LBLV Japan's exports rise to highest level in a decade 2021/20/05

LBLV provides an overview of economic news.


The main economic news for Thursday, May 20:

0:00 Founder of internet giant ByteDance resigns as CEO
1:02 Stock markets lose ground as Fed hints at change
2:00 Japan's exports rise to highest level in a decade
2:52 Oil falls over rising inventories and Iran talks

1. Founder of internet giant ByteDance resigns as CEO
Zhang Yiming will step down as CEO of Chinese internet giant ByteDance, which owns TikTok, leaving the task of managing the growing number of Big Tech rules around the world to former roommate, long-time colleague and current head of human resources Liang Rubo. In a memo released by the company on Thursday, Zhang said the change "will allow me to have more influence on long-term initiatives" as he moves into a "key strategic" role at the end of the year. Zhang, who turned ByteDance into a powerful social network, said in the memo that he was not a social person and did not have the skills of an ideal manager. He also accused the CEO of having his day-to-day tasks get in the way of research and innovation. Zhang owns between 20% and 30% of ByteDance and has more than 50% of voting rights.

2. Stock markets lose ground as Fed hints at change
Stock markets struggled to develop on Thursday after a nervous session on Wall Street, where cryptocurrencies collapsed and a hint of a credit cut by the US Federal Reserve led to a sell-off in the bond market. The broadest index of Asia-Pacific equities outside Japan, MSCI, fell 0.04%, but Japan's Nikkei index rose 0.43%. Euro Stoxx 50 futures rose 0.64%, along with other indices, indicating a positive start to the European session. US stock futures were unchanged. On Wall Street overnight, the S&P 500 closed 0.3% lower and the Nasdaq ended unchanged, a sort of recovery after each fell more than 1.6% during the session. The minutes of Wednesday's Fed meeting said that "a number" of officials believe that if the economic recovery continues, it would be appropriate "to begin discussing a plan to adjust the pace of asset purchases".

3. Japan's exports rise to highest level in a decade
Japan's exports jumped again, rising by more than a third in April from last year's dismal levels, as a recovery in global trade provided a needed boost to an economy that had stalled domestically amid new waves of the coronavirus. Exports in April were up 38% year-on-year thanks to a surge in shipments of cars and auto parts, according to the country's Finance Ministry. Experts had forecast an average growth of 30.9%. Shipments to the US and Asia grew the most since 2010, while those to the EU grew the most since 1980, according to a ministry official. While this data gives an overstated view of the strength of exports as it is based on comparisons with the dreaded 2020s figures, the report does show a recovery in trade, which is an important positive for the global economy and Japan.

4. Oil falls over rising inventories and Iran talks
Benchmark crude prices are rising in trading on Thursday after falling to a more than three-week low a day earlier on data on a rise in US fuel inventories. July Brent crude futures are quoted at $66.88 a barrel, up 0.33% from the previous session's close. June WTI crude futures were at $63.61 a barrel on Thursday, up 0.39%. Both futures fell about 3% overnight. According to the US Department of Energy, oil inventories in the country increased by 1.32 million barrels during the week. Experts on average predicted a 1.6 million barrel increase in stocks. Turmoil in the oil market is also intensifying amid worsening COVID-19 situation in some Asian regions and growing rumors of renewed nuclear deal with Iran.