ASIA: Chinese regulators are reportedly pressing Jack Ma’s fintech Ant Group to share consumer data with Beijing, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. Ma, founder of Alibaba and its affiliate Ant Group, hasn’t been seen in public in two months. On Monday, CNBC anchor David Faber reported that he was laying low, rather than missing. […]

ASIA: China’s economic growth could reach as high as 9 percent next year, and its rapid rebound from the coronavirus pandemic may help the economy overtake the US to become the world’s largest later this decade, analysts said. Nomura and China International Capital Corporation put China’s gross domestic product growth for 2021 at 9 percent. […]

ASIA: The UK-based Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) said China’s “skillful” management of Covid-19 would boost its relative growth compared to the US and Europe in coming years, and China will overtake the US to become the world’s largest economy by 2028, five years earlier than previously forecast. Meanwhile, India is tipped to […]

Many people are praying that Vice President Mike Pence will reject the count from the disputed states for it is his plenary duty to accept or reject those votes. The 1800 and 1824 elections were contingent elections in Congress after no candidate won a majority of electoral college votes, and a special 15-person commission decided the […]

NOTE: We wish our readers a happy and healthy holiday season. Due to decreased market activity, and some well deserved time off, we will suspend Market Talk until January 4, 2021. Thank you for your continued support. We look forward to providing you with Market Talk blog postings again in the new year! ASIA: China […]

ASIA: Following a US announcement of new visa restrictions on Chinese officials, China hit back with reciprocal actions Tuesday against unnamed American officials in the latest back-and-forth. The Foreign Ministry also called on President Donald Trump not to sign into law legislation approved by Congress on Tibet. The visa action came in response to a […]

ASIA: Chinese leaders who attended the Central Economic Work Conference from Dec. 16 to 18 were buoyant about China’s relative successes, while remaining cautious on major changes to stimulus policies, CNBC reported according to state media. The annual gathering sets development priorities for the upcoming year. Analysts who followed the meeting said it provided little […]

ASIA: India has decided to put restrictions on some Chinese firms that make telecom equipment. The Narendra Modi government will make a list of trusted companies to buy the equipment from, which means that certain companies will have to face restrictions. So far, Chinese companies have dominated the telecom sector, but they will have to […]

ASIA: The major Asian stock markets had a mixed day today: NIKKEI 225 increased 49.27 points or 0.18% to 26,806.67 Shanghai increased 37.89 points or 1.13% to 3,404.87 Hang Seng increased 218.09 points or 0.82% to 26,678.38 ASX 200 increased 77.50 points or 1.16% to 6,756.70 Kospi decreased 1.36 points or -0.05% to 2,770.43 SENSEX […]

ASIA: The US Congress has officially passed the USD 740 billion defense policy bill, which among other things, included calling out Chinese aggression against India along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). The US House of Representatives and the Senate on Tuesday passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which included key components of Indian-American […]