CNBC
Global Government Debt Expected To Swell To $71 Trillion In 2022
- According to a new report, global sovereign debt is expected to climb to a whopping $71.6 trillion in 2022, while fresh borrowing is also anticipated to remain high, writes CNBC.
- According to the report, global government debt jumped 7.8% in 2021 to $65.4 trillion, while debt servicing costs dropped to $1.01 trillion, an effective interest rate of just 1.6%.
- However, debt servicing costs are set to rise significantly in 2022, climbing around 14.5% on a constant-currency basis to $1.16 trillion.
Teens Spending More On Shopping, But Concerned About Russia-Ukraine War, Reveals Piper Report
- According to Piper Sandler’s biannual “Taking Stock With Teens” report, teenagers are spending more and shifting their shopping habits, even as they worry about growing economic uncertainty, writes CNBC.
- This year, teenagers plan to spend about $2,367 on everything from fast food meals and video games to handbags and sneakers, Piper Sandler found, or roughly $66 billion.
- That’s up 9% from reported spending levels in the spring 2021 report and up 4% from Piper Sandler’s fall survey.
- The report revealed that the teens are also increasingly concerned about the Russian war in Ukraine and less preoccupied with the Covid-19 pandemic.
Reuters
US Buybacks Reach New Highs Ahead Of Earnings
- Stock buybacks in the United States appear to be breaking new ground as firms prepare for quarterly earnings season, even as some investors are concerned about the mounting threat of inflation, a potential recession, and stagnant share prices.
- According to financial data firm EPFR, Informa Financial Intelligence, new repurchase announcements by U.S. companies reached over $300 billion in the first quarter, with March showing a high year-over-year increase, suggesting buybacks have remained resilient in recent weeks.
Google Backed VerSe Commands $5B Valuation After Latest Funding Round
- Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) Google-backed short-video app Josh’s parent VerSe Innovation has raised $805 million in a funding round.
- The funding has put a $5 billion valuation on VerSe.
- VerSe said the investment would strengthen the AI-powered local language content platform across its family of apps, targeting India’s subsequent billion internet users.
WSJ
SEC Employees Inappropriately Accessed Restricted Legal Records
- According to an agency notice, employees at the Securities and Exchange Commission improperly accessed documents prepared for litigated cases in the agency’s administrative court system, writes Wall Street Journal.
- The disclosure highlights concerns about the independence of the SEC’s in-house court system.
- The SEC’s notice didn’t disclose when the agency identified the breach. The agency has hired an outside consulting firm to investigate the impact on cases.
Bloomberg
Blockchain.com Launches Asset Management Service
- Blockchain.com, which raised a new round of funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners last week with participation from Edinburgh-based Baillie Gifford, valuing the company at $14 billion, has launched an asset-management brand.
- The BCAM service will be available to institutional investors, family offices, and high-net-worth individuals. It was developed with Altis Partners, a futures portfolio management firm.
US and German Authorities Close Longest-Running Darknet Market, Hydra
- U.S. and German officials have seized the so-called world’s largest and most prominent darknet market, which traffics in illicit goods and services.
- The Hydra Market’s servers were shut down, and German police confiscated cryptocurrency wallets containing $25 million worth of Bitcoin.
- In 2021, Hydra accounted for an estimated 80% of all darknet market-related cryptocurrency transactions, and since 2015, the marketplace has received approximately $5.2 billion in cryptocurrency.
Financial Times
Volkswagen To Scrap Dozens Of Models And Focus On Premium Market
- Volkswagen AG (OTC:VWAGY) to discontinue several of its combustion engine models by the end of the decade and sell fewer cars overall to focus on developing more profitable premium vehicles, Financial Times reported, citing the company’s finance chief.
- “The main goal is not growth, it is us [more focused] on quality and margin rather than quantity and market share,” the report quoted CFO Arno Enlitz, reversing the stance taken by former VW executive.
Uber Goes Aggressive In One Of Its Leading Market Following Pandemic Recovery
- Uber Technologies Inc (NYSE:UBER) looks to add long-distance travel bookings to its U.K. app this year, including intercity trains, coaches, and flights.
- Uber aims to expand its ride-booking app into a one-stop shop for travel that could eventually include hotels, including a “seamless door-to-door experience.”
Benzinga
Twitter Restricts Russian State Media Accounts, Prisoner Of War Content
- Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) looks to stop amplifying Russian government accounts, asking other government-affiliated media to remove posts featuring war prisoners.
- Twitter would add warnings to state-backed accounts’ posts about prisoners when they have a “compelling public interest.”
- Twitter would also order the removal of posts about prisoners of war with “abusive intent.”
Intel Exits Russia Over Ukraine Invasion; 1,200 Employees Impacted
- On Tuesday, American chipmaker Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) announced that it had suspended business operations in Russia, joining a slew of companies that decided to exit the country amid the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Army.
- This came after it suspended shipments to customers in Russia as part of U.S. sanctions earlier this year alongside rivals Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD) and Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA).
- “Intel continues to join the global community in condemning Russia’s war against Ukraine and calling for a swift return to peace,” the company said in a release.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX Set To Launch First All-Private ISS Mission With Axiom Space On Friday
- Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk’s SpaceX has said it is now targeting to launch its first all-private mission to the International Space Station on Friday, following a two-day delay.
- Axiom Space Inc’s Ax-1 launch will take place at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 8, SpaceX said on Tuesday.
Users End Up Spending $26M In Ethereum Gas Fees, Trying To Mint VaynerSports NFTs
- The VaynerSports Pass NFT project faced harsh criticism on Tuesday after users spent three times the NFT sale amount on gas fees alone.
- The VaynerSports Pass NFT collection was launched by AJ Vaynerchuk, brother of prominent internet personality Gary Vaynerchuk also known as Gary Vee.
- The widely anticipated public mint went live on Tuesday, but users found themselves paying a cumulative amount of $26 million in gas fees. Meanwhile, the total amount made from the NFT sale was just $8.6 million.
Starbucks To Enter NFT Business This Year, CEO Touts’ Heritage’ Advantage
- Starbucks Corp (NASDAQ:SBUX) plans to get into the non-fungible token (NFT) business before the end of the year.
- Speaking at an Open Forum on April 4, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said “Sometime before the end of this calendar year, we are going to be in the NFT business.”
- Schultz also went on record to state that he believes Starbucks is far better poised than its competitors to take advantage of opportunities in the digital asset space.
Alibaba Down 4.5%, JD Down 4.9%: What’s Driving Hong Kong Markets Lower Today
- Shares of U.S.-listed Chinese tech companies — Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: BABA), JD.Com Inc. (NASDAQ: JD), Tencent Holdings (OTC: TCEHY), and Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ:BIDU— traded in red in Hong Kong on Wednesday (local time).
- The stock of these U.S.-listed Chinese tech giants had a subdued ending in U.S. trading on Tuesday.
- Overall, the Hang Seng Index was trading 2% or 390 points lower at 10:47 a.m. Hong Kong time. The downfall came amid subdued global cues.
Photo via Wikimedia Commons
