Storms, market optimism, and the return of the EV pricing war marked this week. China’s leading stock index increased this week for the first time since July as Beijing continued to provide support. In the wake of Super Typhoon Saola, Hong Kong is chopping down trees, and the Indian space agency is focusing on the sun.
Beyond Beijing’s additional steps to support the financial system, there is a new reason to be upbeat. Chinese companies’ profits in the damaged consumer and technology sectors have outperformed expectations, raising hopes that the comeback may not be another false dawn.
What you need to know about China’s downturn is provided here. And this is how the United States and its allies are profiting from the misstep.
Xi Jinping might forego the G-20 meeting, which will be held in New Delhi next week, for the first time in ten years. A rejection by the Chinese president, who just won by enlarging the rival BRICS bloc, would fuel concerns that China’s foreign policy is becoming even more muddled.
Let’s discuss something different now.
Sorry, that was Ernie, the brand-new AI chatbot from Baidu, trying to change the subject anytime something politically contentious came up. Read about the march of China’s recently revealed plethora of ChatGPT competitors.
After a successful moon landing last month, India is preparing to launch its first solar monitoring mission today. To go roughly 1% nearer to the sun, Aditya-L1 will journey for more than four months. From there, it will research how solar activity affects the Earth.
EVs have had a significant week. For those who hanker after a 17-speaker sound system, Tesla presented a much-needed redesign of its Model 3 and soon after lowered prices. Meanwhile, Chinese competitors are entering Germany’s top auto show.
For the IPO of chipmaker Arm, SoftBank is rumored to have lined up a who’s who of tech titans as strategic investors, including Apple, Nvidia, Intel, Samsung, and Google.
There is a new leader in Singapore. Tharman Shanmugaratnam, a former deputy prime minister, received more than 70% of the votes because islanders refused to let recent political scandals deter them from voting for him.
A frontline of conflict between big IT and big oil has emerged in the worldwide talent competition. Read about the new brain drain in the energy sector.
Recall NFTs? A Singapore-based collector spent $69 million for a non-fungible token of a digital work by Beeple (real name Mike Winkelmann) just two years ago. NFTs were then the upcoming big thing in crypto. Not so much anymore. But at least the NFT technology is gaining popularity in the world of luxury. Blockchain can now identify phony Miu Miu bags for you.
