LBLV Biden pledges to resolve racism issues in the U.S. 2020/02/06

LBLV provides an overview of economic news.


The main economic news for Tuesday, June 2:

1. Biden pledges to resolve racism issues in the U.S.
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden promised black community leaders in Delaware he would earn their support amid nationwide police brutality protests, saying he would create a police oversight board within his first 100 days in the White House. Biden also said he would soon unveil an economic plan to deal with the disproportionate toll on the black and Latino communities from the coronavirus outbreak. Biden explained his economic plan would include components on housing, education and access to capital in the black community. Biden’s appearance was a contrast with the approach of Republican President Donald Trump, who has made no major public statement to address the growing crisis. Furthermore, Trump threatened he will use federal troops to end unrest.

2. UK plans to use its own Emissions Trading System
The United Kingdom has put forward its own Emissions Trading System (ETS) to replace the European Union’s system, which Britain will leave at the end of this year as the Brexit transition period ends. The UK-wide ETS is part of UK’s plan to reach a net zero carbon emissions target by 2050. The system, which will put a cost on carbon pollution to encourage companies to reduce the greenhouse gases they emit, includes plans to cut the emissions cap by 5%, the government said. Unlike the European scheme the British ETS would have a fixed auction reserve price, set at 15 pounds ($18.78) per ton of carbon dioxide. Overall, about one-third of UK emissions and nearly 1,000 UK factories and plants are currently covered by the EU ETS and will continue to be covered by the UK system.

3. Qatar Petroleum orders LNG ships from South Korea
On Tuesday, Qatar Petroleum (QP) announced a $19 billion order for liquefied natural gas (LNG) ships from South Korea, supporting its struggled shipbuilders. Qatar’s state-run LNG producer signed agreements with South Korea’s “Big 3” shipyards on Monday to secure more than 100 ships through 2027, in the largest-ever single LNG vessel order. With an uncertainty on the market, the orders had come at the right time for Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co Ltd, Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings Co Ltd and Samsung Heavy Industries Co Ltd. Shares in the three shipbuilders surged over 20% on Tuesday.

4. Volkswagen funds self-driving startup Argo
Argo AI, the self-driving startup closely linked with Ford Motor Co., raised $2.6 billion investment from Volkswagen AG, completing an expected tie-up with German automaker. VW’s investment includes a $1 billion cash infusion and the adding of its $1.6 billion Autonomous Intelligent Driving unit into Argo. This decision was taken as part of a broader alliance between VW and Ford to jointly develop autonomous and electric vehicles – a partnership first announced last July. The deal vaults the world’s first and sixth largest automakers into the top ranks of a race to deploy fully self-driving cars, along with Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo and General Motors Co.’s Cruise.