Business and technology quick bites

Updated version as at 9.55 am

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

March 12, 2021,

Business News 

1. All eyes on Fed’s next move. Will the Fed continue to “walk the dovish talk’ with its US dollar negative implications. Or will the Fed “walk back” from their dovish commitments when and if it becomes clear that the fiscal and vaccine led recovery is kicking into full gear?
2. Grab is in talks to go public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company that could value the ride-hailing giant at nearly US$40 billion, making it the largest ever blank-check deal, people familiar with the matter.
3. SoftBank Group Corp racked up roughly US$33 billion gain on paper through the public market debut of South Korea’s largest e-commerce company, Coupang Inc, the latest sign of a dramatic turnaround for its US$100 billion Vision Fund.
4. The government has approved 6,973 applications involving loans worth RM1.315 billion under the National Economic Recovery Plan (PENJANA) Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Financing scheme compared with RM1.258 billion last week.
5. Hours after signing his US$1.9 trillion stimulus bill into law, President Joe Biden will take aggressive action to speed Covid-19 vaccinations and move the country closer to normality by July 4.

Technology News 

1. LinkedIn, one of the few US social media networks available in China has suspended new sign-ups in the country but said the decision has nothing to do with a recent cyber attack on parent company Microsoft.
2. Chinese search engine company Baidu Inc is looking to raise at least US$3.03 billion by selling 95 million shares, as books opened for its Hong Kong listing, according to a term sheet from the deal’s launch.
3. What are the best Robinhood stocks to buy now or put on a watchlist? At the moment, Microsoft (MSFT), Walt Disney (DIS), and Starbucks (SBUX) are standout performers. These stocks offer a mix of solid fundamentals and technical.
4. Apple Inc has started the assembly of iPhone 12 in India, as the company ramps up manufacturing operations in the world’s second-biggest smartphone market.