On the broader market, gainers outpaced losers 275 to 233, while 332 counters were unchanged, 1,265 untraded and 12 others suspended. — Picture by Azneal Ishak
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 20 — Bursa Malaysia opened higher in early trading today, mirroring Wall Street’s overnight positive performance.
At 9.15am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 2.76 points to 1,604.64 compared with 1,601.88 at yesterday’s close.
The index opened 4.67 points higher at 1,606.55.
On the broader market, gainers outpaced losers 275 to 233, while 332 counters were unchanged, 1,265 untraded and 12 others suspended.
Total volume stood at 564.22 million units worth RM333.19 million.
Public Investment Bank, in a note, said US stocks closed higher on Tuesday after Treasury secretary nominee Janet Yellen made the case for a large-scale fiscal stimulus to cushion the economic blow from Covid-19 during her confirmation hearing in Washington.
The S&P 500 index gained 0.8 per cent, the Dow Jones rose 0.38 per cent, and Nasdaq improved 1.5 per cent.
However, Malacca Securities said it expects negative sentiment could persist over the near term as investors await the Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) decision on the overnight policy rate (OPR) later in the afternoon; as any further cut in the OPR may cause downward pressure on banking stocks.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank rose one sen to RM8.11, Public Bank added 12 sen to RM21.02, while PetChem was flat at RM7.51.
Tenaga increased four sen to RM10.04 and Top Glove improved eight sen to RM6.21.
Of the actives, HPP rose 18 sen to 54 sen, Yong Tai inched up half-a-sen to 30 sen, while KTG and Sapura Energy were flat at 26.5 and 12.5 sen, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index gained 21.25 points to 11,601.77, the FBMT 100 Index expanded 19.0 points to 11,329.26, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 27.47 points higher at 13,130.82.
The FBM 70 rose 23.24 points to 14,864.09 and the FBM ACE eased 16.18 points to 10,778.19.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index increased 46.18 points to 14,808.39, the Industrial Products and Services Index up 0.1 of-a-point to 179.11, while the Plantation Index eased 17.65 points to 7,271.78. — Bernama
At 9.03am, the ringgit inched up to 4.0460/0510 versus the greenback from 4.0480/0520 at Tuesday’s close. — Reuters pic
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 20 — The ringgit was higher versus the US dollar at opening today, pushed by the US President-elect Joe Biden’s stimulus rally, coupled with the comfortably trading Brent crude oil above US$55 (RM222.61) per barrel.
At 9.03am, the ringgit inched up to 4.0460/0510 versus the greenback from 4.0480/0520 at yesterday's close.
Axi chief global market strategist Stephen Innes said this positive sentiment should provide a more inviting backdrop to the local note.
“However, while the incoming Biden administration’s focus will be domestic-orientated, another all-time high for China’s trade surplus in December (US$78.17 billion) ostensibly supports US foreign policy hawkishness.
“This is not great for Asia’s foreign exchange risk and worth keeping ears and eyes trained on the early tonality of the new administration’s views on China’s trade,” he said.
Meanwhile, today marked the end of the Bank Negara Malaysia’s two-day Monetary Policy Committee meeting, which started yesterday, and the central bank is expected either to make another interest rate cut or maintain it.
Against a basket of major currencies, the ringgit was traded lower.
It fell versus the Singapore dollar to 3.0476/0525 from 3.0443/0482 and down against the yen to 3.8956/9008 from 3.8912/8962.
The local currency also depreciated to 5.5204/5288 from 5.5081/5140 compared with the British pound and slipped to 4.9131/9195 from 4.9058/9114 vis-a-vis the euro. — Bernama
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index advanced 0.50 per cent or 142.64 points to 28,776.10 in early trade, while the broader Topix index was up 0.09 per cent or 1.66 points at 1,857.50. — Reuters pic
TOKYO, Jan 20 — Tokyo stocks opened higher today supported by solid gains on Wall Street ahead of the US presidential inauguration of Joe Biden, and expected aggressive stimulus spending by his government.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index advanced 0.50 per cent or 142.64 points to 28,776.10 in early trade, while the broader Topix index was up 0.09 per cent or 1.66 points at 1,857.50.
“Japanese shares are seen gaining with support from rallies in the US market, but a wait-and-see attitude will increase ahead of the (US) presidential inauguration ceremony,” Okasan Online Securities said in a commentary.
The dollar fetched ¥103.89 (RM4.05) in early Asian trade, against ¥103.90 in New York late yesterday.
Among major shares in Tokyo, Sony was up 0.61 per cent at ¥10,670, Panasonic was up 1.26 per cent at ¥1,326, and industrial robot maker Fanuc was up 1.33 per cent at 27,490.
ANA Holdings was down 2.18 per cent at ¥2,259.5 after a report said the airline is planning to book a current loss of more than ¥300 billion for the nine months that ended in December.
On Wall Street, the Dow ended up 0.4 per cent at 30,930.52. — AFP
Janet Yellen, who also was the first woman to lead the Federal Reserve, would take office as the world’s largest economy struggles to get back on its feet after Covid-19 caused tens of millions of layoffs and a sharp contraction in economic growth.— Reuters pic
WASHINGTON, Jan 20 — Spend big to help the economy while dealing with a massive national debt: as US Treasury secretary, Janet Yellen will face a delicate dance between undoing the damage done by the coronavirus while figuring out ways to pay the bill.
With employment faltering and virus infections soaring, President-elect Joe Biden, who takes office today, has proposed a US$1.9 trillion (RM7.68 trillion) rescue package to revitalise the economy and kickstart the underperforming vaccination programmes that will be critical to bringing the pandemic to an end.
If confirmed by the Senate, Yellen, who would be the first woman to serve as Treasury secretary, would be tasked with getting the massive bill through Congress.
That will entail convincing skeptical lawmakers that the benefit of more spending outweighs concerns about the country’s soaring debt level.
“Neither the President-elect, nor I, propose this relief package without an appreciation for the country’s debt burden. But right now, with interest rates at historic lows, the smartest thing we can do is act big,” Yellen told the Senate Finance Committee at her confirmation hearing yesterday
Soaring spending
Yellen, who also was the first woman to lead the Federal Reserve, would take office as the world’s largest economy struggles to get back on its feet after Covid-19 caused tens of millions of layoffs and a sharp contraction in economic growth.
She also would be one of the few Treasury secretaries with a background in economics and policy, rather than a career at a Wall Street investment bank.
Two previous pandemic relief bills passed by Congress have helped keep the country from a worse downturn by giving loans and grants to small businesses and expanding unemployment benefits, among other provisions.
But that spending also caused an explosion of the deficit for the 2020 fiscal year, which jumped more than 200 per cent to an all-time high of US$3.1 trillion, more than twice the prior record.
The spending continued in the first quarter of the 2021 fiscal year, breaking a quarterly record.
While some sectors have seen a steady rebound, there is evidence that the tentative recovery is flagging, with weekly Labour Department data showing the pace of layoffs increasing and the economy losing jobs in December.
But Oxford Economics said a “fiscal paradigm shift” is underway in how economists think about debt.
“The growing consensus amongst academics and policy analysts is that what matters more than the levels of budget deficits and debt, is the currently low real cost of the debt — the difference between the boost to growth and the debt servicing cost,” the firm said in an analysis.
The Fed’s commitment to keep the benchmark lending interest rate at zero for an extended period to promote full employment, is helping Yellen’s case to focus on spending to boost the recovery rather than worry about debt for now.
“It’s something we will eventually need to attend to, but it’s also important for America to invest,” she said, adding the administration could consider issuing long-term debt to fund their plans.
Those investments will help prevent long-term scarring of the economy, she said.
Watching Wall Street
Prior to her nomination, Yellen gave indications that she would keep a close eye on Wall Street, though she also has taken money from some of its biggest firms after she left her role in government.
She spoke out against moves pursued by outgoing President Donald Trump’s administration to loosen regulations on banks, but acknowledged at her hearing that they seemed to have weathered the shocks caused by the pandemic thus far.
Her image was however complicated by revelations that she earned more than US$7 million in speaking fees since leaving her position as Fed chair in early 2018, including from financial giants Goldman Sachs and Citigroup — a common if sometimes criticised practice.
Nonetheless, Yellen’s nomination was met hopefully by groups like Americans for Financial Reform, which advocates for tighter controls on the nation’s largest banks.
At her hearing, Yellen was not asked about regulation, but agreed that her focus would not be on providing aid to the financial industry.
“Our focus should be on Main Street not Wall Street,” she said. — AFP
A high-speed Eurostar train exits the Channel tunnel in Coquelles, near Calais, northern France, June 24, 2015. — Reuters pic
LONDON, Jan 20 — Eurostar, whose train services through the Channel Tunnel have been decimated by the coronavirus pandemic, has called on the UK government to provide it with the same financial support handed to grounded airlines over concerns about a possible collapse.
Christophe Fanichet, a senior executive from SNCF, the French state railway and part-owner of Eurostar, said on Friday that the London-based company was in “a very critical” state after a collapse in travel between Britain and the European continent.
And following a call by British businesses for a UK government rescue of London-based Eurostar, the company on Monday reiterated the need for support.
“We are encouraged by the (British) government backed loans that have been awarded to airlines and would once again ask that this kind of support be extended to international high-speed rail which has been severely impacted by the pandemic,” Eurostar said in a statement.
“Without additional funding from government there is a real risk to the survival of Eurostar, the green gateway to Europe, as the current situation is very serious,” it added in reference to trains’ lower emissions compared with planes.
Separately, the Department for Transport said it recognised “the significant financial challenges facing Eurostar as a result of Covid-19 and the unprecedented circumstances currently faced by the international travel industry”.
While it did not refer to the loans request, the department said it would continue to work closely with Eurostar over “the safe recovery of international travel”.
Eurostar is 55 per cent owned by the SNCF, 30 per cent by Canadian fund manager CDPQ, 10 per cent by Britain-based fund Hermes Infrastructure, and five per cent by the Belgian railway SNCB.
Business plea
British business leaders have joined the call for the UK government to financially rescue Eurostar.
In a letter dated Friday and sent to British finance minister Rishi Sunak, London First lobby group said Eurostar needed “swift action to safeguard its future”, or further harm Britain’s economy and environmental targets.
Signed by 25 executives and academics, the letter urged Britain’s Treasury and Department for Transport not to allow Eurostar to collapse.
“If this viable business is allowed to fall between the cracks of support — neither an airline, nor a domestic railway — our (economic) recovery could be damaged.”
Fanichet last week said Eurostar passenger numbers were down 85 per cent in 2020 from the year earlier and that the group was now “on a drip” in need of extra cash to prevent it from collapsing.
He added that the problem for Eurostar was that it was seen as French by the British government and as British by the French, meaning it had been difficult to secure bail-out cash.
Prior to the pandemic, Eurostar had gradually been expanding its services, with new lines opened up from London to Amsterdam, the Alps, the south of France — in addition to the regular lines between Paris and Brussels. — AFP
National Audit Office said the BBC received £3.52 billion (RM19.4 billion) from the fee in 2019/20, a fall of 8 per cent since 2017-18 as the government withdrew funding for free licences for the over-75s. — Reuters pic
LONDON, Jan 20 — Britain’s BBC needs to make tough decisions to ensure its future as viewers spend less time with the broadcaster and the number of households paying the licence fee declines, the National Audit Office (NAO) said today.
Since it was founded nearly a century ago, the BBC has dominated Britain’s media landscape, with its television, radio and online services used by 90 per cent of the population weekly, according to its annual report.
But it is losing audiences, and in particular younger viewers, to rivals such as Netflix, and politicians have questioned whether the universal TV licence — a tax on all television-watching households which was 157.50 pounds in 2020 — can be justified in the future.
The BBC received £3.52 billion (RM19.4 billion) from the fee in 2019/20, a fall of 8 per cent since 2017-18 as the government withdrew funding for free licences for the over-75s, the NAO spending watchdog said.
The government is also considering decriminalising licence fee evasion, a move that the BBC estimated could reduce its income by more than 1 billion pounds by 2027.
The BBC had made substantial savings, the NAO said, but its costs outstripped income for three of the past five years and some project had exceeded budgets.
“As decisions about the licence fee are made, the BBC needs to develop a clear financial plan for the future setting out where it will invest and how it will continue to make savings,” NAO head Gareth Davies said.
“Without such a plan, it will be difficult for the BBC to effectively implement its new strategic priorities.”
BBC director general Tim Davie, who started in the role in September, and new chairman Richard Sharp, who joins next month, will lead negotiations with the government on future funding and the licence fee.
“We have set out plans for urgent reforms focused on providing great value for all audiences and we will set out further detail on this in the coming months,” a BBC spokeswoman said. — Reuters
China’s sovereign debt market is the world’s second-largest after the United States. Yet while foreigners own a third of the US Treasury market, they hold just 9.7 per cent of China’s sovereign debt, according to government data. — Reuters pic
LONDON, Jan 20 — China’s US$16 trillion (RM64.7 trillion) sovereign debt market is the proverbial elephant in the investment room. But it’s becoming too big to ignore, even for the most risk-averse Western investors.
A large, A+ rated market that pays 3 per cent yields, with minimal volatility? It’s looking increasingly alluring for European pension funds swimming in sub-zero bond yields as aging populations stretch their finances.
For some, the benefits are beginning to outweigh the political risks, and they are upping allocations to China, or considering doing so, according to Reuters’ interviews with half a dozen firms that advise and manage money for pension funds.
“Not all our clients invest in China’s bond market, but they are all looking into it,” said Sandor Steverink, head of Treasuries at APG, which manages a third of the assets of the €1.5 trillion (RM7.3 trillion) Dutch pension industry.
Dutch 10-year bond yields are languishing at around -0.4 per cent , spelling losses for any investor who holds them to maturity, a picture reflected across Europe.
Such fund interest is a boon for Beijing, which is seeking to internationalise its financial markets and lure big-ticket overseas investors as its once-mighty trade surpluses dwindle. Europe’s pension industry alone is worth US$4 trillion.
China’s sovereign debt market is the world’s second-largest after the United States. Yet while foreigners own a third of the US Treasury market, they hold just 9.7 per cent of China’s sovereign debt, according to government data.
Western pension funds make up a tiny cohort of the foreign investors in yuan bond markets, but their presence is growing.
Of the US$9.5 trillion of assets under management from corporate and public pension funds globally, 0.26 per cent was held in Chinese bonds as of the third quarter of 2020, up from 0.04 per cent in 2015, according to data from institutional asset managers shared with financial data provider eVestment.
Beijing’s drive to draw foreign money has taken a whack of late as tensions with the United States have resulted in the ejection of several Chinese companies from US equity indexes and curbs on US government pension funds investing in China. There have also been defaults by state-owned firms.
Investors also cite potential pitfalls such as less market transparency and liquidity, with some Japanese investors protesting China’s inclusion into FTSE Russell’s World Government Bond Index.
In addition, some say the country still has further to go in opening up its markets and worry that while capital controls, which made repatriation of profits difficult, have been eased, they could also be tightened.
China’s relatively successful handling of the Covid-19 crisis and brighter economic prospects has buoyed confidence, though.
APG runs around 100 million euros in a local Chinese bonds strategy it started just over a year ago. Steverink acknowledged that political risks gave clients “cold feet”, but predicted that would change as more cash swept into the debt.
“You have to explain if you invest in China. You don’t need to explain if you don’t invest. That’s how it is for the time being,” he said.
“In the decades to come, it will be the other way around.”
2020: Watershed year
Pension funds themselves are famously secretive about their investment allocation trends, and more than two dozen contacted by Reuters, mostly European, declined to comment on this.
However their money managers, and certain central banks that track investment flows, can provide a window.
China has only stepped up efforts to open up bond markets in the past decade, so foreign investment is starting from a low base. While an increase in broader investment interest is not a new phenomenon, pension funds — the biggest and most cautious players — are now beginning to go with the flow.
The investors interviewed by Reuters said 2020 had been a watershed year, with more developed world bond yields collapsing into negative territory on the back of massive monetary stimulus, combined with China relaxing restrictions on foreign investment.
Insight Investments is looking into setting up a Chinese bond fund on behalf of UK pension funds, Sabrina Jacobs, a fixed-income investment specialist at the US$1 trillion asset manager told Reuters.
She declined to give details to protect the anonymity of her clients but said her company, part of the BNY Mellon Group, had also been asked by other UK and European-based pension funds to explore Chinese debt investment.
Jacobs said China met many of the criteria pension investors had when investing overseas — besides size and credit ratings, the yuan is less volatile than other emerging currencies.
Essentially, that means daily swings with the potential to wreck returns are less common; in fact yuan volatility is lower than some G10 currencies such as the Australian dollar.
Jacobs also said Chinese markets moved less in tandem with global peers.
“While you have a very high correlation between, say (German) Bunds and Treasuries, Chinese government bonds are only 15 to 20 per cent correlated to other bond markets, the big ones globally. So, it is an attractive diversifier as well.”
Insight currently holds around US$400 million of Chinese debt within its emerging market and global government bond funds.
Some other investors who allocate funds on behalf of European pension fund clients, including Pictet Asset Management and Willis Towers Watson, also said they were seeing more interest in Chinese bonds from the pension industry.
‘A lot further to go’
Pictet, with assets of US$600 billion, does not break down flows by investor type but said inflows to its Chinese bond fund had risen from US$144 million to US$770 million in 2020.
Shaniel Ramjee, part of Pictet’s multi-asset team, is confident that Chinese debt has moved past being a niche asset for large institutions like pension funds, but said the trend was in its early stages.
“We haven’t seen those dedicated allocations come through in large amounts yet, so there’s a lot further to go on this,” he added.
Dutch pension funds held 22.4 billion euros in overall investments in China as of the third quarter of 2019, mainly in stocks, with just 300 million euros in bonds, the Netherlands central bank said. That’s up from 200 million euros in bonds in 2017.
Latest available data from Germany’s central bank shows that German funds, including pension funds, invested a total of 2.5 billion euros in Chinese bonds in November 2020 alone, a 62 per cent rise from the same month a year earlier.
Sweden’s AP2, a national pension fund and a rare example of one that publishes its allocation to China, has had a stable 1 per cent allocation to Chinese government bonds since 2017. It manages roughly US$43 billion of assets.
‘Looking hard at China’
China, for its part, needs overseas pension money as its shift towards a consumption-driven economy has diminished its trade surpluses.
Pension money also has a particular cachet, because of size — retirement savings in the top 22 economies currently top US$45 trillion — and its “sticky”, long-term nature.
All this has motivated China to smooth access to its markets, enabling its bonds to join high-profile debt benchmarks compiled by FTSE Russell and Bloomberg/Barclays.
China’s central bank declined to comment on foreign pension fund holdings in Chinese bonds.
Data from the Central China Depository & Clearing Co (CCDC), shared with Reuters, shows almost 200 foreign funds had invested in Chinese bonds as of end-September via the China Interbank Bond Market (CIBM), 42 per cent above year-ago levels. The CCDC does not compile specific data on pension fund flows.
“Pensions funds say they are now looking hard at China as an alternative,” said Robin Marshall, FTSE Russell’s director of bond market research. “They would not have looked at it a few years ago.” — Reuters
Yellen’s comments, urging lawmakers to 'act big' on coronavirus relief and not worry too much about debt, helped assuage this week’s risk averse tone and knocked the dollar index from a one-month high. — Reuters pic
SINGAPORE, Jan 20 — The US dollar nursed losses today and the euro hung on to gains as investors’ mood brightened in the wake of a better-than-expected sentiment survey in Germany and big spending talk from US Treasury Secretary nominee Janet Yellen.
Yellen’s comments, urging lawmakers to “act big” on coronavirus relief and not worry too much about debt, helped assuage this week’s risk averse tone and knocked the dollar index from a one-month high.
The euro bounced off support around US$1.2050 (RM4.88), lifting about 0.4 per cent on the dollar overnight to hit US$1.2145, following a ZEW investor sentiment survey that beat forecasts and the Italian government surviving a confidence vote.
It held near that level in Asia, and the risk-sensitive Australian and New Zealand dollars edged up in morning trade to also hold modest overnight rises. The Aussie was last up 0.2 per cent at US$0.7707 and the kiwi up 0.1 per cent to US$0.7122.
“The stimulatory bias of the incoming Biden administration’s economic policy is again at the centre of market attention,” ANZ analysts said in a note to clients.
“However, seesawing between expectations of reflation and current soft economic data will probably continue for a while longer,” they added, limiting upside for currencies such as the kiwi.
Joe Biden is inaugurated as US President at noon in Washington today (1700 GMT, 1am Thursday Malaysian Time), though traders are more focused on his policies than the ceremony. The safe-haven yen was sold with the improvement in sentiment and briefly eased past 104 per dollar, as well as falling against other major currencies.
It last traded at 103.84 per dollar. Sterling found support from the Bank of England’s chief economist’s prediction that Britain’s economy begins to “recover at a rate of knots” in the second half of the year, and extended overnight gains slightly to US$1.3649.
The Chinese yuan clung to modest gains in offshore trade at 6.4757 to the dollar ahead of a monthly interest rate fixing where traders expect no change in either one-year or five-year loan prime rates.
Later today Malaysia’s central bank meets, with a decision due at 0700 GMT.
Nine of 15 economists polled by Reuters expect it will cut benchmark interest rates to historic lows.
The Bank of Canada is expected to hold rates steady when it announces policy at 1500 GMT. — Reuters
NHTSA rejected a petition from Ford to make a finding of 'inconsequentiality' regarding Takata airbags in the automaker’s fleet, and in its decision said Ford presented 'inadequate' evidence for the 'extraordinary' relief sought. — Reuters pic
NEW YORK, Jan 20 — US regulators yesterday ordered Ford to recall three million vehicles containing Takata airbags that show signs of “potential future rupture risk.”
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) rejected an appeal from the US auto giant and mandated recall for six vehicles in model years 2007 to 2012, including the Ford Ranger and the Ford Fusion.
NHTSA has confirmed 18 fatalities in the United States due to Takata airbag explosions and hundreds of additional injuries.
The agency rejected a petition from Ford to make a finding of “inconsequentiality” regarding Takata airbags in the automaker’s fleet, and in its decision said Ford presented “inadequate” evidence for the “extraordinary” relief sought.
“Given the severity of the consequence of propellant degradation in these air bag inflators — the rupture of the inflator and metal shrapnel sprayed at vehicle occupants — a finding on inconsequentiality to safety demands extraordinarily robust and persuasive evidence,” NHTSA said.
Ford’s submission “suffers from far too many shortcomings, both when the evidence is assessed individually and in its totality, to demonstrate that the defect in covered Ford inflators is not important or can otherwise be ignored as a matter of safety.”
The agency gave Ford 30 days to establish a schedule for notifying vehicle owners and repairing the vehicles.
NHTSA also announced it was rejecting a similar petition from Mazda and compelling the recall of about 5,800 vehicles.
Yesterday’s decision follows a November finding against General Motors that required the recall of 5.9 million autos with Takata airbags following a similar analysis. — AFP
Netflix shares jumped more than 12 per cent in after-market trades following the release. — Reuters pic
SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 20 — Netflix yesterday delivered stronger-than-expected subscriber growth in the past quarter, keeping ahead of new streaming rivals competing for viewers stuck in their homes during the coronavirus pandemic.
The streaming television leader added some 8.5 million paid subscribers in the quarter to reach 203 million, topping 200 million despite recent price hikes, its quarterly earning update showed.
Netflix shares jumped more than 12 per cent in after-market trades following the release.
Profits dipped to US$542 million (RM2.19 million) in the fourth quarter, compared with US$587 million in the same period in 2019. But overall revenue in the quarter surged 21.5 per cent to US$6.6 billion.
For the full year, Netflix added a record 37 million paid memberships, according to the earnings report.
“We’re enormously grateful that in these uniquely challenging times we’ve been able to provide our members around the world with a source of escape, connection and joy while continuing to build our business,” Netflix said in a letter to investors.
Paid membership increased 23 per cent in the final quarter of 2020 when compared with the same period a year earlier, but average revenue per membership was flat, according to the Silicon Valley based company.
While Netflix raised rates slightly in the US late last year, the majority — some 83 per cent — of its new subscribers were from outside North America, the earnings report indicated.
Films to launch
Netflix has invested heavily in original shows and films to make itself a must-have service in the increasingly competitive streaming television market.
Apple, Comcast, Disney and others have taken on Netflix with streaming television services of their own
“The big growth in streaming entertainment has led legacy competitors like Disney, WarnerMedia and Discovery to compete with us in new ways, which we’ve been expecting for many years,” Netflix said in the letter.
“This is, in part, why we have been moving so quickly to grow and further strengthen our original content library across a wide range of genres and nations.”
Netflix executives said its productions are back up and running in most regions after being derailed by the pandemic.
Netflix boasted having more than 500 titles in post-production or being readied for release on the service, with the plan being to launch at least one new original film weekly.
Already the master of the pandemic-era movie landscape, Netflix last week offered a preview of upcoming 2021 releases, a list with no fewer than 70 star-studded feature films.
From drama, comedy and science fiction to horror and even Westerns, the slate will take in every major film genre before the year is out, with some releases poised as potential competition for major awards.
Among the most-anticipated titles is Don’t Look Up, from filmmaker Adam McKay of The Big Short and Vice fame and starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
The Harder They Fall, a Western co-produced by Jay-Z and with a primarily Black cast including Regina King and Idris Elba, also promises to be one to look out for.
The announcement — via a brochure on the streamer’s website — was accompanied by a short video presented by Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot, Jumanji lead Dwayne Johnson and Deadpool actor Ryan Reynolds.
Johnson, Gadot and Reynolds will appear in Red Notice, an action film with a US$160 million budget, according to US media. — AFP
A logo of the World Economic Forum (WEF) is pictured during a session in Davos, Switzerland, January 22, 2020. The World Economic Forum itself has been disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic, shifting its usual January summit in Davos to May in Singapore. — Reuters pic
PARIS, Jan 19 — Business and government leaders currently see the loss of life from Covid-19 and related economic effects as the world’s greatest short-term threats, the World Economic Forum said today.
The group which organises an annual get together of leading industrial and political voices at the Swiss Alpine resort of Davos carries out a survey of its members beforehand to determine what they consider as the greatest global threats.
Unsurprisingly, this year the Covid-19 pandemic is at the top of the list for short-term threats, though climate change remains among the top long-term concerns.
“The immediate human and economic cost of Covid-19 is severe,” said the WEF’s Global Risks Report (GRPS) 2021.
“It threatens to scale back years of progress on reducing poverty and inequality and to further weaken social cohesion and global cooperation,” it added.
Most of those who replied to the GRPS identified “infectious diseases” and “livelihood crises” as the top short-term threats worldwide.
The risk of “social cohesion erosion” due to the pandemic and joblessness was deemed another critical short-term threat.
The report noted that young adults are experiencing their second major global crisis in a decade, having lived through the disruption of the financial crisis and the economic inequality it aggravated.
“This generation faces serious challenges to their education, economic prospects and mental health,” the report said, warning of “an age of lost opportunity” as well as social unrest and political fragmentation.
WEF’s leaders also noted that its Global Risks Report has been warning of the threat of a pandemic since 2006, which it said highlighted the need find more effective ways to identify and communicate risk to decision-makers.
The World Economic Forum itself has been disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic, shifting its usual January summit in Davos to May in Singapore.
Nevertheless, next week the WEF will be holding a virtual Davos: a week of events dedicated to helping leaders choose innovative and bold solutions to stem the pandemic and drive a robust recovery over the next year.
The report is based on a survey of 841 people who are part of WEF’s stakeholder communities including business, academia, government and NGOs.
They were questioned in September and October. — AFP
The IEA said it now expected demand in the first quarter of this year to be 0.6 mbd less than previously forecast, with the full-year outcome revised down by 0.3 mbd. — Reuters pic
PARIS, Jan 19 — The International Energy Agency (IEA) trimmed its 2021 global oil demand forecast today as fresh coronavirus lockdowns cloud the outlook but said mass vaccination programmes should help bolster a second half rebound.
“Global oil demand is expected to recover by 5.5 million barrels per day (mbd) to 96.6 mbd in 2021, following an unprecedented collapse of 8.8 mbd in 2020,” the IEA said in its latest monthly report.
“For now, a resurgence in Covid-19 cases is slowing the rebound but a widespread vaccination effort and an acceleration in economic activity is expected to spur stronger growth in the second half of the year,” it said.
“This recovery mainly reflects the impact of fiscal and monetary support packages as well as the effectiveness of steps to resolve the pandemic,” it added.
The IEA said it now expected demand in the first quarter of this year to be 0.6 mbd less than previously forecast, with the full-year outcome revised down by 0.3 mbd.
On the supply side, the IEA said that after “falling by a record 6.6 mbd in 2020, world oil supply is set to rise by over 1.0 mbd this year.”
“There may be scope for higher growth given our expectations for further improvement in demand,” the IEA added.
It said that its forecasts assume that in the second half this year, Opec+ — that is Opec members plus non-cartel producers, principally Russia — will continue to rein in output, withholding 5.8 mbd of oil from the market in line with their April 2020 agreement.
The IEA noted that Opec+ has recently adopted a more flexible stance and will be meeting regularly to assess output levels.
Oil prices have risen in recent weeks on hopes the global economy will get back on track later this year.
The IEA said these higher prices could “provide an incentive to increase production by the US shale industry, which saw the biggest fall in output last year.”
However, shale producers appear set to stick with promises to keep output largely flat so as not to jeopardise prices.
“If they stick to those plans, Opec+ may start to reclaim the market share it has steadily lost to the US and others since 2016,” the IEA concluded. — AFP
