Asian equities decline, snapping four-day rally
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Stocks in Asia fell on Thursday for the first time in five sessions as the rally on Wall Street sparked by US-China trade talks showed signs of exhaustion.Japanese and Australian stocks edged lower, while a gauge of US-listed Chinese companies climbed 1.2% on Wednesday. Tencent Holdings Ltd.'s revenue grew at its fastest pace in more than three years.US futures were slightly lower after the S&P 500 rose 0.1%, while the Nasdaq 100 gained 0.5%, helped along by an advance for Nvidia Corp that wiped 2025 losses for the chipmaker.An index of the dollar rose Wednesday, reversing selling pressure earlier in the session as Bloomberg News reported the US is not working to include currency policy pledges in trade accords. Gold steadied on Thursday after falling 2.3% to a one-month low in its previous session. Oil fell for a second day after a government report showed US crude inventories rose the most in two months.The moves reflected a note of caution to a week marked by a sharp rebound in risk assets fueled by progress in trade talks and economic resilience. The nascent US-China trade truce, a UK pact and high-profile Gulf deals have reassured investors, yet lurking in the background is the worry that stocks get so extended that they're vulnerable to surprises.'As trade tensions ease, investors are pivoting back to fundamentals, but they may not like what they see,' said Mark Hackett at Nationwide. 'The market has raced from oversold to overbought in record time. That limits near-term upside unless we see a clear re-acceleration in growth.'In further signs of thawing trade tensions, China on Wednesday suspended curbs on exports of rare earths and other goods and technologies for military use. The move follows an agreement by the Asian nation and the US to temporarily lower tariffs levied against each other's products and will last for 90 days, China's Ministry of Commerce said in a statement.Elsewhere, traders will be watching for further moves in the won after a report that the US and South Korean governments discussed currency policies this month. The won jumped more than 1% and neighboring currencies, including the Japanese yen, also rose.Data set for release in the region includes trade for India and Indonesia, money supply for South Korea, and employment for Australia.Selling in US government debt across the curve sent the 10-year yield seven basis points higher to around 4.54%, around the highest in a month, as Federal Reserve rate-cut bets receded.Fed Bank of Chicago President Austan Goolsbee said that it's important for central bankers not to respond to day-to-day volatility in equities and economic policy pronouncements, noting that economic data remain steady for now. Fed Vice Chair Philip Jefferson said tariffs and related uncertainty could slow growth and boost inflation this year, but monetary policy is well positioned to respond as needed.'Fed vice chair Jefferson's speech today leans a little dovish after a run of more hawkish commentary from Fed officials, signaling that the Fed leadership is (sensibly) wary of calling the all-clear on downside risk even after US-China de-escalation,' said Krishna Guha at Evercore.The modest advance for US stocks on Wednesday covered up a broadly down day for most sectors. Big tech was the key exception, alongside a mix of individual names. Boeing Co. rallied on its largest-ever deal after Qatar Airways placed an order for long-range jets during a visit to Doha by Donald Trump.To Rick Gardner at RGA Investments, the stock-market rally has legs.'The trade negotiation with China was seemingly the toughest one on the docket, and the idea that there has been this much progress on the negotiations over such a short period of time, suggests that a resolution may be on the horizon,' he said.
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Time of India
37 minutes ago
- Time of India
China leaders take reins at TikTok Shop in US as sales miss goal
ByteDance Ltd., TikTok 's parent company, has been replacing US-hired staff near Seattle with leaders connected to China, aiming to replicate its e-commerce success in Asia after sales fell short in America. TikTok Shop initially set a goal to increase its US e-commerce business tenfold last year to $17.5 billion in transaction volume, but the company had to drastically lower that goal, according to people familiar with the plan who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk publicly. TikTok established its Shop business in the Seattle area near Inc., the online retail giant it was aiming to displace. Meetings that used to be held in English are now often conducted in Mandarin and managers increasingly write in Chinese when communicating on Feishu, ByteDance's internal Slack-like app, with English-speaking staff forced to rely on the built-in translation function. More than 100 TikTok Shop employees in the US have been fired or have left amid confusion between leaders that has worsened the work environment, according to people familiar with the company. The cultural transition taking place in the company coincides with its fight for survival in the US — due mainly to the app's Chinese ties. A national security law passed by Congress last year requires TikTok's US business to be spun off from its Chinese parent company or it will face a ban. Lawmakers warned that TikTok's ties to China pose a threat to the safety and security of American users. President Donald Trump has twice delayed the ban — with legal assurances from his attorney general — and another deadline for divestiture looms later this month, though that might also be extended, Wall Street Journal has reported. ByteDance has said it doesn't intend to sell. The TikTok Shop near Seattle in February began requiring workers to be in the office five days a week for eight hours a day, according to a memo reviewed by Bloomberg. The change is in contrast to some other major tech companies that still offer flexible work schedules, and has been particularly burdensome for employees who often join late-night calls with colleagues in Asia after they leave the office, according to former employees. US-based staff require human resources and manager pre-approval to work from home. The changes were introduced after Bob Kang, China-based global head of TikTok's e-commerce division, visited the office in Bellevue, Washington, earlier this year and found there weren't enough staff pressent on a work day, according to multiple people who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. Increasing influence Increasing Chinese influence over TikTok's fastest-growing business may raise questions about its previous corporate promise to distance the US operation from China. After Trump initially tried to ban the app during his first term, the company announced a security plan dubbed 'Project Texas' and vowed to wall off the app's US data and operations from any Chinese oversight. TikTok Shop is the biggest source of revenue for the video-sharing app besides advertising, and it has become a major investment area for ByteDance. Adding full-scale commerce to its eye-catching content and popular influencers sets it apart from rivals like Instagram and YouTube. The company still aims to challenge Amazon in major markets. To better compete, TikTok Shop recruited aggressively near Seattle over the past three years, targeting people with experience at Amazon, according to a review of Linkedin profiles and people who worked at both companies. In some corners of TikTok's Bellevue office of roughly 1,000 employees, the workflow felt like a remix of previous Amazon teams, the people said. But since January, growing tension in the teams below Kang and Nico Le Bourgeois, who oversaw TikTok's e-commerce operations in the US, became a distraction for staff who were often unsure about whose orders to follow, the people said. TikTok's uncertain fate in the US also weighed on morale. The company carried out a round of layoffs in April. A second batch followed in May. In the first round, Le Bourgeois was demoted when Mu Qing, a Chinese executive from ByteDance's e-commerce platform Douyin moved to the Seattle area to run TikTok Shop in the US. After the second bout, Mu sent an internal message saying Le Bourgeois was leaving to pursue other opportunities, according to a copy of the message seen by Bloomberg. 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First Post
38 minutes ago
- First Post
The Deng doctrine: How China weaponises rare earths to gain leverage in trade war with the US
China has signalled for more than 15 years that it was looking to weaponise areas of the global supply chain, a strategy modelled on longstanding American export controls Beijing views as aimed at stalling its rise. read more China has long indicated its intention to weaponise parts of the global supply chain—a strategy now visibly playing out through tighter control of rare earth exports. Modelled on longstanding US export restrictions that Beijing believes are designed to limit its technological rise, China is now turning similar tools to its own advantage. The recent rush by companies to secure export licences for rare earth materials, culminating in a phone call between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday, highlights how Beijing has refined a powerful lever in the ongoing trade war. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Industry experts say China may approve more shipments in the near term but it has no plans to dismantle the new system underpinning those approvals. Instead, China's new export licensing regime, closely mirroring the US model grants the government deeper visibility into global supply chokepoints including critical sectors such as electric vehicle motors and precision systems used in missiles. This level of control offers Beijing a potent means to retaliate in the trade dispute while asserting dominance in strategically vital markets. China sharpens rare earth export controls in trade war playbook As relations between the two countries sour and supply chains fracture, both Washington and Beijing appear determined to shift from broad tariffs to more focused, technical barriers—ones that could have lasting implications for industries worldwide. 'China originally took inspiration for these export control methods from the comprehensive U.S. sanctions regime,' Zhu Junwei, a scholar at the Grandview Institution, a Beijing-based think tank focused on international relations told Reuters. 'China has been trying to build its own export control systems since then, to be used as a last resort.' After a phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping, President Trump said the two leaders were 'straightening out some of the points,' particularly regarding rare earth magnets—key components in electric vehicle (EV) motors and high-tech weaponry. But Trump did not confirm whether Beijing had agreed to speed up export licensing, a sticking point since Washington imposed restrictions on chip design software and jet engines over what it calls China's deliberate slow-walking of approvals. China, which holds a near-monopoly on rare earth magnets, added some of the most advanced types to its export control list in April. 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In 2022, the United States imposed broad curbs on chip and semiconductor tool exports to China, aiming to slow the country's military and AI advancements. But analysts say Beijing has continued to make headway despite those barriers. In retaliation, China has steadily expanded its export controls. Last year it imposed licensing requirements for gallium, germanium, and certain graphite products—vital inputs for defence, electronics, and green technologies. Shipments of these minerals to the U.S. were banned outright in December. Then in February, China added five more metals to its control list. Now, following a phone call between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, attention has turned to whether China will ease its latest rare earth export curbs. But analysts warn of a lack of transparency. 'It's virtually impossible to know what percentage of requests for non-military end users get approved because the data is not public and companies don't want to publicly confirm either way,' said Cory Combs, an analyst at China-focused consultancy Trivium. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The opaqueness of Beijing's process and its expanding powers over chokepoint materials are reinforcing Western concerns that supply chains are becoming geopolitical battlegrounds. With inputs from agencies
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Formula 1 sponsorship revenue over $2B in 2024, closing on NFL
HighlightsFormula 1 achieved $2.04 billion in sponsorship revenue in 2024, making it the second highest behind the National Football League, which garnered $2.5 billion. The most significant individual sponsorship agreement for Formula 1 is the 10-year, $1 billion deal with luxury conglomerate LVMH, which includes brands such as TAG Heuer, Louis Vuitton, and Hennessy. Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull, and McLaren are the leading teams in terms of sponsorship earnings, with car and driver technology contributing nearly $500 million in partner income for all Formula 1 teams. Formula 1 is hot on the tail of the big dog of professional sports marketing , the NFL , and cleared $2.04 billion in sponsorship revenue in 2024. SponsorUnited, which tracks sponsorship and advertising takes across sports, had F1 and its teams behind only the NFL at $2.5 billion in total sponsorship revenue. The total advertising spend for F1 in 2025 is on course to exceed $2.5 billion, according to Ampere Analysis. But major U.S. sponsors such as American Express and IBM still are flowing in with the circuit catapulting in popularity off the success of Netflix series "Drive to Survive" while thriving under the control of Liberty Media. F1 tops the NBA, MLB and NHL and its racing teams each accounted for more than $6 million, according to the report, which breaks down the airbox and sidepod ad placement cost at more than $5 million for the most popular drivers on the circuit. Tops among individual sponsor agreements with F1 is the 10-year, $1 billion pact with luxury conglomerate LVMH, which holds a portfolio anchored by TAG Heuer, Louis Vuitton and Hennessy. The largest sponsor for any F1 team is the Williams contract with Australian software corporation Atlassian valued at a reported $25 million to $30 million per year. On the NFL side, the most significant singular sponsorship commitment is with Pepsi. That contract is worth a reported $2 billion over 10 years for exclusive rights at all NFL events and use of the league's trademark in advertising. With F1, Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren are the highest earners in the sponsorship category. Car and driver technology accounts for nearly $500 million in partner income for the 10 teams, according to the report.
