17th Mar 2021 11:12
(Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Wednesday.
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COMPANIES
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Comments by the European Medicines Agency on the AstraZeneca vaccine are "encouraging," French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said Tuesday. "Today's preliminary statements from EMA are encouraging," they said in a statement released by Draghi's office, which added that they are ready to resume AstraZeneca jabs if the vaccine is cleared by the EU regulator. The EU's drug regulator said earlier Tuesday it remained "firmly convinced" of the benefits of AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine despite several countries suspending its use over blood clot fears. "We are still firmly convinced that the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine in preventing Covid-19 with its associated risk of hospitalisation and death outweigh the risk of these side effects," EMA Chief Emer Cooke told an online press conference. French Prime Minister Jean Castex on Tuesday vowed he would be vaccinated "very quickly" with the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine to give the public confidence in the jab if it is ruled as safe by the EU medicines agency.
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The UK telecommunications regulator said BT Group's mobile business EE has won 80 megahertz of 5G spectrum in an auction. BT said EE has secured new 700 megahertz and 3.6 to 3.8 gigahertz bands spectrum for GBP452 million. Ofcom had said in December that EE, Hutchison 3G UK, Telefonica UK and Vodafone had qualified to take part in the spectrum auction and that they were established bidders as of January. Ofcom said on Wednesday that Vodafone won 40 megahertz in the 3.6 to 3.8 gigahertz band at a cost of GBP176.4 million. Hutchison 3G UK and Telefonica UK both won two lots of 10 megahertz of paired frequency spectrum in the 700 megahertz band at a cost of GBP280 million, while Telefonica also won 40 megahertz in the 3.6-3.8 gigahertz band for GBP168 million.
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Vodafone's mobile towers business has narrowed the price range for its stock market listing in Frankfurt to the lower half of its original target, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday. Vantage Towers AG has revised the range for the initial public offering to between EUR24 and EUR25 per share from the original EUR22.50 to EUR29, Bloomberg said, citing deal terms it has seen. At the EUR22.50 to EUR29.00 price range set last week, Vantage Towers would have a market capitalisation of between EUR11.4 billion and EUR14.7 billion, Vodafone had said.
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Tesla has invested roughly EUR5.8 billion into its first European plant in Berlin, according to the ZDF television programme Frontal 21 in a report on Tuesday. The US carmaker did not disclose its investment amount, but an Economics Ministry spokeswoman for Brandenburg, the state surrounding Berlin where the gigafactory is being built, confirmed that the order of magnitude reported was correct. The factory is expected to begin production in July and be able to produce up to 500,000 vehicles a year. Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk also wants to mass-produce battery cells at the Berlin site.
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Intel on Tuesday launched its next generation processing chip, which it said will be a boost to games. Intel's 11th Gen Intel Core S-series desktop processors, codenamed Rocket-Lake-S, was launched on Tuesday, amid a backdrop of global chip shortages. "Engineered on the new Cypress Cove architecture, 11th Gen Intel Core S-series desktop processors are designed to transform hardware and software efficiency and increase raw gaming performance​," Intel said. "Through close collaboration with more than 200 of the top game developers, Intel brings a host of game, engine, middleware and rendering optimizations to applications so they can take advantage of 11th Gen Intel Core S-series processors to deliver exciting gaming experiences."
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Uber on Tuesday said it is granting its UK drivers worker status, with benefits including a minimum wage – a world first for the US ride-hailing giant. Weeks after a top court ruling that could shake up Britain's wider "gig economy" of 5.5 million people, Uber said its drivers would also get holiday pay and a pension. It is a massive change in the business model of a company that had argued before Britain's Supreme Court that its drivers were self-employed. From Wednesday, "more than 70,000 drivers in the UK will be treated as workers, earning at least the national living wage when driving with Uber," the taxi app said in a statement. The decision capped a protracted legal battle between UK drivers and the Silicon Valley taxi and delivery company.
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Japanese automaker Honda will be "suspending production" for one week at most of its plants in the US and Canada due to factors that include a shortage of parts, the company said Tuesday. The company is dealing with "a number of supply chain issues related to the impact from Covid-19, congestion at various ports, the microchip shortage and severe winter weather over the past several weeks," especially in Texas, a Honda spokesperson in Japan told AFP. "In some way, all of our auto plants in the US and Canada will be impacted, with most of the plants temporarily suspending production during the week of March 22," the spokesperson said. Since the situation is "fluid," the timing and length of "production adjustments could change."
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Retail investment platform Hargreaves Lansdown said that trading in January had been similar to previous lockdown periods, with strong dealing volumes, significant engagement from clients, and robust net new business and net new client numbers. The stock broker and fund supermarket said it continued to see elevated volumes of trading since the end of January, with an increased proportion of that directed towards international equities - driven by interest in US stocks from existing clients. As a result, Hargreaves Lansdown expects pretax profit for the financial year ending June 30, to be modestly above the top end of analyst expectations. The current range of company-collected analyst expectations for financial 2021 pretax profit is between GBP334 million and GBP360 million. Hargreaves posted pretax profit of GBP378.3 million in financial 2020.
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MARKETS
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Stock markets were narrowly mixed and the dollar flat to lower on Wednesday, ahead of the monetary policy announcement by the US Federal Reserve. AstraZeneca shares were down 0.7% in London.
The Federal Open Market Committee will conclude its two-day policy meeting and announce its decision at 1800 GMT. This will be followed by a press conference with Fed Chair Jerome Powell at 1830 GMT. The Fed is followed on Thursday by the Bank of England and on Friday by the Bank of Japan.
"While the Fed and BoE are both aware of the short sharp rise in inflation that could be coming over the coming months, the big question is just how tolerant these central banks will be until they decide to tighten policy," commented Josh Mahony, senior market analyst as IG. "The Fed dot plot will be crucial today, with Joe Biden's success on the stimulus and vaccination front since December meaning we are likely to see many members adjust their interest rate forecasts accordingly."
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CAC 40: down 0.2% at 6,043.50
DAX 30: up 5.66 points at 14,563.24
FTSE 100: down 0.3% at 6,782.67
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DJIA: called up 0.1%
S&P 500: called down 1.75 points
Nasdaq Composite: called down 0.3%
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Hang Seng: closed up 6.43 points at 29,034.12
Nikkei 225: closed 6.76 points lower at 29,914.33
S&P/ASX 200: closed down 0.5% at 6,795.20
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EUR: up at USD1.1911 (USD1.1894)
GBP: up at USD1.3903 (USD1.3886)
USD: flat at JPY109.05 (JPY109.02)
Gold: up at USD1,735.20 per ounce (USD1,729.46)
Oil (Brent): down at USD67.73 a barrel (USD68.28)
(currency and commodities changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Inflation in the eurozone was unchanged in February matching market estimates, the latest figures from Eurostat showed. On an annual basis, the euro area's consumer price inflation rate was confirmed at 0.9% in February, unchanged from January. On a monthly basis, prices were stable at 0.2% in February. Both readings were in-line with market forecasts. Core inflation, which strips out energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, was 1.1% year-on-year in February, slowing from 1.4% in January. Eurostat also said construction output in the euro area fell 1.9% year-on-year in January, following a revised flat reading in December. On a monthly basis, construction output rose 0.8% in January, rebounding from a 1.5% decline in December.
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Japan's exports dropped 4.5% year-on-year to JPY6.04 trillion - about USD55.4 billion - in February, the first decline in three months due in part to a sharp fall in shipments to the US, the government said. Exports to the US plunged 14% to JPY1.09 trillion for the fourth straight month of fall, according to a preliminary report issued by the Finance Ministry. Shipments to China, Japan's largest trading partner, climbed 3.4% from a year earlier to JPY1.17 trillion for the eighth consecutive month of rise, while imports from the world's second-largest economy more than doubled to JPY1.4 trillion, the ministry said. The report also showed Japan's overall imports jumped 12% to JPY5.8 trillion, which resulted in a trade surplus of JPY217.4 billion.
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The US on Wednesday identified 24 more senior Chinese officials it classifies as being instrumental in quashing Hong Kong's freedoms as it warned foreign banks were now banned from doing any business with them. The decision came just hours before talks were set to begin between senior US and Chinese officials in Alaska, the first such meeting since President Joe Biden took office. US relations with China have plunged in recent years over a swathe of issues, including Beijing's crackdown on dissent in Hong Kong after the city was rocked by huge and often violent democracy protests nearly two years ago. Under the Hong Kong Autonomy Act – a law enacted last year with bipartisan support – the State Department has to identify any Chinese and Hong Kong officials involved in eroding the financial hub's freedoms. The report added two dozen new names bringing the total number listed to 34.
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Ireland's premier will hold talks with Biden later Wednesday as the traditional St Patrick's Day engagement goes online. The taoiseach traditionally travels to Washington DC for St Patrick's week to hold a series of high level meetings with the most powerful political figures in the US. The pandemic has prevented Micheal Martin making the trip this year, with events taking place virtually instead. Northern Ireland First Minister Arlene Foster and Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill are also expected to hold a virtual call with Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday – a meeting that may involve an appearance from President Biden. Martin and Biden are both marking their first St Patrick's Day since they assumed office.
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UK government ministers are pledging to build the world's first low-carbon industrial sector as they detail GBP1 billion of spending to reduce emissions from businesses, hospitals and schools, PA reports. Business & Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng is to publish the government's Industrial Decarbonisation Strategy on Wednesday as part of plans to reverse the climate crisis. It was billed as a major blueprint to help reach the target of reaching net zero by 2050 that will also create 80,000 jobs across the UK over the next three decades. But environmentalists accused the government of giving "handouts for the fossil fuel industry", and Labour said the plan "doesn't deliver with nearly the scale or ambition that's necessary". The GBP1 billion of funding was announced last year, but ministers were setting out how it will be spent in a bid to cut emissions by two-thirds in 15 years.
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By Tom Waite; [email protected]
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