(Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Monday.
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COMPANIES
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Negotiators from the European Parliament and the 27 EU member states reached a landmark deal early Saturday to compel platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Google to closely regulate harmful online content, such as hate speech and disinformation. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen described it as an "historic" agreement that will have ramifications beyond Europe. "Our new rules will protect users online, ensure freedom of expression and opportunities for businesses," she tweeted. The Digital Services Act represents the biggest shake-up in EU law in this area in some 20 years. The DSA spells out the responsibilities for technology and internet companies. It touches on issues like hate speech, spreading disinformation, the sale of illegal and counterfeit goods and protecting fundamental rights. It means companies must moderate their platforms for harmful content like Covid-19 disinformation and introduce protocols to block the spread of dangerous material during crises like the pandemic.
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Twitter is reconsidering Elon Musk's buyout proposal, with discussions between the two camps ongoing Sunday, The Wall Street Journal reported, after the billionaire said Thursday he had secured the necessary funding. "Twitter is taking a fresh look at the offer and is more likely than before to seek to negotiate," the business daily reported, citing sources familiar with the matter. "The potential turnabout on Twitter's part comes after Musk met privately Friday with several shareholders of the company," the Journal reported. Musk "pledged to solve the free-speech issues he sees as plaguing the platform and the country more broadly, whether his bid succeeds or not," the sources added, according to the Journal. He "made his pitch to select shareholders in a series of video calls, with a focus on actively managed funds... in hopes that they could sway the company's decision," the sources told the Journal.
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Facebook's owner Meta Platforms will Monday seek to overturn a legal ruling by Britain's competition authority requiring it to drop its planned merger with online GIF creator Giphy. Last November, the UK Competition & Markets Authority found Meta's USD400 million proposed takeover of Giphy, which supplies animated Gifs or mini videos to major social networks, would give the US behemoth too much market share. The proposed deal was announced in May 2020 but a provisional ruling following on from a CMA investigation found a sell-off was required to allay competition concerns, not least as a merger would remove a potential competitor from a market worth an estimated GBP7 billion in value. Facebook is already by far the market's biggest player and the CMA said both competition and innovation were liable to be hit if the merger were waved through. Meta appealed what it terms a "disproportionate" and "unfair" ruling, claiming "extraterritorial over-reach" by UK authorities. The case will now go ahead in London's Competition Appeal Tribunal.
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Miner Anglo American received a blow after a regulator in Chile deciding against recommending an extension at a mine. Anglo American has been in engaged in an environmental assessment process at the Los Bronces integrated copper project in Chile since 2019. The miner was eyeing a mine life extension at the asset by expanding the Los Bronces open pit to include "higher grade ore from a new underground section of the mine". However, the Environmental Assessment Service of Chile, or SEA, rejected a permitting application for the Los Bronces extension. "The SEA has confirmed that LBIP satisfies all relevant environmental regulation, but bases its adverse recommendation on an alleged lack of information during the evaluation process to fully remove any doubts about a potential risk to public health. The SEA's recommendation is despite the strong support for the project offered to date by 23 of the 25 technical services bodies and government ministries that form part of the assessment process," Anglo American said. A firm decision on the extension will come next week, Anglo American added.
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British Land said it has sold a 75% interest in the majority of its Paddington Central mixed-use development in central London for GBP694 million to GIC, a Singaporean sovereign wealth fund. The sale price is 1% below the September 2021 book value and represents a net initial yield of 4.5%. Paddington Central was acquired in 2013 for GBP470 million. At the time, it consisted of three buildings, a retail and leisure area and two development sites. Now, it also includes five office buildings, two residential buildings and a hotel.
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AstraZeneca said its biologics license application for the tremelimumab drug has been backed for priority review in the US. The drugmaker is eyeing approval for the drug to be used in tandem with Imfinzi to treat sufferers of unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma, a common type of liver cancer. The US Food & Drug Administration has a set a date in the fourth quarter of 2022 to issue a regulatory decision on the drug combo.
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Royal Philips said its first-quarter results were hit by supply chain disruption and the effects of the Respironics recall. In the three months to March 31, the Amsterdam-based health technology company reported a net loss of EUR151 million, swung from net income of EUR40 million in the same period a year previously. The EUR191 million deterioration in results came from lower operational earnings and lower net income from discontinued operations, Philips said. Loss from continuing operations widened year-on-year to EUR152 million from EUR34 million. Sales grew by 2% year-on-year to EUR3.92 billion from EUR3.83 billion, but comparable sales declined 4%.
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Vivendi, ahead of its annual general meeting, said revenue generation got off to a good start in the first quarter of 2022. The Paris-based media and entertainment company said first-quarter revenue was EUR2.38 billion, 13% higher than EUR2.10 a year before. In constant currency, revenue was up 7.9%. This was mostly attributable to growth of Canal+ Group of 6.5%, as well as strong increases for Havas Group and Gameloft, which grew by 18% and 11% respectively
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MARKETS
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European stock markets got no benefit from the re-election of Emmanuel Macron to a second term as president of France, after Asian stock markets and oil prices dived on fears that Covid-19 lockdowns will extend to China's capital city. ING said Macron's win removed a "tail risk for European equities and the euro, but "markets had clearly priced in little-to-no chance of a Marine Le Pen victory and the positive impact on EUR/USD was contained and very short-lived".
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CAC 40: down 2.1% at 6,444.14
DAX 40: down 1.4% at 13,939.38
FTSE 100: down 2.1% at 7,362.91
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Hang Seng: closed down 3.7% at 19,869.34
Nikkei 225: closed down 1.9% at 26,590.78
S&P/ASX 200: Sydney market closed for holiday.
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DJIA: called down 0.7%
S&P 500: called down 0.8%
Nasdaq Composite: called down 0.7%
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EUR: down at USD1.0739 (USD1.0778)
GBP: down at USD1.2734 (USD1.2848)
USD: down at JPY128.04 (JPY128.87)
GOLD: down at USD1,917.88 per ounce (USD1,929.57)
OIL (Brent): down at USD101.92 a barrel (USD106.44)
(currency and commodities changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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French President Emmanuel Macron sought to unite a deeply divided nation, after winning re-election in a battle against rival Marine Le Pen that saw the far right come its closest yet to taking power. Centrist Macron won 58.54% of the vote in the second-round run-off compared with 41.46 for Le Pen, according to final results from the interior ministry. Macron is the first French president in two decades to win a second term and his victory prompted a sigh of relief throughout Europe that the far right had again been thwarted from taking power in the key EU state. But his latest victory over his far-right rival was narrower than their last face-off in 2017 when Macron won over 66%, and Le Pen's result was the best ever for the far right.
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The eurozone construction sector's annual growth accelerated in February. Construction output in the single currency area grew 9.4% annually in February, following growth of 4.4% year-on-year in January. On a monthly basis, construction production grew 1.9% in February, slowing from January's 3.9% month-on-month rise.
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German business sentiment recovered in April, numbers from research institute Ifo showed. The latest business climate tracker rose to 91.8 points in April, from 90.8 in March. The figure for April topped FXStreet-cited consensus which had chalked in a fall to 89.1 points.
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Producer price inflation in Spain accelerated to a historic pace in March as energy prices surged, according to Spain’s National Institute of Statistics. The industrial price index increased annually to 47% in March, picking up speed from the 41% annual increase reported in February. The figure is the highest since results were recorded in 1976, INE noted. On a monthly basis, industrial prices jumped by 6.6% in March from February, accelerating from the 1.9% rise in February from January.
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UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson could be forced to resign after the Sue Gray review into claims of Covid rule breaches in the government is published, according to a report. Gray, a senior civil servant, was forced to delay the publication of her investigation into alleged parties held in Downing Street and Whitehall during England's coronavirus lockdowns due to the Metropolitan Police commencing their own inquiry. In an interim report published in January, the Cabinet Office official said there had been "failures of leadership and judgment" in No 10 over the so-called 'partygate' saga. The Times, citing an official it described as being familiar with the contents of the complete report, said Gray's full findings were even more personally critical of Johnson and could end his premiership. No 10 declined to comment.
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UK house prices rose to a fresh record high in April despite growing economic pressures, figures from property portal Rightmove showed. UK house prices hit a high of GBP360,101 in April, up 1.6% from GBP354,564 in March. It was also the third straight monthly increase for house prices. On an annual basis, the Rightmove house price index rose 9.9% in April, slowing slightly from 10% in March. Rightmove said that despite growing economic pressures, the 2022 housing market continues to set new milestones for price and activity levels. Further, it said high buyer demand for limited stock for sale suggests that while price growth may slow down, sustained price falls are unlikely.
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The UK aviation watchdog should be given stronger powers to protect passengers hit by the kind of international travel disruption seen during the pandemic, members of Parliament have recommended. The call by the Transport Committee comes after almost two years of disarray for the travel sector during the coronavirus crisis, with quarantine restrictions, testing and locator forms part of efforts to tackle the virus. In a report published on Monday, UK Aviation: Reform For Take-Off, the Commons committee recommended that the UK Civil Aviation Authority should be given "more teeth" to enable the regulator to slap fines on airlines that do not completely refund customers when required to do so by law. The 55-page document also calls for ministers to publish an aviation recovery plan by June "as a priority" and for an airline insolvency bill to be introduced in the next session of parliament to better protect consumers, employees and taxpayers. The committee welcomed previous assertions by ministers that travel restrictions will only be applied in "extreme circumstances" in future, and said that the UK government "must compensate the industry for the economic loss suffered" if measures impacting the sector are reimposed.
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Fears of a hard Covid lockdown sparked panic buying in Beijing, as long queues for compulsory mass testing formed in a large central district of the Chinese capital. China is already trying to contain a wave of infections in its biggest city Shanghai, which has been almost entirely locked down for weeks and reported 51 new Covid deaths on Monday. Shanghai has struggled to provide fresh food to those confined at home, while patients have reported trouble accessing non-Covid medical care – and the rising cases in the capital triggered fears of a similar lockdown. Downtown Beijing's most populous district Chaoyang, home to around 3.5 million people, ordered mass testing from Monday for residents and those coming to work there. The area hosts embassies and the headquarters of many multinational firms. Queues snaked around malls and outside office complexes as people waited to be swabbed for samples by health workers in protective gear.
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Japan's services producer price index rose 1.3% on an annual basis in March, according to data from the Bank of Japan. This was an increase of 0.2% from the 1.1% annual increase seen in February. When International Transportation is factored out, the index rose 0.9% from the previous year. Prices associated with ocean freight transportation and international air freight transportation rose annually by 44% and 41% respectively in March.
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com
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