News & Insight • Weekly Newsletters

10 September 2021 | William Buckhurst

That Was The Week That Was

MACRO

• In the US, the debt ceiling deadline looms and Congressional debate is expected to heat up in the coming weeks over whether lawmakers will raise the ceiling
• In the latest blow to China's online gaming sector, the South China Morning Post reported that Beijing had temporarily suspended, or slowed down, approvals of new games, further hitting shares such as Tencent Holdings
• The ECB appeared to achieve the impossible by announcing tapering without very much tapering

THE POLITICAL WEEK

A once in a Parliament opportunity to introduce unpopular decisions, and with Labour on the backfoot with no plan, a Tory government ushers through tax rises to fund the NHS and social care. In implementation only around 20% will go to social care. Several million people – including graduates with a student loan – move into an effective tax rate of 50%

STATISTIC OF THE WEEK

The honours go to Easyjet this week: perhaps the first time ever that a company has announced a rights issue and a takeover approach on the same morning

COMPANY NEWS

• Paypal made an interesting acquisition in the biggest “buy now pay later” provider in Japan
• DS Smith showed a big rise in volumes as strong demand for cardboard boxes and packaging materials is helping them to pass on higher costs for used cardboard
• Toyota announced that it is investing over $13bn in EV batteries as it is trying to catch up after falling behind in electrification

SMALL-CAP NEWS

With students going back to college, one firm in the student property sector, Watkin Jones, announced a fantastic set of results with sustained momentum in securing forward sales, obtaining planning consents and adding to the secured development pipeline. The other sector they are involved in, is the build-to-rent market which has a vast quality of column inches written about it recently - large institutions such as John Lewis and Lloyds Bank are looking at diversifying their businesses into this growing market. Watkin Jones looks to be a beneficiary and we look forward to further updates

THIS WEEK IN HISTORY

1998: Google is incorporated, given $100,000 from Andy Bechtolsheim, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, to launch the company

2008: The US government seizes control of mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

 RE-OPENING TIMES

Wholesale prices for natural gas are at their highest in years — nearly five times where they were at this time in 2019, threatening to become a drag on the economies of Europe and elsewhere. In Spain households are paying roughly 40% more than they paid for electricity a year ago as the wholesale price has more than doubled, prompting angry protests against utility companies.  Gas prices in the United States have risen as well, but they are only around a quarter of those being paid in Europe. The United States has a big price advantage over Europe because of its large domestic supply of relatively cheap gas from shale drilling and other activities, while Europe imports most of its gas

MARKET DATA

 As at 10^th September 2021. Source: Financial Express

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