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Wall Street
The US stock market closed higher at the end of the week with the Dow Jones and S&P 500 hitting new all-time high records during Friday’s session.
Decent gains in Apple, Salesforce, Microsoft pushed the Dow Jones up by 0.89% while the S&P 500 was up 0.77%. The Nasdaq 100 climbed 0.63% led by Align Technology jumping 2.92%.
Biden’s 2022 $1.5T budget plan
United States President Joe Biden’s on Friday unveiled the administration’s preliminary 2022 budget plan which seeks $1.52 trillion in spending.
According to the document, Biden will ask Congress to boost spending by 8.4% compared to 2021 and most of the increase would be dedicated to domestic social programs, with a 16% increase compared to defence spending which would rise 2%, Bloomberg reported.
The proposal includes a plan to hike non-defense spending by 16% to $769 billion and increase defense spending by 1.7% to $753 billion.
Global chip shortage
The United States administration will on Monday hold a virtual meeting with the executives of several companies, including Apple, Alphabet, Intel, AT&T, HP, Dell, as well as carmakers Ford and General Motors to discuss the ongoing global chip shortage.
The shortage of semiconductor chips has led to a number of technology and auto companies to announce delay in production.
Several media outlets reported earlier in the week that Apple Inc., the world’s fourth-largest laptop maker with a 7.6% market share was facing delays in the production of some MacBooks and iPad as a result of the global chip shortage.
According to Asia Nikkei, MacBook production has been postponed while iPad production was delayed due to a shortage of displays and display components.
An article on Bloomberg noted that the shortage is expected to last for more than a year at least.
Alibaba fined $2.8B
The Chinese State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) said that it is fining Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. approximately $2.77 billion for breaching the country’s anti-monopoly laws.
The regulator accused Alibaba of “abusing market dominance” by not allowing merchants to utilize other e-commerce platforms and hindering the free circulation of goods.
Following the announcement, Alibaba’s stated that it accepts the decision and would work to implement changes demanded by the regulator.
Global Times reported that the fine, the largest anti-monopoly fine ever rolled out by Chinese authorities, accounts for about 4 per cent of Alibaba’s domestic sales in 2019.
Didi Chuxing IPO
Chinese ride-hailing company Didi Chuxing has filed confidentially with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering (IPO) targeting a valuation of between $70 billion to $100 billion.
The company has already appointed Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to lead its blockbuster IPO according to media reports.
Didi, which is backed by SoftBank, Alibaba and Tencent, is looking to list as soon as July and this could be the largest Chinese IPO in the United States since Alibaba’s $25 billion float in 2014.
Aramco agrees to sell 49% stake in New business
The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Saudi Arabia’s energy giant said it struck a $12.4 billion deal to sell a 49% stake in a newly formed oil pipeline business to an international consortium led by U.S. investment firm EIG Global Energy Partners and Abu Dhabi sovereign-wealth fund Mubadala Investment Co.
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