The Poon Report
News Summary
An almost convincing Delaware-crypto-filing scam
Taken from FT Wednesday, 15 November 2023
No, BlackRock is not creating a iShares XRP fund
Ah, Delaware . . . along with decent beaches and the fading glamour of the DuPont dynasty, the state is known for being a cheap and cheerful venue for registering companies in relative privacy.
It isn’t so private that someone can register a company under false pretences without getting referred to state prosecutors, however. A spokesperson for the Delaware Department of State said Tuesday that it has referred what appears to be a faked iShares filing to the state’s Department of Justice.
The fake filing in question looks like it’s related to — what else? — a crypto scam.
This all started late Monday afternoon when the following listing, which appeared to be from BlackRock Advisors, started making the rounds on social media.
It was for a company called the iShares XRP Trust. Now, it was easy enough to log on to Delaware’s corporate registry and confirm that this filing did really exist, and that BlackRock Advisors’ Daniel Schwieger was listed as the registered agent.
But a BlackRock representative told Alphaville (along with others) that the company had not filed for an iShares XRP Trust.
US stocks and bonds jump after inflation falls to 3.2%
Taken from FT Wednesday, 15 November 2023
Annual rise in consumer price index slows more than economists had forecast
US inflation fell more than expected to 3.2 per cent in October, the first decline in four months, prompting Treasury yields to fall sharply and Wall Street stocks to climb.
Tuesday’s consumer price data compares with a 3.7 per cent rise in the 12 months to September. The 3.2 per cent year-on-year figure was also marginally below expectations of 3.3 per cent.
The yield on the rate-sensitive two-year Treasury, which moves inversely to prices, was down 0.21 percentage points at 4.83 per cent on Tuesday evening in New York. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury dropped to a three-month low of 4.43 per cent before retracing some of that move to be down 0.18 percentage points at 4.45 per cent.
The S&P 500 rose 1.9 per cent, its biggest one-day jump since April. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 2.4 per cent.
The dollar was 1.5 per cent weaker against a basket of six other major currencies.
Cathie Wood Predicts Deflation to Take Hold in US Next Year
Taken from Yahoo Finance (Bloomberg) Wednesday, 15 November 2023
Cathie Wood said that deflation is already underway in the US across industries and will force the Federal Reserve to kick off a big interest-rate cutting cycle.
“The Federal Reserve has overdone it, we’re going to see a lot more deflation going forward,” the head of ARK Investment Management told Bloomberg TV Tuesday. “If we’re right, and they’ve gone way too far, they’ll have to cut fairly significantly.”
She added that the CPI inflation rate could turn negative “at some point next year.” US inflation broadly slowed in October, which markets cheered as a strong indication that the Fed is done raising interest rates. The aforementioned data was released Tuesday.
Wood’s prediction clashes with the consensus on Wall Street. Economists expect annual inflation to tick down to 2.7% next year from 3.2% in October, according to a Bloomberg survey.
Suella Braverman claims Rishi Sunak ‘repeatedly failed’ on immigration
Taken from FT Wednesday, 15 November 2023
Stinging letter comes a day after she was dismissed as UK home secretary
Suella Braverman has accused Rishi Sunak of a “betrayal” of his pledge to “stop the boats” in a blistering attack on the UK prime minister ahead of the Supreme Court’s decision on the government’s flagship migration policy.
The former home secretary lashed out at Sunak a day after he sacked her from the cabinet, criticising him for “equivocation, disregard and a lack of interest” in key policy areas, including tackling irregular migration.
In an extraordinary letter to the prime minister posted on the social media site X, she also revealed details of a secret deal she claimed he signed while courting her support during the second Conservative party leadership contest last year.
The letter puts pressure on Sunak ahead of the Supreme Court verdict on Wednesday on whether UK plans to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda are lawful. The Rwanda policy is the linchpin of the government’s strategy to curb migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats.
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Thai investor set to take control of Selfridges Group
Taken from FT Wednesday, 15 November 2023
Central Group will be the retailer’s majority owner after a financial crisis at Signa
Thai investor Central Group is set to take control of the company behind London’s upmarket department store Selfridges, amid a financial crisis at its Austrian co-owner Signa.
Central Group, owned by the Chirathivat family, on Tuesday said it will become the majority owner of Selfridges Group — which also includes retailers De Bijenkorf in the Netherlands, as well as Brown Thomas and Arnotts in Ireland — after it converted a loan into equity. Central and Signa bought the group for £4bn almost two years ago.
The outcome comes after the pair earlier this year replaced a €354mn loan from Julius Baer, the Swiss bank, with a short-term shareholder loan of €364mn at the end of August.
Joe Biden to make controversial human rights trade-off as price for China’s help tackling fentanyl crisis
Taken from The Telegraph Wednesday, 15 November 2023
US president set to lift sanctions against police involved in crackdown on Uyghur Muslims in deal with Xi Jinping over opioid epidemic
Joe Biden is set to lift sanctions on a police unit that monitors Chinese Uyghurs in exchange for a crackdown on fentanyl exporters, in a controversial deal to be agreed with Xi Jinping.
The US president and his Chinese counterpart will hold a bilateral meeting in the margins of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit in San Francisco on Wednesday – their first face-to-face engagement in a year.
Washington has asked China to crack down on exporters who send fentanyl or its components to suppliers in Mexico, who then traffick the drug into the United States.
In return, Beijing has asked the US government to end its sanctions on China’s forensic police institute, which has been accused of running mass surveillance on the Muslim Uyghur people in Xinjiang province.
New GOP Speaker Needs Democrats’ Help to Avert Shutdown
Taken from WSJ Wednesday, 15 November 2023
Party leaders are confident of passage of short-term spending bill despite opposition from holdout Republicans
House lawmakers were on track to pass a Republican proposal to temporarily extend government funding and avoid a partial shutdown this weekend, with Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) counting on a wave of Democratic votes to offset GOP defections.
GOP leaders expressed confidence they could thread the needle to passage, with many lawmakers on both sides of the aisle showing little appetite for brinkmanship and opting to push off fights over issues including the border, federal spending levels and Ukraine funding. One wrinkle: The measure will require a two-thirds supermajority for approval, after Johnson was forced to use a special procedure to bypass internal GOP opposition.
Just ahead of the vote, set for later Tuesday, Democratic leaders threw their support behind the plan, saying it avoided “harmful cuts and…extreme right-wing policy riders.”
JD.com Earnings Could Boost the Bull Case for China.
Taken from MarketWatch Wednesday, 15 November 2023
JD.com ‘s next earnings report, slated for Wednesday, could reinforce the bullish investment case on China at a challenging time for the world’s second-largest economy. The e-commerce group is expected to post third-quarter sales growth in a tough economic environment.
JD.com (ticker: JD) is expected to post earnings of 5.87 Chinese yuan (81 cents) on revenue of 247 billion yuan ($34 billion) in the third quarter, based on the estimates of analysts surveyed by FactSet. If the company delivers revenue in line with expectations, that would represent sales growth of 1.5% year over year.
While 1.5% annual sales growth isn’t spectacular—and far from the double-digit percentage growth investors have seen in years past—it isn’t too shabby either, considering the backdrop. China’s economy has slowed, and that has weighed on consumers, with retail sales falling and even deflation taking hold.
Investors raise pressure over ‘forever chemicals’ amid growing litigation
Taken from FT Wednesday, 15 November 2023
Personal injury claims could reach $66bn in crisis akin to asbestos liabilities
Investors are stepping up pressure on companies to end the production and use of hazardous “forever chemicals” amid concerns over increasing litigation and regulatory scrutiny.
More than 50 investment firms representing $10tn in assets will write on Wednesday to the world’s biggest producers of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS, to demand a “time-bound phaseout plan”, increased transparency on production and greater investment in safer alternatives.
“Manufacturers and users of PFAS chemicals are exposed to deep liability and insurance risks, reminiscent of those historically linked to asbestos,” the letter states. This “could materially adversely harm the long-term value of companies involved in their manufacture and sale”, the investors say.