Your bite-sized weekly update (20 Aug)

THIS WEEK IN MARKETS

There were a few crazy headlines that caught our attention in the past week.

“China’s now testing live fish in its bid to stop Covid spreading” (Source: Bloomberg)

“Steven Lim claims he sold his HDB flat & put S$300,000 in SingPost shares” (Source: Mothership)

“University student makes $110m trading meme stock favourite Bed Bath & Beyond” (Source: Financial Times)

It’s an interesting world we live in right now. But amid the noise in the market, let’s not lose sight of the elephant in the room – China’s economic slowdown. 

The unemployment rate amongst youths aged 18-24 has soared to 20%. Economic data for both the industrial and retail sectors were weaker than expected. 

We’d be looking out closely for developments here, including the results of JD.com and Xpeng coming up next week. 

IMPORTANT

• It’s tough in China. China continues to grapple with an economic slump as it tries to bring the Covid outbreak under control. Industrial production and retail sales for July were all below economists’ expectations. The unemployment rate of those aged 16 to 24 rose to a record high of 20% in July.
• A greener world. US President Joe Biden signed into law a $430 billion bill that is seen as the biggest climate package in US history. 

ICYMI

• Apple is aiming to hold a launch event on Sep 7 to unveil the iPhone 14 line, according to press reports.
• Bed Bath & Beyond had a volatile week, with its meteoric share price increase followed by a sharp fall after investor Ryan Cohen sold his entire stake in the housewares retailer. 
• Tencent reported its first ever quarterly sales fall, hurt by a lack of game approvals and regulations that limit playing time, as well as COVID-19 lockdowns and a weak economy that squeezed ad sales.
• Tencent’s Chief Strategy Officer said a report that the company intends to sell all or much of its $24 billion stake in Meituan was incorrect. 
• Sea Ltd suspended e-commerce GAAP revenue guidance for the full year 2022 amid macro uncertainties.
• SGX posted an increase in earnings in their latest financial report and declared a final quarterly dividend of 8.0 cents per share. 
• Keppel Corp won a US$2.9 billion contract from Brazil’s Petrobras to build a floating production, storage and offloading vessel. 
• Singapore-based crypto lender Hodlnaut laid off about 40 employees since pausing crypto withdrawals and disclosed an investigation by the Singapore police. 

Source: Bloomberg, CNBC, Business Times, Edge Singapore

THE BIG IMPORTANT STORY

Sea tumbles by 14%. Is the worst over?

With Sea suspending guidance for its e-commerce business, it might be hard to see a significant turnaround in the coming months.

WHAT’S UP THIS WEEK

Tuesday, 23 Aug 

• US: XPeng, JD.com, Macy’s earnings

Thursday, 25 Aug

• US: Grab, Peloton, Propertyguru earnings

Friday, 26 Aug

• US: University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Survey
• Fed Chairman Powell speaks at the Jackson Hole symposium

Get the full economic and Singapore earnings calendar on the SGX Academy

Source: SGX, Bloomberg, Refinitiv

THAT’S INTERESTING

• Not selling our HDB flat to buy Singpost. Singapore’s social media was abuzz recently when a certain media personality shared his latest investment move in a viral tiktok video. The individual claimed that “I sold my HDB flat recently. Then I got the proceeds, and then I put it all in one stock.” That’s almost $300,000 in one single stock! And drumrolls…the stock is “Singpost”. Investment merits of Singpost aside, we thought it’s worth sharing why we thought it’s not such a great idea to be following such an investment strategy.