The rollout of Covid-19 vaccines in Singapore will help the economy to recover — but will not take it back to what it was before the pandemic, the country’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan said on Thursday. “I think we should talk about a new normal. So yes, there will be recovery in […] Read more
China — Shares of Chinese chipmaker SMIC fell over 5% on Wednesday after the company said it was aware its co-CEO planned to resign and as its stock was set to be removed from MSCI indexes. SMIC said it had become “aware” of co-CEO Mong Song Liang’s “intention of conditional resignation.” The company said it was “verifying” […] Read more
China’s market regulator has fined Alibaba and a Tencent-backed company for not making the proper declarations to authorities about past acquisitions, in another sign Beijing is taking a tougher stance on the country’s tech giants. Alibaba, Tencent-backed China Literature, and Shenzhen Hive Box Technology were each fined 500,000 yuan ($76,463) by the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR). […] Read more
Hope is fading for a significant change in U.S.-China relations under President-elect Joe Biden, Alicia Garcia-Herrero, Natixis’ chief economist for Asia-Pacific, said on Thursday. Relations between the U.S. and China have spiraled downward under President Donald Trump’s administration in the last four years. Ahead of the election, Natixis economists had hoped the two countries could return to better […] Read more
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Human trials of a Chinese vaccine in the United Arab Emirates have yielded positive results, the UAE’s national health authorities said Wednesday, citing an 86% efficacy rate. The figure was announced by the UAE Ministry of Health via state news agency WAM, detailing an “interim analysis” conducted by Sinopharm’s China […] Read more
Bill Gates has predicted there could be as many as half a dozen Covid-19 vaccines approved and ready for distribution by the spring of 2021, as medical advancements to combat the coronavirus ramp up. “I expect that we’ll have about six vaccines approved by the first quarter,” Gates said Tuesday, speaking virtually at the Singapore […] Read more
With the recent spate of bond defaults in China, investors should be looking to put their money into Chinese central government bonds which are “unlikely to default,” according to an economist from research firm TS Lombard. Last month, a series of high-profile defaults involving state-owned companies in China — normally a safe bet for investors — jolted […] Read more
Moderna said Monday it will request emergency clearance from the Food and Drug Administration for its coronavirus vaccine after new data confirms the vaccine is more than 94% effective in preventing Covid-19 and was safe. Moderna will be the second drugmaker to seek emergency use from the FDA after Pfizer, another front-runner in the Covid-19 vaccine race, applied for the […] Read more
AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford are defending the results and methods used in their phase three vaccine trials on the back of criticism from experts in the U.S., stressing the “highest standards” were used and that “additional analysis will be conducted.” AstraZeneca shares are down by around 6% this week after questions were raised over […] Read more
The U.S. needs to take a “strategic approach” as it competes with China on artificial intelligence, according to a Nasdaq executive. AI is an area that is going to only develop in partnership with government, and U.S. authorities need to get involved, said Edward Knight, vice chairman of Nasdaq. The Chinese government has already started […] Read more
