higher than the 10-year Treasury bond yield, which is considered a “risk-free rate.”

Stock Markets

Easing chip shortages to help Volkswagen in H2 – CEO

Published

1 month ago

June 28, 2022

letizo News

Easing chip shortages to help Volkswagen in H2 - CEO

BERLIN (Reuters) – Volkswagen (ETR:VOWG_p) sees a strong second half of 2022 and expects progress in catching up with rival Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) as easing chip shortages start to offset supply chain bottlenecks and rising costs, the carmaker’s CEO said on Tuesday.

“We are earning more than ever,” Chief Executive Herbert Diess said at a works meeting, adding Volkswagen is ramping up electric vehicle volumes in its biggest markets in Germany and China thanks to easing semiconductor shortages.

This should allow the carmaker to narrow the Volkswagen-Tesla gap this year and meet its goal of becoming market leader by 2025 if it seizes the moment while the U.S. electric car maker burns cash on large investments, the CEO said.

“Elon (Musk) has to ramp up two highly complex factories in Austin and Gruenheide at the same time – as well as expand production in Shanghai. That’s going to take strength out of him,” Diess said.

Stock Markets

Reliance Chairman Mukesh Ambani steps down as director of telecom arm

Published

1 month ago

June 28, 2022

letizo News

Reliance Chairman Mukesh Ambani steps down as director of telecom arm

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries, arrives to address the company’s annual general meeting in Mumbai, India July 5, 2018. REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas

BENGALURU (Reuters) – Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani has stepped down as director of Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, the conglomerate’s telecom arm said on Tuesday.

Reliance Jio said https://refini.tv/3Nrs773 it has appointed Mukesh’s son and non-executive director Akash Ambani as the chairman of its board. Akash has been involved with the telecom unit since its launch in late 2016, where he started as a director.

India’s telecoms sector had been upended after the entry of Jio, which triggered a price war that forced some rivals out of the market and turned profits into losses.

Jio, which started out offering mobile teleservices, has been aggressively investing in services like internet broadband and forging ties with handset makers to launch low-cost smartphones and providing 5G services.