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China’s exports surge in year-end rush as pandemic fuels demand (nationthailand.com)

China’s exports surge in year-end rush as pandemic fuels demand

InternationalDec 08. 2020

By Syndication Washington Post, Bloomberg

China’s exports jumped in November by the most since early 2018, pushing its trade surplus to a monthly record high and underlining how global demand for pandemic-related goods is supporting a growth rebound in the world’s second-largest economy.

Chinese companies shipped $268 billion in goods in November, the most for any single month and more than 21% higher than the same month last year. Import growth eased to 4.5%, leaving a trade surplus of $75.4 billion — the largest on record in data going back to 1990.

“The export boom is one of the biggest economic surprises this year regarding China’s outlook,” with the country benefiting from effective containment of the virus and strong Christmas orders, said Zhou Hao, an economist at Commerzbank AG in Singapore.

Strengthened by the seasonal surge ahead of the year-end holidays, the figures illustrate how the pandemic has complimented China’s manufacturing strengths, as consumers worldwide reduced spending on services due to coronavirus closures. Combined with a pickup in China’s domestic consumption and investment, they also suggest that the country’s economic rebound remained on track in November.

“Importers from various locations outside China worried that their locations would be under lockdown during Thanksgiving and Christmas, and therefore request urgent deliveries from China’s factories,” said Iris Pang, Greater China chief economist at ING Groep NV in Hong Kong.

Global demand had started recovering before a resurgence in virus cases in some of China’s biggest export markets, including the U.S. and Europe — a development which could further fuel demand for Chinese-made personal protective gear and work-from-home devices.

Exports of medical equipment in the January-November period jumped 42.5% in dollar terms from a year ago, while shipments of electronics in November were up 25% compared to the same month last year.

“Demand for pandemic-related and electronics goods was pretty much unaffected by the newly imposed social-distancing measures, which affect services more than goods trade,” said Michelle Lam, Greater China economist at Societe Generale SA in Hong Kong.

The widening trade surplus could put further upward pressure on the yuan, which has already appreciated more than 6% against the dollar this year, one of the best performers in Asia. Beijing has previously come under attack by the U.S. and Europe because of its currency intervention to weaken the yuan.

“The fact that China’s trade surplus is growing will make everyone unhappy,” said Yukon Huang, a former World Bank head in China who is now a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s Asia Program. “China does not want to rub it in and that’s why it’s been willing to let the renminbi appreciate.”

As a result of changing patterns of trade due to the pandemic, China’s trade surplus with the U.S. reached a new monthly record of $37.4 billion in November. That’s despite Beijing promising a steep increase in imports from the U.S. this year as part of a phase-one trade deal aimed at halting trade disputes with Washington.

The latest data showed China is nowhere near meeting its targets under that deal. U.S. President-elect Joe Biden recently said that he wouldn’t quickly remove tariffs imposed by the Trump administration and will consult allies before developing a China strategy.

Click here for a breakdown of China’s export growth by country

China’s imports tend to be driven by demand for raw inputs for investment and agricultural commodities, rather than consumer goods. Imports of iron ore in the first 11 months of this year rose almost 10.9% from the same period in 2019, while soybean purchases from overseas climbed 17.5%.

“Imports are slightly weaker than expected, which shows that the infrastructure spending might need to take a break as winter is approaching,” said Commerzbank’s Zhou.

Leading indicators of trade, such as freight shipping costs and export orders in Chinese purchasing managers surveys have remained strong, suggesting the solid export performance can be sustained into the new year. South Korea’s exports, a bellwether for global trade, strengthened in November.

However some economists caution that the performance might slow next year if the rollout of vaccines allows factories elsewhere to return to full capacity.

“We caution that the export strength could temper in 2021 as the recovery in major economies moderates after the V-shaped rebound and production in other countries gradually normalize,” Lam said.

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Bob Dylan to sell his entire songwriting catalogue to Universal (nationthailand.com)

Bob Dylan to sell his entire songwriting catalogue to Universal

InternationalDec 08. 2020Musician Bob Dylan at a May 29, 2012, ceremony awarding him the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama at the White House in Washington, D.C. MUST CREDIT: Bloomberg photo by Andrew Harrer 

By Syndication Washington Post, Bloomberg · Lucas Shaw

Universal Music Group is acquiring Bob Dylan’s entire song catalogue, a collection that spans six decades and includes many of the most iconic tracks in music history.

Universal didn’t disclose a price for the deal, though Dylan’s songs are worth more than $200 million, according to people familiar with the terms. The collection encompasses 600 works, from early-’60s songs such as “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “The Times They Are A-Changin'” to an album released just this year, “Rough and Rowdy Ways.”

Dylan, 79, is cashing in on the boom in music rights. The value of songs and recordings has skyrocketed in recent years thanks to streaming, which has fueled a five-year expansion for the music industry after a deep slump. He isn’t selling the recordings, which are a separate asset.

“It is no exaggeration to say that his vast body of work has captured the love and admiration of billions of people all around the world,” Universal Chief Executive Officer Lucian Grainge said in a statement. “I have no doubt that decades, even centuries from now, the words and music of Bob Dylan will continue to be sung and played — and cherished — everywhere.”

Vinyl records, including Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changin’,” are displayed for sale at the HMV Record Shop in Tokyo on Sept. 28, 2016. MUST CREDIT: Bloomberg photo by Noriko Hayashi

Song rights, represented by music publishers, don’t usually fetch as much money as recordings. But they can be a more reliable source of revenue. Songs can be used to make money in a variety of ways, including radio play, advertising and movie licensing — compared with the often-fleeting burst of sales from a new record.

Just last week, Stevie Nicks sold a majority stake in her songwriting that valued the catalogue at about $100 million.

Dylan has never written pop songs — no Dylan song has ever topped the key Billboard charts — but few songwriters can claim a deeper catalogue. In 2004, Rolling Stone included 15 of his works on its list of the greatest songs of all time, and placed “Like a Rolling Stone” at the very top. Only the Beatles earned more spots on the list.

Dylan surged onto the scene in the early 1960s as a folk poet and wrote songs speaking out against the war in Vietnam. His transition to electric guitar and more of a rock sound in the middle of that decade alienated some of his most ardent fans, but also led to some of his best work, including “Highway 61 Revisited” and “Blonde on Blonde.”

The deal strengthens Universal Music Group as it prepares for an initial public offering next year. With its recent deals for Taylor Swift and Dylan, Universal has added works from two of the most successful songwriters in music history.

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British house prices climb most in over four years (nationthailand.com)

British house prices climb most in over four years

InternationalDec 08. 2020

By Syndication Washington Post, Bloomberg · Lucy Meakin

U.K. house prices surged the most since 2016 last month as realtors remained open for business while much of the rest of the economy entered a second coronavirus lockdown.

Home prices rose 7.6% in November from a year earlier, mortgage lender Halifax said Monday. On the month alone, prices gained 1.2%.

Britain’s property market has boomed since reopening after restrictions in the spring that shuttered the industry. It has been bolstered by city dwellers looking to move out of urban centers, a temporary tax break on purchases and government promises of more generous loans for young buyers.

Under a lockdown in England that ended last week, house viewings were still allowed. Realtors may find it hard to maintain the upswing though. Unemployment is rising and the tax incentive will expire at the end of March.

“The housing market has been much more resilient than many predicted at the outset of the pandemic,” said Russell Galley, managing director at Halifax. “A slowdown” in activity “is likely over the next 12 months.”

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Biden taps Becerra, Murthy to lead health team amid pandemic (nationthailand.com)

Biden taps Becerra, Murthy to lead health team amid pandemic

InternationalDec 07. 2020Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Calif., speaks during an interview in Washington, D.C., on May 21, 2015. Becerra as President-elect Joe Biden’s Health and Human Services secretary. MUST CREDIT: Bloomberg photo by Andrew Harrer 

By Syndication Washington Post, Bloomberg · Jennifer Epstein, Josh Wingrove, Shira Stein · NATIONAL, HEALTH, WHITEHOUSE, HEALTH-NEWS 

President-elect Joe Biden named California Attorney General Xavier Becerra as his Health and Human Services secretary on Monday and filled out a team that will lead the incoming administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Becerra will also be tasked with expanding the Affordable Care Act, one of Biden’s key health goals beyond curbing the virus outbreak.

Biden also announced he was returning Vivek Murthy to the role of surgeon general, a job he held under President Barack Obama, but this time his role will be expanded to include managing the U.S. government response to the coronavirus.

Murthy will work closely with Jeff Zients, one of Biden’s transition co-chairs, who was named coordinator of the ovid-19 response and counselor to the president. Zients was a top economic adviser to Obama and is credited with reviving the troubled Obamacare enrollment website. Former White House and Pentagon senior adviser Natalie Quillian will serve as Zients’s deputy coordinator.

Rochelle Walensky, the infectious diseases chief at Massachusetts General Hospital, was named director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Biden also named Marcella Nunez-Smith as Covid-19 Equity Task Force Chair, a new job that will coordinate the government’s response to the virus. Nunez-Smith is an associate professor at the Yale School of Medicine and co-chair of the Biden transition’s coronavirus advisory board.

Anthony Fauci, who became a celebrated and trusted voice on the pandemic response while President Donald Trump downplayed its threats, will keep his current job as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases but also serve as Biden’s chief medical adviser on the coronavirus.

“This trusted and accomplished team of leaders will bring the highest level of integrity, scientific rigor, and crisis-management experience to one of the toughest challenges America has ever faced — getting the pandemic under control,” Biden said in a statement released by his transition team.

Fauci, speaking to CNN on Monday morning, lauded Biden’s picks. “I’ve had considerable interactions with all of these individuals and they are outstanding,” he said. He said he wasn’t yet sure what shape Biden’s coronavirus task force would take, and that his role wouldn’t be “substantially different” than his current one. Trump has largely frozen out Fauci and has rarely engaged directly with his task force.

Biden is due to hold an event Tuesday unveiling some of his health team, a transition official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the event hasn’t yet been announced.

Murthy and Becerra may face difficult Senate confirmations if Republicans keep control of the chamber after two runoff elections in Georgia on Jan. 5. Becerra’s lawsuits against the Trump administration are likely to face criticism and GOP senators may also oppose Murthy’s position that gun violence is a public-health threat.

Coronavirus cases have spiked in recent weeks. Deaths in the U.S. have reached more than 282,000 and some 14.7 million people have been infected.

Health and Human Services is a vast government department that oversees the CDC, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Food and Drug Administration, and the National Institutes of Health, among others. Biden hasn’t yet announced an FDA commissioner.

Becerra, a former congressman from the Los Angeles area, emerged as a candidate in recent days as others fell out of contention, including New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who was backed by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

His nomination solves one of the highest-stakes selections outside of the traditional four top cabinet positions, in part because Biden has placed a heavy emphasis on the coronavirus outbreak, which over the past week has set records for new cases, daily deaths and hospitalizations.

Becerra would have a long list of priorities in tackling the pandemic, including expanding testing, improving access to personal protective equipment and distributing a covid-19 vaccine.

While in Congress, Becerra supported a Medicare-for-all bill and as recently as 2017 spoke in favor of a single-payer health system. But a person familiar with Biden’s thinking said that Becerra is also prepared to work to protect Obamacare and add a public option, as Biden has said he intends to do.

As California attorney general, Becerra has led other states with Democratic attorneys general to file lawsuits defending the Affordable Care Act against the Trump administration efforts to dismantle it. That includes a case currently before the Supreme Court.

“We need someone with a lot of experience managing a large department,” Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-La., a Biden adviser, told CNN on Monday. “His experience is unique and I think his life experience — which we don’t talk about enough — as a minority is going to be very important.”

Becerra took on the largest hospital system in Northern California, Sutter Health, and reached a $575 million settlement with it over price-gouging charges. Former Obama administration officials say they expect the incoming administration to put an increased focus on health-care antitrust enforcement, which they say is contributing to rising medical costs.

Health-care consultants expect the new administration to quickly roll back some changes the Trump administration made to the implementation of the ACA. The Biden team will likely put more money into making it easier to buy insurance on the ACA marketplace, improve advertising of open enrollment, revise rules around LGBTQ protections, loosen work-eligibility requirements and roll back the expanded use of short-term health insurance plans.

His selection ends a roller-coaster process that saw other top candidates fall from contention, including Murthy, who Biden has tapped as his next surgeon general.

The person familiar with Biden’s thinking said the most important consideration was Becerra’s history of fighting for the Affordable Care Act, first for its passage while he served in the House, and then as California attorney general.

The person pointed to Becerra’s record on health-related issues — from lawsuits fighting vaping to joining with Louisiana’s Republican attorney general in August to lead a coalition of states urging the federal government to increase access to the covid drug Remdesivir. That effort, and others, the person said, showed that Becerra is willing to find common ground with Republicans.

Biden has committed to building the most diverse administration ever and, if confirmed by the Senate, Becerra would be the first Latino to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. The move drew praise from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

“As attorney general, Becerra led the charge to defend the Affordable Care Act, lower prescription drug costs, and protect immigrant families,” CHC Chair Joaquin Castro, a Texas Democrat, said in a statement, adding that the choice came “in this moment of crisis with Covid-19 devastating Latino communities.”

People of color have disproportionately contracted the virus and faced racial disparities in their health care that have further compounded the effects of the pandemic.

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Consumer confidence reaches post-pandemic high in Canada (nationthailand.com)

Consumer confidence reaches post-pandemic high in Canada

InternationalDec 07. 2020

By Syndication Washington Post, Bloomberg · Shelly Hagan · BUSINESS 

Consumer confidence in Canada rose to its highest level in eight months amid optimism positive vaccine developments will sustain an economic recovery.

The Bloomberg Nanos Canadian Confidence Index, a composite measure of financial health and economic expectations, reached 53.3 last week, its highest since mid-March when widespread shutdowns were imposed to curb the spread of covid-19.

While the index is still below its long-term average, the gain in sentiment likely reflects hope of a quick global rollout of vaccines, with a massive mobilization set to get underway this week. The U.K. is set to launch Pfizer Inc.’s shot beginning Tuesday. The U.S. could approve the vaccine as early as Thursday. Canadian health officials expect to greenlight the shot soon after the Americans.

The Canadian stock market last month had the biggest monthly gain since April, matching global gains on optimism over vaccines.

The increase in Canadian sentiment may have broken a recent holding pattern. The index is still three points below longer-term averages, but had been hovering at current levels for weeks amid a second wave of virus cases after making up the bulk of its pandemic losses over the summer months.

Every week, Nanos Research surveys 250 Canadians for their views on personal finances, job security and their outlook for the economy and real estate prices. Bloomberg publishes four-week rolling averages of the 1,000 responses.

The share of respondents who believe the economy will strengthen over the next six months rose to 19.9%, the highest reading since September

Real estate optimism continues to grow, consistent with recent strength in home prices and sales. Some 45% of respondents say they expect the value of homes in their neighborhood to increase in the next six months

Almost 64% of respondents say their job is either secure or somewhat secure, the highest reading in two months. Through November, the economy had recovered 81% of the 3 million jobs lost during the spring shutdowns, according to a report Friday