Morning Brief: Top Stories Dominating Financial Media on Friday, April 1

Reuters

IEA Holds Emergency Meeting To Tackle Soaring Oil Prices

• The International Energy Agency (IEA) is set to hold an emergency meeting today among consuming nations to discuss a new release of strategic reserves alongside a plan by the United States to pump massive supplies starting in May to cool soaring oil prices.
• Global oil prices soared more than 30% this year, major consumers are seeking ways to ease the impact on their economies after top producers group OPEC+ stuck to plans to add a modest 432,000 barrels per day of supply in May.

Read How Amazon’s 2022 Warehouse Union Election Set It Apart From 2021

• Around 57% of Amazon.com Inc AMZN workers at a New York City Staten Island warehouse have voted in favor of unionizing.
• Contrastingly, 53% of Amazon workers in Alabama rejected unionization.
• NLRB suggested that the Alabama contest could hinge on 416 challenged ballots leading to a gamechanger.
• In 2021, workers sided with Amazon by a more than 2-to-1 margin against unionizing.

UPS Tries eQuad Electric Cargo Bike For Deliveries

• United Parcel Service Inc UPS tries implementing four-wheeled eQuad electric cargo bikes for deliveries in densely packed urban areas.
• The move is taken as a part of the package delivery giant’s push into electric vehicles.
• The report added that the company is trialing around 100 bikes manufactured by British firm Fernhay in seven European markets.

Most US Firms In China To Cut Annual Forecast as Business Hit By COVID-19 Curbs

• According to a joint survey by the American Chambers of Commerce in Shanghai, 54% of U.S. multinational companies in China have reduced their 2022 annual revenue projections, primarily due to the recent COVID-19 outbreak in Shanghai and Beijing. 38% said it was too early to estimate the impact.
• Shanghai has been battling its largest outbreak for nearly a month, and this week most of the city was put under lockdown amid a surge in COVID-19 cases.

Why Ford And GM Are Suspending Production At Two Michigan Plants Next Week

• Ford Motor Co F and General Motors Co GM are going to suspend production next week at a Michigan plant, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing the companies.
• What Happened: Ford will pause production at its Flat Rock Assembly Plant next week, while GM will do so at its Lansing Grand River plant.
• Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford’s production suspension is due to parts shortages, while GM said its halt was not related to a chip crunch, Reuters reported.

WSJ

House Passes Bill To Cap Out-of-Pocket Insulin Costs To No More Than $35/Month

• The House of Representatives voted to approve legislation that would limit cost-sharing for insulin under private health insurance and Medicare.
• The vote was 232 (yes)-193 (no), with 12 Republican members joining their Democratic colleagues to pass the measure.
• The Affordable Insulin Now Act would cap insulin prices at either $35 a month or 25% of an insurance plan’s negotiated price, whichever is lower.

Bloomberg

Oil Moves Towards Weekly Decline As US Plans Giant Reserve Release

• Crude Oil is headed for the most significant weekly loss in almost two years after the Biden administration ordered a release of U.S. strategic reserves amid rising crude prices.
• The Biden administration’s massive oil release contrasts with OPEC+ planned modest production increase of about 430,000 barrels a day.
• “This will ease the acute supply shortage on the oil market,” Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch said.

S&P 500 Sector Re-shuffling Likely To End Tech Dominance

• S&P 500 tech sector represented 28% of the S&P 500, more than the weighting of the health-care and consumer-discretionary sectors combined.
• Payment processing companies like Visa Inc V, PayPal Holdings Inc PYPL, and Mastercard Inc MA, currently classified as tech firms, would join the financial industry.
• Other tech names providing outsourcing or human resources support would come under industrial stocks.

Financial Times

Global Dealmaking Drops To Lowest Level Since Onset Of Pandemic

• Global dealmaking fell to its lowest level since the start of the coronavirus pandemic as surging inflation, tougher regulation and the war in Ukraine led to a slowdown in what had been a record period of mergers and acquisitions.
• According to Refinitiv data, just over $1 trillion worth of deals were struck in the first quarter of 2022, 23% lower than the same period last year, with all continents facing a decline in M&A activity.
• On the other hand, Private equity groups enjoyed their strongest ever start to the year, deploying vast cash piles accumulated during the pandemic.

Benzinga

Volkswagen China To Idle Shanghai Factory, Extends Pause In Changchun Plants Amid COVID-19 Curbs

• Volkswagen Group VWAGY told Benzinga on Thursday it would suspend production at its factory in Anting, Shanghai, between April 1-5 due to new COVID-19 related curbs aimed at halting a resurgence in cases.
• The German automaker earlier this week said its production at Anting was unaffected by the lockdowns and that it was monitoring the situation.
• Volkswagen said it would carry out maintenance work in the factory during the production halt at the plant that it runs jointly with China’s SAIC Motor.

This Crypto Exchange Is Sponsoring The 2022 Grammy Awards

• The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance will sponsor the 64th Annual Grammy Awards.
• In a press release on Thursday, Binance said it had signed a partnership agreement with the Recording Academy to become the “first-ever” official cryptocurrency exchange partner for the Grammy week events.

Nio Rival Li Auto’s March EV Deliveries Jump 125%: What You Need To Know

• Li Auto Inc LI on Friday reported a sharp rise in March deliveries as production bounced back after a traditionally slow holiday season and production interruption due to a key facility upgrade.
• The Beijing, China-based Li Auto said it delivered 11,034 electric vehicles last month, a rise of 31% over February and a jump of 125.2% year-on-year.
• The EV maker had last month said the holiday season and an outbreak of the pandemic in Suzhou resulted in supply shortages and hurt production.

Disney-DeSantis Feud Fallout Could Spell Trouble For The Magic Kingdom: Here’s What You Need To Know

• The ongoing feud between Walt Disney Co DIS and Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis threatens to envelop Disney World.
• DeSantis touched on repealing a 55-year old Florida law that allows Disney to govern the Walt Disney World. The governor’s comments came after the entertainment giant opposed Florida’s controversial parental rights law, according to a report from Fox News.
• “What I would say as a matter of the first principle is I don’t support special privileges in law just because a company is powerful and they’ve been able to wield a lot of power,” said DeSantis, according to Fox News.

Amazon India Hints At Metaverse Launch On This Blockchain

• Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN India could potentially be exploring a virtual launch in the metaverse.
• The company posted a teaser on Twitter on Wednesday, saying “something new is on the horizon” and tagging the blockchain-based virtual world Decentraland MANA/USD.

Coinbase CEO Slams EU Over New Proposals For Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin Transactions; Parliament Passes It Anyway

• European Union lawmakers on Thursday voted in favor of an extension of anti-money laundering (AML) requirements that would effectively end anonymous transactions involving cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin BTC/USD, Ethereum ETH/USD, and Dogecoin DOGE/USD.
• The proposals approved by the EU are aimed at extending AML requirements that apply to payments over 1,000 euros ($1,114) to cryptocurrencies, according to a report from CoinDesk.
• The proposals were supported by more than 90 lawmakers, while members of the center-right European People’s Party (EPP) opposed the changes saying it was a “de-facto ban” on self-hosted wallets, as per the report.

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