Geopolitics
The United States and China have issued a joint statement where both nations have agreed to maintain communication while promising to ensure successful implementation of phase one of the trade agreement.
The two sides agreed on the progress made so far, commending the significant increases in purchases of American products by China. They also discussed the significant increases in China’s purchasing of US products, “as well as future actions needed to implement the agreement.” according to the statement.
Meanwhile, in South Korea, the Ministry of Education has announced the closure of all schools in Seoul and nearby two cities over fresh coronavirus concerns. The schools will move to online classes starting from Wednesday, August 26 until September 11 in an effort to slow the spread of the virus.
Major Corporate News
Apple vs Epic Games
A US judge has issued a temporary order which says that Apple does not have to restore Epic Games’ Fortnite on its App Store.
However, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers also ordered Apple to unblock Epic Games’ Unreal Engine developer software.
“I can tell you right now that I am inclined not to grant relief with respect to the games, but I am inclined to grant relief with respect to the Unreal Engine,” CNBC quotes the judge.
Earlier this August, Epic Games had sued Apple over its decision to remove Fortnite from the App Store after the video game developer introduced its own payment system that allows Fortnite players to avoid paying $0.30 commission to Apple Inc.
Ant Group IPO
Alibaba subsidiary Ant Financial Services has filed to list on Hong Kong’s and Shanghai’s stock exchanges with the fintech company targeting a market valuation of at least $200 Billion.
In Q1 2020, ant Group reported a revenue of more than $10 billion with a net profit of $3.17 billion.
Bytedance VS US
ByteDance on Monday filed a lawsuit against the US government as it seeks to block Trump administration’s ban on its video-sharing app TikTok. The Chinese tech firm argues that it has not been given an opportunity to argue its case that the video app isn’t a security threat to the US.
This comes as Bytedance continues to negotiate with a number of US companies such as Oracle, Microsoft and Twitter over the possibility of acquiring the app.
Most recently, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that will force ByteDance to divest its TikTok interest in the US by November 12. TikTok has more than 100 million users in the US so far.
Europe
Germany’s second-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) fell massively by by 9.7% according to the country’s Federal Statistical Office.
The report released early on Tuesday showed that the country’s economy declined by 11.3% compared to the same period in 2019. This marks the sharpest YoY decline since 2009.
Its trade with other countries was down by more than 20% from both from a quarter-on-quarter basis and on an annual basis.
