We Found the Funniest Animal Photos on the Internet to Make You Laugh

POPSUGAR
Keep It Clean! This Homemade Toilet-Bowl Cleaner Is So Easy to Make
Make scrubbing your bathroom easier than ever with the help of a homemade toilet-bowl cleaner that really works. This commode cleanser leaves your powder room nice and fresh and costs just about nothing to make!
15h ago
Scary Mommy
After She Died, I Stopped Resenting My Drug-Dependent Mom
I love my mom. I always have, even in moments of anger and embarrassment. It’s been nearly eight years since her passing, and I still miss her every day.
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The Press Association
Daily politics briefing: April 19
The key facts behind the day's headlines on April 19 as Prime Minister Boris Johnson joins the widespread condemnation of the European Super League proposals.
1d ago
People
Jennifer Aniston Brings Her Dog to The Morning Show Set: 'Take Clyde to Work Day'
Clyde's set visit comes six months after Jennifer Aniston rescued a puppy named Lord Chesterfield
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Miami Herald
Marc Anthony takes to social media to apologize for ‘total collapse’ of his concert
Marc Anthony feels terrible he let down his fans.
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Rachael Ray CBS
How To Make Fried Rice | Geoffrey, Madeline and Anna Zakarian
Watch the Zakarian family show you how to make fried rice using leftover steamed rice.
21h ago
Reuters
Harley-Davidson hits recovery road amid focus on touring bikes
(Reuters) -Harley-Davidson Inc on Monday raised its full-year earnings forecast after smashing analysts' quarterly profit estimates, vindicating Chief Executive Jochen Zeitz's decision to focus on more-profitable touring bikes at the expense of cheaper entry-level models. The company, however, also received a setback in the European Union - its second-biggest market - where all of its products, regardless of origin, will be subjected to a 56% import tariff from June following a new EU ruling. The ruling revokes the credentials that currently allow Harley to ship certain motorcycles to the EU from its international manufacturing facilities at a 6% tariff.
21h ago
Bloomberg
Rebound of China’s Yuan Is Facing a $68 Billion Roadblock
(Bloomberg) -- Having rebounded from its worst month since 2019, China’s yuan is facing a new wave of selling pressure as hundreds of companies prepare to exchange the currency to pay dividends.Chinese firms listed in Hong Kong are expected to pay nearly $68 billion in dividends this year, which would be nearly 17% higher than 2020’s amount. That means they’ll step up swapping the yuan for the city’s dollars in coming months.This comes after the yuan rebounded about 0.4% from March’s 1.3% drop, when risk assets were sold off due to a spike in Treasury yields. The payout season, which starts to gather steam this month and is expected to peak in August, will further suppress the currency, in addition to strength in the dollar and a narrowing yield premium over the rest of the world. On top of that, uncertainty over China-U.S. tensions is continuing to hurt sentiment.“Dividend outflows add pressure on the yuan, against the background of brewing U.S.-China tensions.,” said Trang Thuy Le, Asia currency strategist at Macquarie Capital Ltd. in Hong Kong, adding that discussions on the Federal Reserve starting to taper policy could strengthen the greenback in the fourth quarter. “The dollar-yuan rate should largely mirror that path.”More than 400 companies will hand out $65 billion of dividends from April to September alone, with the payment reaching a peak in August at $21 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.Firms are paying more to shareholders in part because they have excess idle cash as they refrain from expansion, and also as they hope to retain investors.To be sure, it’s unlikely the dividend season would lead to any dramatic slide in the currency. That’s because not all of the companies need to sell the yuan in the spot market for the Hong Kong dollar, which they may already own and can be used for dividend payments. Also, the People’s Bank of China won’t likely allow any sharp depreciation, as that may hinder its push to attract foreign inflows and promote the yuan’s global usage.Also, the dollar remains the biggest driver of yuan moves nowadays. Even though banks helped clients sell the currency during last year’s payout season, it gained during the summer amid drops in the greenback.A beneficiary of the move, of course, is the Hong Kong dollar. The currency, which this month fell to a one-year low, will see stronger demand in the coming months. It inched higher to 7.77 per dollar Monday while the onshore yuan fell 0.1% to 6.5256.The largest single sum of dividend payment will hit on Aug. 5, when China Construction Bank Corp. hands $12 billion to its shareholders. And on May 20, China Mobile Ltd. will give out $4.6 billion.(Adds Monday prices in 3rd, 9th paragraph)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
1d ago
Bloomberg
Putin’s Answer to U.S. Sanctions Is More Economic Isolation
(Bloomberg) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin is likely to respond to the latest round of U.S. sanctions threats as he has to past ones: by speeding his drive to make Russia’s economy more self-sufficient.In the seven years since Russia’s annexation of Crimea, Putin’s government and central bank have stripped back the country’s exposure to dollars, shifted assets out of the U.S. and sold a smaller share of its debt to foreigners.“The Americans are saying: be careful or we could do more, but Russia is just going to continue down the path toward economic autarky,” said Elina Ribakova, deputy chief economist at the Institute of International Finance in Washington.The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden is keeping the threat of sanctions hanging over Russia even after a sweeping round of penalties imposed last week. On Sunday, the U.S. warned of “consequences” if jailed opposition activist Alexey Navalny dies in prison.These four charts show how Putin has responded to past rounds of sanctions by increasing Russia’s economic isolation.The share of gold in Russia’s $581 billion international reserves jumped above dollars for the first time on record last year following a multi-year drive to reduce exposure to U.S. assets. The precious metal made up 24% of the central bank’s stockpile as of the end of September 2020, the latest date for which the breakdown is available. The share of dollar assets was 22%, down from more than 40% in 2018.That trend also shows up in the share of Russia’s international reserves held in the U.S., which plummeted to just under 7% by the end of September, down from about 30% before the Crimea annexation. Most of the shift happened in the second quarter of 2018 just after sanctions on aluminum giant United Co. Rusal revealed how vulnerable Russia was to sanctions.What Our Economists Say...Russia’s resilience to successive waves of sanctions provides a false sense of security. With the U.S. running out of options, the next round could be more disruptive, and the measures already in place are holding back trade and investment.-- Scott Johnson, Bloomberg EconomicsOf course, there’s only so much that Russia can do without cutting itself off entirely from the global economy. But officials in Washington are also restrained by the fact that if they go too far (as they did with the Rusal sanctions that were later revoked), they risk sending tremors through global markets.Acting on a pledge by Putin to “de-dollarize” trade, Russia has been slowly cutting back on use of the greenback in its exports with the European Union, China and India. The euro has almost overtaken the dollar in Russia’s trade with the EU and has already surpassed it in exports to China. About two-thirds of Russia’s exports to India, meanwhile, are paid for in rubles.How Virus-Panicked Markets Showed Dollar’s Still King: QuickTakeLast week’s penalties included a ban on purchases of bonds on the primary market, so the next big targets could be secondary-market debt and Russian banks’ access to the financial messaging system used for most international money transfers. Russia is already looking for alternatives to the system, known as SWIFT, to make itself less vulnerable, though attempts so far haven’t led to much.One reason the Finance Ministry wasn’t too concerned about the latest sanctions measure on government debt is that Russia has mostly been selling to local banks at its weekly auctions anyway. Borrowing was ramped up during the pandemic even though foreign demand was weak, which increased the overall size of the market and pushed down the share of foreigners.U.S. banks can still buy new debt on the secondary market after the penalties come into force in mid-June. Russia is “well positioned” for a near term market disruption because it has a high cash buffer and demand from local banks is “robust,” Fitch Ratings said in a research note published late on Friday.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
18h ago
Bloomberg
China’s $87 Billion Electric-Car Giant Hasn’t Sold a Vehicle Yet
(Bloomberg) -- China Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group Ltd.’s expansive pop-up showroom sits at the heart of Shanghai’s National Exhibition and Convention Center. With nine models on display, it’s hard to miss. The electric car upstart has one of the biggest booths at China’s 2021 Auto Show, which starts Monday, opposite storied German automaker BMW AG. Yet its bold presence belies an uncomfortable truth -- Evergrande hasn’t sold a single car under its own brand.China’s largest property developer has an array of investments outside of real estate, from soccer clubs to retirement villages. But it’s the recent entry into electric cars that’s captured investors’ imaginations. Shareholders have pushed Evergrande NEV’s Hong Kong-listed stock up more than 1,000% over the past 12 months, allowing it to raise billions of dollars in fresh capital. It now has a market value of $87 billion, greater than Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co.Such exuberance over an automaker that has repeatedly pushed back forecasts for when it will mass produce a car is emblematic of the froth that has been building in EVs over the past year, with investors plowing money into a rally that briefly made Elon Musk the world’s richest person and has some concerned about a bubble. Perhaps nowhere is that more evident than in China, home to the world’s biggest market for new energy cars, where a mind-boggling 400 EV manufacturers now jostle for consumers’ attention, led by a cabal of startups valued more than established auto players but which have yet to turn a profit.Evergrande NEV was a relatively late entrant to that scene.In March 2019, Hui Ka Yan, Evergrande’s chairman and one of China’s richest men, vowed to take on Musk and become the world’s biggest maker of EVs in three to five years. Tesla Inc.’s Model Y crossover had just had its global debut. In the two years since, Tesla has gained an enviable foothold in China, establishing its first factory outside the U.S. and delivering around 35,500 cars in March. Chinese rival Nio Inc. earlier this month reached a significant milestone when its 100,000th EV rolled off the production line, prompting Musk to tweet his congratulations.Read more: Nio, Xpeng Exude Optimism as EVs Boom: Shanghai Auto ShowDespite his lofty ambitions and Evergrande NEV’s rich valuation, Hui has repeatedly pushed back car-production targets. The tycoon’s coterie of rich friends, among others, have stumped up billions, but making cars -- electric or otherwise -- is hard, and hugely capital intensive. Nio’s gross margins only flipped into positive territory in mid-2020, after years of heavy losses and a lifeline from a municipal government.Speaking on an earnings call in late March after Evergrande NEV’s full-year loss for 2020 widened by a yawning 67%, Hui said the company planned to begin trial production at the end of this year, delayed from an original timeline of last September. Deliveries aren’t expected to start until some time in 2022. Expectations for annual production capacity of 500,000 to 1 million EVs by March 2022 were also pushed back until 2025. Still, the company issued a buoyant new forecast: 5 million cars a year by 2035. For comparison, global giant Volkswagen AG delivered 3.85 million units in China in 2020.It’s not just Evergrande’s delayed production schedule that’s raising eyebrows. A closer look under the company’s hood reveals practices that have industry veterans scratching their heads: from making selling apartments part of car executives’ KPIs, to attempting a model lineup that would be ambitious for even the most established automaker.‘Weird Company’“It’s a weird company,” said Bill Russo, the founder and chief executive officer of advisory firm Automobility Ltd. in Shanghai. “They’ve poured a lot of money in that hasn’t really returned anything, plus they’re entering an industry in which they have very limited understanding. And I’m not sure they’ve got the technological edge of Nio or Xpeng,” he said, referring to the New York-listed Chinese EV makers already deploying intelligent features in their cars, like laser-based navigation.A closer look at Evergrande NEV’s operations reveals the extent of its unorthodox approach. While it’s established three production bases -- in Guangzhou, Tianjin in China’s north, and Shanghai -- the company doesn’t have a general car assembly line up and running. Equipment and machinery is still being adjusted, according to people who have seen inside the factories but don’t want to be identified discussing confidential matters.In a response to questions from Bloomberg, Evergrande NEV said it was preparing machinery for trial production, and would be able to make “one car a minute” once full production is reached.The company is targeting mass production and delivery next year of four models -- the Hengchi 5 and 6; the luxe Hengchi 1 (which will go up against Tesla’s Model S); and the Hengchi 3, according to people familiar with the matter. The company has told investors it aims to deliver 100,000 cars in 2022, one of the people said, roughly the number of units Nio, Xpeng Inc. and Li Auto Inc., the other U.S.-listed Chinese EV contender, delivered last year, combined.Its workers are also being asked to help sell real estate, the backbone of the Evergrande empire.New hires are required to undergo internal training and attend seminars that drill them on the company’s property history and have nothing to do with car making. In addition, employees from all departments, from production-line workers to back-office staff, are encouraged to promote the sale of apartments, whether through posting ads on social media or bringing relatives and friends along to sale centers to make them appear busy. Managerial-level staff even have their performance bonuses tied to such endeavors, people familiar with the measure said.Meanwhile, the ambitious targets have Evergrande NEV turning to outsourcing and skipping procedures seen as normal practice in the industry, people with knowledge of the situation say.While it’s hiring aggressively and recently scored Daniel Kirchert, a former BMW executive who co-founded EV startup Byton Ltd., the firm has contracted most of the design and R&D of its cars to overseas suppliers, some of the people said. Contracting out the majority of design and engineering work is an unusual approach for a company wanting to achieve such scale.14 Models At OnceOne of those companies is Canada’s Magna International Inc., which is leading the development of the Hengchi 1 and 3, one of the people said. Evergrande NEV has also teamed with Chinese tech giants Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Baidu Inc. to co-develop a software system for the Hengchi range. It will allow drivers to use a mobile app to instruct the car to drive via autopilot to a certain location and use artificial intelligence to switch on appliances at home while on the road, according to a statement last month.A spokesperson for Evergrande said it was working with international partners including Magna, EDAG Engineering Group AG and Austrian parts maker AVL List GmbH in developing “14 models simultaneously.” Representatives from Magna declined to comment. A Baidu spokesperson said the company had no further details to share, while a representative for Tencent said the software venture is with a related firm called Beijing Tinnove Technology Co. that operates independently. Tinnove didn’t respond to requests for comment.Rather than staggering model releases, Evergrande NEV appears to be rolling out every type of car all at once under its Hengchi brand, which sports a roaring gold lion on the badge and translates loosely to ‘unstoppable gallop.’ The nine models being launched span almost all major passenger vehicle segments from sedans to SUVS and multi-purpose vehicles. Prices will range from about 80,000 yuan ($12,000) to 600,000 yuan, although the final costs could change, a person familiar said.That’s a completely different product development strategy to EV pioneers like Tesla, which only has four models on offer. Nio and Xpeng have also chosen to focus on just a handful of marques, and even then are struggling to break into the black.“The market has proved the effectiveness of the ‘one product in vogue at one time’ strategy,” said Zhang Xiang, an automobile industry researcher at the North China University of Technology. “Evergrande is offering many products and expects a win. There’s a question mark over whether this will work.”Without any long-term carmaking nous, Evergrande has issued uncompromising directives to meet its latest production targets, according to the people. Two models, including the Hengchi 5, a compact SUV that rivals Xpeng’s G3, are targeting mass production in a little over 20 months. To hit that timing, certain industry procedures, like making mule cars, or testbed vehicles equipped with prototype components that require evaluation, may be skipped, people familiar with the situation said. Evergrande told Bloomberg it has entered a “sprint stage toward mass production.”As it is, Bloomberg could only find one instance where the Hengchi 5 has been showcased in public, in photos and grainy footage released by Evergrande in February as the cars drove around a snow-covered field in Inner Mongolia. The company’s shares surged to a record.Glossing over those steps is unusual, said Zhong Shi, a former automotive project manager turned independent analyst.“There’s a standard engineering process of product development, validation and verification, which includes several laboratory and road tests” in China and everywhere else, Zhong said. “It’s hard to compress that to shorter than three years.”While there’s no suggestion Evergrande’s approach violates any regulations, its stock-market run could be in for a reality check. After similarly hefty market gains, some EV startups in the U.S. that have yet to prove their viability as revenue-generating, profitable entities have lost their shine over the past few months amid concern about valuations and as established carmakers like VW move faster into EV fray.Read more: The End of Tesla’s Dominance May Be Closer Than It AppearsThe industry’s multi-billion dollar surge also hasn’t escaped Beijing’s attention. Evergrande NEV shares dipped lower last month after an editorial from the state-run Xinhua news agency highlighted concerns about how the EV sector is evolving. Of particular worry are companies that are shirking their responsibility to build quality cars, a blind race by local governments to attract EV projects, and high valuations by companies that have yet to deliver a single mass-produced car, according to the missive, which named Evergrande specifically in that regard. “The huge gap between production capacity and market value shows there is hype in the NEV market,” it said.Still, Evergrande NEV’s stock has gained 18% since then, buoyed by the outlook for China’s electric-car market. EVs currently account for about 5% of China’s annual car sales, BloombergNEF data show, with demand forecast to soar as the market matures and electric-car prices fall. EV sales in China may climb more than 50% this year alone, research firm Canalys said in a February report.With competition also on the rise, some outside Evergrande NEV’s loyal shareholder base remain skeptical.“The market is getting crowded but unless you have a preferred lane, there’s not much chance to win,” Automobility’s Russo said. “Maybe there’s some synergy with the property businesses but right now it’s an EV story, and a pretty expensive one.”For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
1d ago
Reuters
Australia's Woolworths takes controlling stake in data analytics firm for $173 million
The company said on Tuesday it will increase its shareholding in Quantium for A$223 million ($173.25 million). The deal implies a valuation of A$796 million for Quantium, nearly 20-times the value when it took a 50% stake in 2013. Woolworths, which benefited from COVID-19-induced stockpiling in 2020, had warned in February that sales growth would slow in the months ahead as travel restrictions eased and vaccinations increased.
6h ago
Reuters
Australia's Orocobre buying Galaxy for $1.4 billion to create world No.5 lithium miner
MELBOURNE (Reuters) -Australian lithium miner Orocobre Ltd is buying smaller domestic peer Galaxy Resources for $1.4 billion to create the world's fifth most valuable producer of the key raw material for electric vehicle batteries. The all-stock deal for A$1.78 billion ($1.38 billion)announced on Monday, which will also establish Australia's most valuable lithium miner with a A$4 billion market capitalisation, comes as demand for the material is booming amid a jump in global sales of electric vehicles. The new entity will have hard rock, brine, and chemicals assets across Australia, Argentina, Canada and Japan, and will be able to accelerate development and sell into global markets.
1d ago
FX Empire
GBP/USD Daily Forecast – British Pound Is Strong At The Start Of The Week
GBP/USD settled above the resistance at 1.3835 and is testing the next resistance at 1.3865.
1d ago
Reuters
'Britcoin' not bitcoin? UK considers new digital currency
LONDON (Reuters) -British finance minister Rishi Sunak told the Bank of England on Monday to look at the case for a new "Britcoin", or central bank-backed digital currency, aimed at tackling some of the challenges posed by cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin. "We're launching a new taskforce between the Treasury and the Bank of England to coordinate exploratory work on a potential central bank digital currency (CBDC)," Sunak told a financial industry conference. Soon after, Sunak tweeted the single word "Britcoin" in reply to the finance ministry's announcement of the taskforce.
23h ago
Bloomberg
Iron Ore Giants Challenged in Race to Meet China Demand
(Bloomberg) -- The world’s top two iron ore miners struggled to keep up with strong Chinese demand in the first quarter of 2021, hit by operational challenges and weather disruptions, in a positive sign for prices that are already at decade highs.Brazil’s Vale SA churned out less ore than expected last quarter after lower productivity at one mine and a ship loader fire, with its recovery from an early-2019 tailings dam disaster proving a little slower than expected. Rio Tinto Group’s shipments were disrupted by wetter-than-average weather at its Pilbara operations in Western Australia.Benchmark iron ore surged Monday over $180 a ton -- the highest since May 2011 -- following news that China’s crude steel production jumped 19% last month from a year earlier to near a record. The nation’s output of the alloy is booming at the same time as a pollution crackdown has lifted prices and benefited profit margins at mills.“With the market relatively tight at the moment, it will certainly see any failure to meet current guidelines as relatively positive for the price,” said Daniel Hynes, senior commodities strategist at ANZ Banking Group Ltd. Vale and Rio both maintained their forecasts for full-year production, though a slower-than-expected recovery at Vale could see the market reset its expectations, he said.Rio cautioned that its guidance for annual output of up to 340 million tons was subject to logistical risks associated with bringing 90 million tons of replacement mine capacity on stream. It also said that Tropical Cyclone Seroja had impacted its Pilbara mine and port operations in April.It was a “mediocre quarter” for Rio, Tyler Broda, mining analyst at RBC Capital Markets, said in a note. Quarterly production was 6% less than the bank’s estimate, he said. “Not all that much is going in the right direction from a bottom-up basis for Rio Tinto as they continue to tackle the various challenges at their operations and projects, but main commodities iron ore and aluminum are both benefiting from the China decarbonisation theme.”Iron ore futures in Singapore rose as much as 3.7% to $182.80 a ton before trading at $182.75 by 2:48 p.m. local time. Prices in Dalian gained as much as 4.7%, while hot-rolled coil and rebar both rose in Shanghai. Rio Tinto’s shares settled 0.5% lower in Sydney.Steel prices in China finished the quarter at decade highs as construction activity and demand in the first quarter exceeded both 2020 and 2019, Rio said. Strong demand and margins -- at their highest since 2018 -- have lifted demand for higher quality iron ore products and the nation’s renewed focus on reducing steelmaking emissions will likely restrain exports in 2021, supporting margins globally, the company said.The short-term outlook for iron ore prices remained strong, ANZ’s Hynes said, with Chinese steel mills content to accept current high prices for their main feedstock while their margins were so strong. However, he added the cost of ore was now well above fair value, with the risk of a pullback later in the year if Beijing’s plans to curb steel production to control greenhouse gas emissions start to impact on demand.“If we saw a 1% fall in Chinese steel production that would potentially wipe out about 15-20 million tons of iron ore,” said Hynes(Closes shares in 7th paragraph.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
34m ago
Reuters
Wall Street slips from record levels; Tesla drops after fatal car crash
Major U.S. stock indexes fell from record levels on Monday as investors sought cues from first-quarter earnings reports to justify the rich valuation of equities, while Tesla shares fell following a fatal car crash. The electric-car maker was down 3.5% after a Tesla vehicle, which was believed to be operating without anyone in the driver's seat, crashed into a tree on Saturday night north of Houston, killing two occupants. The stock, which was the biggest drag on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq, was also under pressure due to a sharp drop in bitcoin over the weekend.
18h ago
Bloomberg
New Lithium Giant Emerges to Feed Surging Battery Demand
(Bloomberg) -- A planned $3.1 billion merger of two Australian miners is set to create one of the world’s biggest producers of lithium products key to meeting fast-growing global demand for electric vehicle batteries.The deal between Orocobre Ltd. and Galaxy Resources Ltd. is the biggest mining sector deal of the year so far, according to Bloomberg data, with shares of both companies closing at the highest in three years in Sydney. The merger would create the world’s fifth-biggest producer of lithium chemicals, the refined form of the raw materials that are used to make electric vehicle batteries.Miners to battery makers have rushed to secure lithium supply amid expectations the EV frenzy will create a structural deficit as soon as this year, and prices are already roaring back after a three-year slump. Battery demand is expected to surge tenfold by 2030, according to BloombergNEF, as the global clean-energy transition accelerates.The new company “is going to be a globally relevant player in terms of lithium chemical production,” said Reg Spencer, head of mining research at Canaccord Genuity Australia Ltd. He said that it could grow to be number three producer by 2025 if all growth projects go ahead.The A$4 billion deal values Galaxy at about A$3.53 a share, a 2.2% discount to Friday’s close, and has the backing of both company boards. Orocobre’s Chief Executive Officer Martin Perez de Solay will head the new group.Orocobre will offer 0.569 of its shares for every Galaxy share and will own 54.2% of the merged company, with Galaxy holding 45.8%. Orocobre was advised on the deal by UBS AG, while Galaxy’s adviser was Standard Chartered Plc. The deal is targeted for completion in mid August 2021.Diverse AssetsThe merged group, which has yet to be formally named, will have its headquarters in Buenos Aires, but its primary share listing will remain in Australia.The deal gives the companies a geographically diversified set of assets. Orocobre sells lithium carbonate from its Olaroz operation in Argentina, while Galaxy has a mine in Australia and growth projects in Canada and South America.Lithium raw materials are most commonly extracted at brine operations which pump liquid from underground reservoirs into vast evaporation ponds, or in traditional hard rock mines. China is the biggest player in electric vehicle batteries, with the majority of the world’s production capacity, and has a stranglehold over processing of the required commodities.The growth profile of the combined group’s existing assets put it on track to grab a 10% share of the lithium market over the next five to seven years, Perez de Solay said in an interview, backed by “a strong balance sheet that will enable us not only to deliver those projects but to continue to grow.” Top global lithium producers currently include Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile SA and Albemarle Corp.Argentina RiskCanaccord’s Spencer said there were risks in having the largest part of an operation in Argentina, given its history of geo-political and financial volatility, although Orocobre’s local management team had so far proven adept at navigating those risks.“From Galaxy’s perspective, we were looking for a partner which had deep in-country Argentinian experience and we’ve got that in Orocobre,” said Simon Hay, Galaxy’s CEO, who will take on the role of president of international business in the new organization. The merger will help to de-risk Galaxy’s Sal de Vida growth project in the South American country, he said.(Updates to add lithium chemicals and processing information in second, ninth paragraphs.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
23h ago
Bloomberg
Tech Leads Stock Retreat; Dollar Falls: Markets Wrap
(Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks retreated from an all-time high as investors awaited the heart of the earnings season and more economic data later in the week. The dollar fell.Technology shares dragged down the S&P 500, which posted its biggest drop in almost four weeks. Tesla Inc. contributed the most to the decline as one of its electric cars that “no one” appeared to be driving crashed and killed two passengers. Small caps underperformed, with more than three-quarters of the stocks in the Russell 2000 closing lower. Copper prices surged to a seven-week high on prospects for strong demand and a pickup in inflation as economies rebound.In the U.S., the economic calendar is light this week until Thursday, with reports on unemployment claims and home sales among those scheduled for release. Robust economic data helped push stocks to another record last week despite concerns surrounding the spread of Covid-19 variants. Traders will look for further confirmation of the private sector’s recovery from the pandemic as the earnings season gathers pace. United Airlines Holdings Inc. and International Business Machines Corp. are among those with reports after the closing bell on Monday.“With a deluge of earnings activity this week from across industries, we may be in a bit of a holding pattern until investors digest any beats or misses on that front,” said Chris Larkin, managing director of trading and investing product at E*Trade Financial. “Bottom line is that short-term volatility is typical when we’re knocking around market highs as traders look to uncover value.”For Matt Maley, chief market strategist for Miller Tabak + Co., the sharp drop in Bitcoin over the weekend is having an impact on trading as well.“Whenever a headline-grabbing asset sees a big decline at a time when the broad market stands at an expensive level, it usually has a negative impact on the stock market, even if it’s only short-lived,” he wrote.Here are some key events to watch this week:Apple’s first product unveiling of the year on Tuesday.Reserve Bank of Australia releases minutes of its policy meeting on Tuesday.EIA crude oil inventory report on Wednesday.European Central Bank rate decision and President Christine Lagarde briefing on Thursday.U.S. releases new home sales data.These are some of the main moves in markets:StocksThe S&P 500 fell 0.5% as of 4:03 p.m. New York timeThe Nasdaq 100 fell 1%The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3%The Russell 2000 Index fell 1.4%The MSCI World index fell 0.3%CurrenciesThe Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.4%The euro rose 0.5% to 1.2037The British pound rose 1.1% to 1.3986The Japanese yen rose 0.6% to 108.17 per dollarBondsThe yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced 2.1 basis points to 1.601%Germany’s 10-year yield advanced 2.8 basis points to 0.235%Britain’s 10-year yield declined 0.9 basis points to 0.755%CommoditiesWest Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.5% to $63 a barrelGold futures fell 0.5% to $1,771/oz(An earlier story misstated the copper price move in the second paragraph.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
10h ago
Bloomberg
Taiwan Dollar Gains as U.S. Hints at Currency Valuation Pressure
(Bloomberg) -- Taiwan’s dollar posted its biggest daily advance since December after a U.S. Treasury report hinted that the Biden administration could exert greater pressure on the island’s central bank to allow the currency to appreciate.The local dollar rose 0.5% to close at 28.205 against the greenback, and was emerging Asia’s best-performing currency for the day. While the Treasury report on Friday didn’t label Taiwan as a currency manipulator, it said the U.S. will initiate “enhanced bilateral engagement” to address what it considers as “structural undervaluation” of the exchange rate.“Despite the relief of not being labeled a currency manipulator, the Treasury report still urged Taiwan authorities to limit FX intervention to exceptional circumstances,” said Ken Cheung, chief Asian FX strategist at Mizuho Bank Ltd. “This, alongside the strong exports, will help support the Taiwan dollar.”The Taiwan dollar has come under scrutiny as the tech-dependent economy posts a quicker recovery from the pandemic than most of its peers in Asia. Six of the 60 pages in the Treasury report were devoted to Taiwan, more than any other U.S. trading partner, in the Biden administration’s first foreign-exchange policy update.The report cites research published in November 2018 that assesses the Asian currency to be undervalued by as much as 21%. Taiwan made net foreign-exchange purchases of $39.5 billion in 2020, equivalent to 5.9% of its gross domestic product, according to the analysis.While Taiwan’s central bank doesn’t deny intervening in currency markets, it pushed back against aspects of the U.S. assessment. The Taiwan dollar is close to being at a balanced level based on the International Monetary Fund’s valuation model, it said, as it urged the U.S. to ease monitoring of trading partners during the Covid pandemic.Held Meetings“Yellen is pragmatic and prudent,” central bank governor Yang Chin-long told lawmakers Monday, when discussing the Treasury report. “We need to show more than just our sincerity about communicating with the U.S.”Taiwan has already held two meetings with the Treasury this year over its currency, Yang added. The central bank only intervenes when there are concerns about supply and demand in the market, he said.Regular late-session moves by state-backed banks to pare gains by Taiwan’s currency against the dollar are “a kind of intervention,” Governor Yang had told reporters in late March. For months, the currency could rise more than 1% during the day, only to pare back most of the advance at the close.While the U.S. didn’t label any economy as a currency manipulator, it also acknowledged that Taiwan, Switzerland and Vietnam all met the threshold. It insisted that it would maintain pressure on trading partners to redress trade imbalances with the U.S.“There will still be pressure on Asian central banks to ease back on their intervention activity, which would lead to greater appreciation pressure,” said Khoon Goh, head of Asia research at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. “The easing of U.S. 10-year bond yields and the retreat in the dollar of late has also helped the Taiwan dollar’s move.”For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
22h ago
Bloomberg
Nvidia Falls as U.K. Intervenes on $40 Billion Arm Deal
(Bloomberg) -- Nvidia Corp. shares fell after the U.K. said it will intervene in the U.S. company’s $40 billion deal for British semiconductor designer Arm Ltd. on national security grounds.The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport ordered the country’s antitrust watchdog to investigate the implications of the deal and make a report by midnight on July 30, according to a statement issued on Monday. Nvidia shares slid 1.8% as the market opened in New York.The proposed acquisition of the U.K.’s most valuable tech company is already under investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority, which will consider whether Arm might raise prices or hurt licensing services to Nvidia’s rivals. Arm is currently owned by Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp. and Nvidia has said it will keep Arm’s headquarters in Cambridge.“We do not believe that this transaction poses any material national security issues,” a spokesperson for Nvidia said in a statement. “We will continue to work closely with the British authorities, as we have done since the announcement of this deal.”The DCMS noted that semiconductors are fundamental to a wide range of technologies but also underpin the U.K.’s critical national infrastructure and are found in defense and national security related technologies.“We want to support our thriving U.K. tech industry and welcome foreign investment, but it is appropriate that we properly consider the national security implications of a transaction like this,” Digital Secretary Oliver Dowden said.Read More: Nvidia’s $40 Billion Deal for Arm Faces U.K. Merger Review Arm’s neutral position as a supplier at the heart of the chipmaking industry has already raised concerns about the deal, because chipmaker Nvidia directly competes with Arm’s customers such as Qualcomm Inc., Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc.In the U.S., the deal is under review by the Federal Trade Commission, which has opened an in-depth investigation of the merger and has sent information demands to third parties.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
18h ago

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