Zhimeitong | International Highlights

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[Amazon workers vote against unionization in Staten Island, New York] On May 2, local time , workers at an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island, New York, voted overwhelmingly to reject a motion to join a union. The National Labor Relations Board said the vote was 380 for the union and 618 against.

Amazon is facing increasing pressure from labor groups. In early April, workers at another warehouse in Staten Island, N.Y., numbered JFK8, voted to form the company's first union, despite a series of opposition campaigns by Amazon.

[Best Buy: Games and peripherals will continue to sell well] The CEO of Best Buy said that even if people return to their pre-pandemic lifestyles, the popularity of games and peripherals will continue. Gaming PCs are the highest-end PC category Best Buy sells. "The definition of gaming has been expanded, it's social, it's virtual reality, it's console, it's computing," said CEO Corie Barry. Best Buy CEO , even if people return to their pre-epidemic lifestyle, the popularity of games and their peripheral products will continue. Gaming PCs are the highest-end PC category Best Buy sells. "The definition of gaming has been expanded, it's social, it's virtual reality, it's console, it's computing," said CEO Corie Barry.

[U.S. 10-year treasury bond yield rose to 3% for the first time since 2018] On Monday, May 2, local time, the U.S. 10-year treasury bond yield once climbed 6.7 basis points, surpassing 3% for the first time since December 2018. close. The 20-year treasury bond yield had already taken the lead in breaking through the 3% level on April 11. Yields on the 5-year, 7-year and 30-year treasuries also all "broken below 3" in late April. The Fed is widely expected to sharply raise its benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points this week, with further hikes at a later meeting.

[PIMCO: It is expected that the decision of the Fed at this week's meeting is unlikely to surprise the market] Pacific Investment Management Corporation (PIMCO) economists said that the Fed is expected to raise interest rates by 50 basis points at this week's meeting and announce a plan to shrink its balance sheet . Given the strong signals ahead of the meeting, the move is not expected to surprise markets, and investors will be looking for any indication of the path ahead, he said. “With the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation surpassing 5% in the first quarter, we expect the Fed to continue raising rates by 50 basis points in June. Once pandemic-era policy is reversed, the Fed is expected to shift to a more aggressive pace as global growth slows. Tighten policy at a slow pace.”

[The U.S. Treasury Department currently expects to repay $26 billion in debt this quarter] The U.S. Treasury Department forecast shows that debt managers now expect to repay $26 billion in debt between April and June. That compares with the $66 billion in new borrowings the Treasury Department projected in January, which would mark the first quarterly repayments in six years. This was a twist from an earlier estimate of net borrowing as tax revenue surged. Treasury officials cautioned that the estimate did not include any assumptions for the Fed to reduce its holdings of Treasuries. If the Fed does start reducing its bond portfolio, the sector's borrowing needs will be greater. The Treasury Department currently assumes a cash balance of $800 billion at the end of June. That's $100 billion more than expected in February. The reserve currently stands at $953 billion.

[New York City raises epidemic risk level] On the 2nd local time, the New York City health department raised the local epidemic risk level to "moderate" to reflect the recent resurgence of local infections. According to the report of the local health department, the main strains that caused the rise of this wave of epidemics in New York are the mutant strains BA.2.12 and BA.2.12.1 of Omicron BA.2.

[Amazon notification: U.S. employees no longer enjoy paid vacation due to the epidemic] According to reports, Amazon notified its U.S. employees that if their nucleic acid test results show positive, they will no longer be paid for taking time off. The new notice states that employees have five days of unpaid leave, after which they will need to return to work regardless of whether they are healthy or not.

The new system, which is expected to go into effect on the 2nd local time, in addition to cutting paid leave for the sick, will stop full notification of cases in its warehouses and will end incentives for people to get vaccinated. Since everyone in the U.S. will now have access to vaccines and boosters, more companies are moving in a similar direction to Amazon.

[Overstock's first-quarter sales fell 19%] Online retailer Overstock's first-quarter revenue fell 19% to $536 million, a decline that exceeded market expectations. The company's revenue nearly doubled in the same period last year, helped by the pandemic. Overstock's active customers fell 26% in the first quarter, and order deliveries fell by a third to 2.4 million. The company's chief executive said that macroeconomic factors have created challenges for the business, such as a lack of consumer confidence caused by sharply rising inflation.

[Victoria's Secret Opens Amazon Store to Promote Beauty Product Sales] Victoria's Secret and its sub-brand PINK have reportedly started selling beauty products on Amazon. About 120 products are eligible for free Amazon Prime shipping, the company said. The Victoria's Secret CEO said strong sales of beauty products drove the company's 4% revenue growth in its most recent quarter.

[Cross-border e-commerce Shein launches eco-friendly product line evoluSHEIN] Recently, China's cross-border fast fashion e-commerce platform Shein announced the launch of a new product line – evoluSHEIN, which will be sold globally from April 29. The evoluSHEIN collection is available in multiple sizes and uses environmentally friendly raw materials. It is understood that the first garment released by evoluSHEIN will use recyclable polyester fiber as a raw material, which is a fiber extracted from plastic waste.

Shein said that evoluSHEIN is a market test, and these innovations will be adopted in more series of SHEIN. The evoluSHEIN product line begins with women's tops, dresses, bottoms and plus-size products. Shein also plans to expand the product line to 1,500 SKUs by September 2022.

Source: Internet

[UPS will deploy RFID systems in 100 warehouses this year] UPS plans to implement a smart package program in 100 warehouses in 2022, that is, the use of RFID tags on packages, the CEO of UPS said. to increase processing speed. This move will reduce manual scans by about 20 million per day and save about $500 million in operating costs.

[American Spirit Airlines rejects JetBlue Airways acquisition, insists on merging with Frontier Airlines] On May 2, local time, Spirit Airlines rejected JetBlue's $3.6 billion acquisition proposal, choosing to insist on accepting the acquisition from Frontier Airlines Airline (Frontier) merger proposal. Even if JetBlue raised its offer at the last minute, it couldn't get Spirit Airlines board members to change their minds.

"We believe that as long as the JetBlue-American Northeast alliance remains, the likelihood of a JetBlue-Spirit combination obtaining antitrust clearance is low," the Spirit's board said. The Spirit-Frontier deal is expected will be completed in the second half of this year. Unlike JetBlue's proposal, Frontier's proposal would allow Spirit shareholders to retain a 48.5 percent stake in the combined airline.

[iPhone 14 series or delayed release industry insiders: Apple suppliers limited production] Semiconductor industry sources said that Apple's component manufacturers and equipment assemblers may be forced to delay the release of the new iPhone 14 series this year due to the impact of the epidemic. . The industry insider said that at present, the factories of many of Apple's suppliers have been forced to shut down or restricted production, which will likely lead to the failure to deliver the iPhone 14 series that will be put into production on time. It is worth noting that the previous iPhone 13 series was forced to adopt a batch listing strategy, so the delay of the iPhone 14 series is naturally reasonable.

[Dutch regulator is preparing to issue a new round of fines to Apple for not enough adjustments to dating apps] According to reports, after 10 fines, the Dutch Consumer and Markets Authority (ACM) is preparing to issue a new round of fines to Apple. A round of fines said Apple did not make enough changes to its App Store policies related to dating apps. It is reported that on March 30, Apple was fined 5 million euros by the Dutch antitrust agency, with a total of 50 million euros, and then Apple began to accept requests from reader developers to allow users to use external links to register and manage their apps outside the Apple Store. account. Meanwhile, Apple has also changed its policy on dating apps in the Netherlands.

[Apple is determined not to open NFC payment, and the EU can impose a maximum antitrust fine of 10% of global turnover] According to reports, the EU antitrust regulator officially accused Apple of restricting competitors from using its NFC chip technology, which may lead to Apple facing a huge fine, And forced it to open its NFC mobile payment system to competitors. This objection statement has been formally submitted to Apple in writing. If the EU's final investigation report is consistent with the current report, Apple may face antitrust fines of up to 10% of its global turnover, and Apple has not publicly commented on this.

[Google search allows users to delete mobile phone numbers, addresses and other content information] According to reports, Google announced that it will expand the types of information allowed to be deleted in searches. The new update will focus on personal contact information such as physical addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, confidential login credentials, and details that could lead to identity theft. Google Search has always had an effective strategy for removing specific content, especially for highly personal content. However, given that "the internet is always evolving," the company's approach needs to keep improving to prevent sensitive information from accidentally showing up anywhere on the web. If left unchecked, the discovery of such information can lead to a variety of problems, from financial fraud to human flesh searches and even personal injury.

[Google urges EU court to cancel $1.6 billion antitrust fine] According to reports, three years ago, EU antitrust regulators slapped Google with 1.49 billion euros (combined $1.6 billion) fine. On the 2nd local time, Google urged the second highest court in Europe to dismiss the fine. It is reported that Google owns the world's largest Internet search engine, but it has also been imposed a total of 8.25 billion euros in antitrust fines by the European Union. The above case is only one of them.

[Research firm analyst: The euro is expected to appreciate in the next 12 months] Economic research analysts said that in the next 12 months, given that the European Central Bank will already start raising interest rates, the euro may appreciate against the dollar at that time. "While the dollar should remain strong in the coming months, the focus should turn to the ECB's rate hikes by year-end," he said, adding that, coupled with lower commodity prices, should keep the euro up over the next 12 months. He also expects the ECB to raise interest rates for the first time in December, raising the deposit rate to 0.75% by the end of 2023 from the current -0.50%.

[ING: Eurozone economic confidence deteriorated in April, reflecting high uncertainty] ING's global macro director said the euro zone's April economic sentiment index fell to 105 from 106.7, indicating that the euro zone's outlook has deteriorated, but It has not deteriorated sharply yet, while also reflecting a high degree of uncertainty ahead. While there is little solid data yet on the economic impact of the conflict in Ukraine, some first-quarter GDP component data have shown that private consumption has been hit hard by high energy and commodity prices, and businesses have started to stock up on inventories.

[UK government calls on North Sea oil and gas producers to invest profits domestically to accelerate energy production] According to reports, the UK domestic energy prices have soared, the British government is currently pressuring oil and gas producers in the North Sea region to invest profits domestically to accelerate energy production Production. The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has written to the companies concerned that the Prime Minister, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and he would like to see North Sea oil and gas producers come up with a very clear plan to spend their profits on improving energy production in the UK , and more importantly, increase investment in future clean energy technologies, etc. He noted that local energy production is crucial to boosting UK economic growth and effectively reducing long-term energy prices.

[Italian Prime Minister: Italy's aid plan is 14 billion euros] The Italian Prime Minister said that Italian inflation is temporary and requires extraordinary measures; the aid plan is 14 billion euros; tax relief for energy-intensive companies will be extended; Increase energy gains tax.

[Italian Minister of Ecological Transformation: European energy companies should be temporarily allowed to pay for natural gas in rubles] According to reports, the Italian Minister of Ecological Transformation said that European energy companies should be temporarily allowed to comply with Russia’s request and pay for natural gas in rubles. He said that while we understand the legal framework and related implications, we think it would be good to allow companies to pay for Russian gas in rubles for at least a few months, and hoped that the European Commission would make a "swift and clear statement" to confirm that Oil and gas companies can pay in rubles.

[French bird flu kills 16 million poultry] The French Ministry of Agriculture said that since the outbreak of bird flu in November last year, a total of 16 million poultry have been culled in France. The French Ministry of Agriculture believes that at the end of March, the French bird flu epidemic has reached its peak and is now gradually fading.

[French manufacturing PMI rebounded slightly in April, but advance orders showed inflation concerns] French manufacturing activity picked up slightly in April, but this trend may be short-lived, as price pressures and the conflict in Ukraine weighed on manufacturing. April's growth was helped by an improvement in new orders, the survey showed, as customers bought ahead in anticipation of stronger price increases and further supply problems. "This is worrying evidence that inflation expectations have lost their anchor," the economist said. April's positive trend, which includes all sub-indices except delivery time, is likely to be "short-lived," he said. The situation could deteriorate quickly, as customers who are currently placing early orders may be reluctant to place orders in the future when prices rise.

[German official: If Russia cuts off its natural gas supply, Germany may respond by means of an "industrial auction"] After Russia announced that it would stop supplying natural gas to Poland and Bulgaria, Germany is also preparing for "cutting off the supply". If supplies of Russian gas are lost in the coming months, Germany's existing reserves will not be enough to support industrial production. On May 2, local time, the director of the Federal Network Agency of the German energy management department proposed an emergency plan, and industrial economic production departments and enterprises can respond by "auctioning natural gas consumption rights". He said that the program has been applied to phase out coal energy, and the market knows better than the government how to effectively save energy. The way the government directly intervenes and closes businesses is wrong.

[Supply disruptions, weakening demand cloud Germany's manufacturing PMI outlook] German manufacturers are simultaneously facing a combination of soaring price pressures and falling economic activity, as the war in Ukraine and the coronavirus lockdown disrupted supply chains and hit demand. The output index is now in contractionary territory for the first time since the pandemic lockdowns in the first half of 2020, and new orders also contracted, suggesting it was not just a supply issue but evidence of slowing demand for commodities.

[German Economy Minister: The era of cheap energy in Germany is over] The German Deputy Chancellor and Minister of Economy said that the proposal to stop Russian energy imports will permanently increase German consumer and industrial prices, which is a painful and harsh reality, adding that cheap energy The energy era is over. After cutting off Russia's energy supply, the entire German economy will have to share this, he said, and "there is no other way to get through this."

[Spanish Government: The mobile phones of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense have been monitored] On May 2, local time, the Spanish Prime Minister's Office, Parliamentary Relations and Ministers stated that, according to the National Intelligence Center, the mobile phones of the Spanish Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense had been monitored by a malicious program. Secret monitoring, the incident is suspected to be an attack by an external force. The Spanish government has referred the incident to the National High Court for investigation.

[New Hungarian Parliament Established] The new Hungarian Parliament was announced on May 2, local time, and 199 members of parliament were sworn in on the same day. In a secret ballot held in Congress, Kwell Laszlo was re-elected as Congress President with 170 votes in favor and 13 votes against, and was successfully re-elected.

[Standard Chartered Bank: It is expected that the RBA will raise interest rates by 15 basis points before the end of the year, and the interest rate is expected to rise to 2%] The RBA may start the interest rate hike cycle at the local time on the 3rd interest rate decision. Standard Chartered expects the RBA to raise the policy rate to 0.25% from 0.10%. The bank believes that the latest high inflation data may mean the RBA needs to move forward, but not necessarily by a full 25 basis points in May. After that, the RBA is expected to raise rates by 25 basis points at each meeting between June and December, bringing the policy rate to 2 per cent by the end of the year. However, Standard Chartered believes that the RBA is likely to raise rates by just one quarter point in March 2023, raising the short-term terminal rate to 2.25%, with real rates slightly positive as growth and inflation slow.

[Study shows that sea level rise in New Zealand is accelerating] A five-year research project "Sea Level Rise in New Zealand" funded by the New Zealand government and composed of 30 scientists said on May 2, local time, due to the dual effects of global sea level rise and New Zealand's land subsidence As a result, sea levels in New Zealand are rising faster than expected. The data suggest that by 2100, global sea levels could rise by an average of about 0.6 meters. In most parts of New Zealand, due to the simultaneous existence of significant land subsidence, the sea level may rise by more than 1 meter during the same period. In fact, the New Zealand government has begun considering a "planned retreat" option, which would give up high-risk offshore land.

[Annual inflation rate in Istanbul, Turkey rises to 80%] On May 2, local time, data from the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce in Turkey (ITO) showed that the inflation rate in Istanbul reached 80% in April, hitting a new high since 2002. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said recently that Turkey will take effective measures to reduce the inflation rate, hoping that inflation will decline from May.

[Pakistan government takes steps to ensure power supply during Eid al-Fitr] Pakistan's power sector announced that it has ended the nationwide blackout problem by injecting about 2,500 megawatts of additional power into the power system. Since April 30, there have been power outages across Pakistan for at least eight hours due to fuel shortages and other issues. The Pakistani Prime Minister on April 26 ordered the transfer of about 120 million cubic feet (about 3.4 million cubic meters) of natural gas from fertilizer plants and captive power plants to power generation companies, and timely payment of funds to the power sector to ensure that from May 1 Since then, zero power outages have been achieved, especially to ensure the power supply during Hari Raya.

[India and Pakistan may encounter the strongest heat wave in 122 years, and the World Meteorological Organization issues a warning] According to reports, the Indian Meteorological Department said that the maximum temperature in large areas of India reached 43-46 ° C on April 28. "The average maximum temperature in northwest and central India in April was the highest in the past 122 years," said the head of the India Meteorological Department.

Similar temperatures were seen in Pakistan. The Pakistan Meteorological Department also said similar high temperatures have occurred in the country, and daytime temperatures in large areas of Pakistan may be 5°C to 8°C higher than normal. In much of the country, daytime temperatures can be 5°C to 8°C warmer than normal. The department warned that in some mountainous regions, unusually high temperatures could accelerate snow and ice melt and could trigger floods or flash floods from glacial lake outbursts in vulnerable areas.

[OPEC oil output barely rises in April due to supply disruptions in Africa] OPEC’s oil output growth in April was lower than planned in a deal with allies, as cuts in Libya and Nigeria offset output from Saudi Arabia and other major producers, according to a survey. Supply increase. The survey found that OPEC produced 28.58 million bpd in April, an increase of 40,000 bpd from the previous month and below the 254,000 bpd increase required by the supply agreement. Except for February, output from October last year to March this year fell short of the promised increase, as many producers lacked the capacity to produce more crude due to insufficient investment, a trend accelerated by the pandemic.

[South African experts warn that a new variant infection wave is on the way] A professor at the African Institute of Health in South Africa said that in the latest laboratory research, it was found that for people who have been vaccinated or infected with the Omicron BA.1 virus before, Reinfection is likely if exposed to BA.4 and BA.5. Because of the ability of the two viruses to escape immunity, it is very likely that a new wave of infections will rise again.

Zhimeitong | Logistics Highlights

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[May capacity list: MSC adds 25 newbuildings] MSC's total capacity increased by 17,711 TEU in the most recent month, the largest increase in capacity among the top ten liner companies, and 25 newbuildings were also added. The data shows that as of May 1, 2022, the total number of container ships in operation worldwide reached 6,362, an increase of 12 over the previous period (April 1, 2022, the same below), and the global operating capacity totaled 25,543,369 TEU, an increase of 54,641 TEU. In terms of the ranking of the top 20 liner companies, except for X-Press Feeders Group and SITC International, which exchanged their rankings, ranking 15th and 16th, the rankings of other companies did not change.

[COSCO SHIPPING: Salary distribution is tilted towards front-line crew members, and a market-competitive crew salary system is established] According to official information from COSCO SHIPPING Crew Management Co., Ltd., COSCO SHIPPING Group, according to the "Guidelines on Strengthening the Construction of High-Quality Crew Teams" issued by the previous six ministries and commissions Opinions", to make a comprehensive deployment for the construction of high-quality crew team. Among them, it is clearly required to promote the establishment of a market-competitive crew remuneration system and a response mechanism for crew remuneration and retention.

Zhimeitong | Domestic Highlights

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[Offshore RMB against the US dollar fell by more than 400 points in a day] According to news, the offshore RMB against the US dollar fell by more than 400 points in a day, and is now at 6.6844, a drop of 0.67% in the day.

[Economic Daily Jin Guanping: Giving full play to the effectiveness of various monetary policy tools] At present, China has ample room for monetary policy and a rich “basket” of incremental macro policy tools. It is confident and capable of supporting the macro economy to continue operating within a reasonable range. Next, monetary policy should give better play to the dual functions of total and structural policy tools. On the premise of ensuring a reasonable growth of total volume, continue to innovate monetary policy tools, implement structural monetary policies well, and enhance the precision and directness of policies. , improve the efficiency of capital use, and allow more credit resources to flow to more demanding key areas and weak links. What needs to be seen is that the current cyclical factors and structural factors are superimposed, and short-term problems and long-term problems are intertwined, which puts forward higher requirements for the formulation and implementation of macro policies. .

[Deputy Minister of Finance: As of mid-April, the national general public budget expenditure was 7.24 trillion yuan, an increase of 7.7% year-on-year] The Deputy Minister of Finance said that since this year, financial departments at all levels have maintained appropriate expenditure intensity, accelerated expenditure progress, and optimized the structure of fiscal expenditure , and increase the protection of expenditure in key areas, reflecting the requirement that policy efforts should be appropriately advanced. Expenditure progress is further accelerated. As of mid-April, the national general public budget expenditure was 7.24 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.7%, which was 27.1% of the budget, and the progress was faster than the same period last year.

The expenditure on science and technology arranged in the general public budget increased by 20.5%, the expenditure on agriculture, forestry and water increased by 10.4%, the expenditure on health and health increased by 8%, and the expenditure on education increased by 7.8%. The expenditure on special bonds included in the government fund budget was significantly faster than the previous year. In the first quarter of this year, the expenditure on new special bonds was 852.8 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 812.1 billion yuan. The role of the direct mechanism is further exerted. The total amount of funds included in the direct scope this year is about 4 trillion yuan. As of mid-April, the central government has issued direct funds of nearly 3.7 trillion yuan, accounting for more than 90%, and all qualified funds have been issued; more than 290,000 projects have been arranged in various regions, resulting in an expenditure of about 1.2 trillion yuan.

[Ministry of Industry and Information Technology: The non-ferrous metal industry continued its good operation in the first quarter] On May 1, local time, the Raw Materials Industry Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released the operation of the non-ferrous metal industry in the first quarter of 2022: in the first quarter of 2022, the non-ferrous metal industry will continue for 2021 Since then, the good operation situation has shown the characteristics of stable production and rising prices.

[The national railway cargo delivery volume in April hit a record high in a single month] It is reported that in April, the national railway delivered a total of 330 million tons of cargo, an increase of 30.18 million tons or 10.1% year-on-year. Many other indicators have hit record highs, showing a strong growth trend.

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