Business and technology quick bites

Updated version at 1.30 pm

The highlighted words in red are links to the news article.

March 16, 2021,

Business News 

1. Mizuho daily, Side-Effects and RBA’s thorny challenges. The economic side-effects of which has not been lost on markets as EZ yields fell back, along with EUR slipping under mid-1.19. But pre-FOMC though moves are restrained by uncertainty.
2. Reopening optimism pushes stocks higher. After struggling early on Covid vaccine concerns, US equities were stronger overnight.
3. All about central banks this week, oil slumps, gold bulls bet on Fed, bitcoin’s rollercoaster ride. US stocks should have a boring lead up heading into a wrath of central bank decisions, with many focusing on the Fed.
4. Validus Indonesian subsidiary Batumbu has received regulatory approval to operate as a licensed digital financing platform from the Indonesian Financial Services Authority (OJK).
5. The Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) has failed in its bid to take FGV Holdings Bhd private at RM1.30 per share.
6. Wall Street climbed, with the Dow hitting an intra-day record high, as investors awaited cues from the Federal Reserve this week, amid caution over rising borrowing costs spurred by massive fiscal stimulus.
7. Billionaire hedge fund investor William Ackman said that he donated 26.5 million shares in newly public South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang Inc, to three entities including his foundation.
8. Beijing has asked Chinese e-commerce titan Alibaba to divest its assets in the media sector out of concern over the company’s growing public influence, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Technology News 

1. News Corp said it had reached a three-year agreement to provide Facebook Inc users access to news in Australia.
2. Digital payments giant Stripe’s value soared to US$95 billion after it capitalised on a boom in ecommerce with a round of funding that pushed it past Elon Musk’s SpaceX as the most valuable US startup.
3. Huawei has been listed among Chinese telecom gear firms deemed a threat to U.S. national security.