GLOBAL NEWS:-
China’s parliament will vote in March on a new foreign investment law that will ban forced technology transfer and illegal government “interference” in foreign business practices.The Trump administration has accused Beijing of intellectual property (IP) theft and forced IP transfers, demanding change and threatening further tariffs since trade tension flared between two countries last year. China has repeatedly rebutted such accusations.The two sides will hold two days of talks in Washington starting on Wednesday in the highest-level discussions since U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed a 90-day truce in their trade war in December.
To mark the ascension of Japan’s new emperor, the government has declared an unprecedented 10-day holiday from late April to early May, worrying investors, who say a market shutdown could cause disruption and unsettle the yen.Japan usually has a string of public holidays from late April to early May, the so-called the “Golden Week.”But this year, with Crown Prince Naruhito’s being crowned the new emperor on May 1, the government made the entire period from April 27 to May 6 a market holiday.It will be the longest break ever for Japanese stocks and bonds.
Japan’s retail sales rose more than expected in December as consumers increased spending on clothes and home appliances, which may ease some concern about the outlook for private consumption at a time of growing pressure on the economy.The 1.3 percent rise in retail sales in December from a year earlier was more than the median estimate for a 0.8 percent annual increase and followed a 1.4 percent gain in November.Retail sales are a key barometer of the strength of private consumption, which accounts for roughly 60 percent of the Japanese economy.
The United States and China launch a critical round of trade talks on Wednesday amid deep differences over U.S. demands for structural economic reforms from Beijing that will make it difficult to reach a deal before a March 2 U.S. tariff hike.The two sides will meet next door to the White House in the highest-level talks since U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed a 90-day truce in their trade war in December.
People familiar with the talks and trade experts watching them say that, so far, there has been little indication that Chinese officials are willing to address core U.S. demands to protect American intellectual property rights and end policies that Washington says force U.S. companies to transfer technology to Chinese firms.The U.S. complaints, along with accusations of Chinese cyber theft of U.S. trade secrets and a systematic campaign to acquire U.S. technology firms, were used by the Trump administration to justify punitive U.S. tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese imports.
The Federal Open Market Committee will meet as scheduled on Wednesday despite U.S. government offices opening late in Washington due to inclement weather, the Federal Reserve Board said in a statement on Tuesday.The FOMC will release a statement as scheduled at 2 p.m. EST (1900 GMT) and hold a news conference starting at 2:30 p.m. EST (1930 GMT), the Fed said.
South Korea’s purchases of U.S. oil and gas this year will hold to the rapid pace set in 2018, likely narrowing its trade surplus with the world’s top economy further and bolstering its ties to Washington.South Korea is expected in January and February to import at least 18 million barrels of crude oil and 900,000 tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States, according to trade flow data from Refinitiv Eikon.That’s a four-fold increase on oil from a year earlier and a slight drop on LNG, indicating the record U.S. crude and LNG volumes heading into South Korea in 2018 are set to continue, supported by favorable market conditions brought about by increasing oil and gas output in the United States.
Venezuela’s revenues from oil sales to the United States have come under severe threat as sweeping sanctions on Venezuelan state-owned oil firm has sent U.S. buyers scrambling for replacements.The United States on Monday imposed sanctions on Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A., known as PDVSA, to cripple the OPEC member’s oil shipments, which account for nearly all of Venezuela’s exports, in response to the reelection of socialist President Nicolas Maduro, a vote widely viewed as fraudulent.
Washington has recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s head of state.U.S. refineries that depend on Venezuela’s heavy crude are turning to domestic sour crude grades to offset the impact, sending prices to the strongest in about five years, traders said. Other potential alternatives from Canada, Mexico or elsewhere in Latin America are hard to secure amid slowing production, limited spare capacity and transportation bottlenecks.
British lawmakers on Tuesday instructed Prime Minister Theresa May to reopen a Brexit treaty with the European Union to replace a controversial Irish border arrangement - and promptly received a flat rejection from Brussels.Two weeks after overwhelmingly rejecting May’s Brexit deal, parliament backed a proposal intended to send her back to Brussels with a stronger mandate to seek changes that were more likely to win their support.At the same time, they rejected a proposal to give parliament a path to prevent a potentially chaotic ‘no-deal’ exit by making May ask Brussels for a delay if she cannot get a deal through parliament.
Labor strikes at several dozen manufacturers in the Mexican city of Matamoros on the United States border are costing the sector about $50 million a day in unfulfilled international contracts, an industry representative said on Tuesday.The strikes have affected 45 plants since they began on Friday, Luis Aguirre, president of a national board representing exporting manufacturers (INDEX), said in a statement.Matamoros, a city in the northern state of Tamaulipas, is one of Mexico’s top producers of auto parts and electronics.
France on Tuesday rejected any renegotiation of the EU-UK divorce deal and urged Britain to make credible proposals after British lawmakers passed a motion instructing their government to secure changes to a key element of the deal.The lawmakers told May that, for them to accept the divorce deal, she must negotiate to replace the so-called Northern Irish backstop with an unspecified “alternative arrangement”.The backstop is aimed at keeping an open border between EU member Ireland and British-ruled Northern Ireland after Brexit. It is strongly opposed by many in Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservative Party, who say it risks trapping the UK in a permanent customs union with the European Union.
U.S. stock futures and Asian equities eked out modest gains on Wednesday as investors seized on Apple Inc’s earnings and comments from its chief that U.S.-China trade tensions were easing, sending the iPhone maker’s shares soaring in after-hours trade.Sterling smarted from a 0.7 percent fall the previous day after British lawmakers rejected most amendments that sought to avoid Britain leaving the European Union without a deal, reviving worries of a chaotic withdrawal from the European Union.S&P 500 e-mini futures tacked on 0.1 percent in early trade while MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged up 0.05 percentJapan’s Nikkei rose 0.2 percent before erasing gains.
Jitters over global growth and a possible pause to U.S. monetary tightening are expected to set gold prices up for gains in 2019, a Reuters poll showed on Tuesday, but the metal will struggle to break above recent highs.The survey of 36 analysts and traders returned a median forecast for gold to average $1,305 an ounce in 2019, up around 3 percent from last year’s average and a touch higher than forecast in a similar poll three months ago.It predicted prices would average $1,350 in 2020 - just below peaks of $1,374.91 in 2016 and $1,366.07 last year.
Oil prices dipped on Wednesday amid a cloudy outlook for the global economy, but traders said declines were reined in by worries over disruptions to supply from U.S. sanctions on Venezuelan fuel exports.U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $53.28 per barrel at 0255 GMT, 3 cents below their last settlement. International Brent crude oil futures were 6 cents below their last close, at $61.26 per barrel.That followed a 2-percent price jump the previous session, when markets first digested the U.S. sanctions on Venezuela’s oil exports.
More than 24 hours after the United States announced large-scale sanctions on Venezuela’s nationally owned oil company, merchant trading firms and refiners were still deciphering what the measures prohibited.The sanctions, announced on Monday, are aimed at driving President Nicolas Maduro from power, the strongest U.S. measures yet against the socialist president who has overseen economic collapse and an exodus of millions of Venezuelans in recent years.