🇨🇳🖨💴China is considering 1 trillion yuan ($139 billion) of new debt issuance under a so-called special sovereign bond plan, only the fourth such sale in the past 26 years, as authorities seek more money to finance intensifying efforts to shore up the world’s second-largest economy.

These new stimulus measures by Chinese President Xi Jinping’s government are the latest attempt to support an economy that is struggling to maintain momentum. China’s ongoing property crisis, deflation concerns, and weak domestic demand are weighing on economic activity and depressing market confidence. The new stimulus measure also shifts spending responsibility to the central government from debt-laden local Chinese governments that have struggled to fund various stimulus measures.

The design of long-term sovereign bonds means they are intended to be repaid over several decades, lowering the pressure on the government to make payments in the short term. In a research note, Goldman Sachs said the ultra-long bonds still “may not be able to address all the fiscal challenges,” but the issuance of such debt is a “likely toolkit” for fiscal easing this year. In October 2023, China’s legislature approved a plan to raise the fiscal deficit ratio for 2023 to about 3.8% of gross domestic product, well above the 3% set last March. That plan included issuing additional sovereign debt worth 1 trillion yuan in Q4 to support disaster relief and construction.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-01-16/china-weighs-more-stimulus-with-139-billion-of-special-bonds

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/markets/indices/TXCX/pressreleases/23372911/23372911/

📊 Highest market capitalization

🇺🇸 Microsoft: $2.88 trillion
🇺🇸 Apple: $2.87 trillion
🇸🇦 Saudi Aramco: $2.12 trillion
🇺🇸 Alphabet: $1.79 trillion
🇺🇸 Amazon: $1.59 trillion
🇺🇸 NVIDIA: $1.35 trillion
🇺🇸 Meta: $0.96 trillion
🇺🇸 Berkshire: $0.79 trillion
🇺🇸 Tesla: $0.69 trillion

@FinancialWorldUpdates

📊 Microsoft is currently the largest company on the planet, recently outpacing Apple to take the to spot with a market cap nearing $3 trillion:

1. Microsoft 👑
2. Apple
3. Saudi Arabian Oil
4. Alphabet (Google)
5. Amazon
6. NVIDIA
7. Meta (Facebook)
8. Berkshire Hathaway (Warren Buffet)
9. Tesla
10. Eli Lilly
11. Visa

@FinancialWorldUpdates

🇨🇺📖⚠️ — URGENT: Raul Castro authorized the use of Cuba as a route for drug trafficking

🇺🇸 A newly released book suggests that the former Cuban dictator Raúl Castro allowed the Medellín Cartel, one of the largest drug trafficking groups in history, to use the island as a transit point to transport cocaine to the United States.

📝 The book, noscriptd "Life and Death of the Medellín Cartel," is based on the accounts of Carlos Lehder, one of the founders of the cartel, who served time in the United States for drug trafficking and currently lives in Germany.

💰 According to Lehder, he met with Raúl Castro in the 1980s and received implicit approval to operate on Cayo Largo, an island in Cuba. Lehder claims that Castro was more interested in the dollars that drug trafficking would generate than other commodities. He also says he negotiated with Daniel Ortega, the dictator of Nicaragua.

☄️ Lehder's accusations are not the first linking the Castros to drug trafficking. Another former cartel member, Jhon Jairo Velásquez Vásquez, known as "Popeye," also stated in his autobiography that Fidel and Raúl Castro were involved in these operations, facilitating the entry of drugs through the island.

Source 🔗 |

#Archive

🇰🇵🎙📃 — 📰 KCNA: Respected Comrade Kim Jong Un Makes Policy Speech at 10th Session of 14th SPA

http://kcna.kp/en/article/q/f4bf631617198851f067bd66d7f48d18.kcmsf
https://archive.is/1RRvV

#BREAKING

🇾🇪❌🌏 ❗️— 📰 US Department of Defense official told Sky News Arabia: The Houthis in Yemen have prepared plans to target US Armed Forces bases in the Arab region (CENTCOM Bases)

https://fxtwitter.com/SkyNewsArabia_B/status/1747608672354648151

💰 Let me put into context how insane $10b in volume is in first 3 days. There were 500 ETFs launched in 2023. Today, they did a COMBINDED $450m in volume. The best one did $45m. And many have had months to get going.

$IBIT alone is seeing more activity than the entire '23 Freshman Class

https://twitter.com/EricBalchunas/status/1747385703971860617

🇪🇺☝️❌💰 The EU is taking aim at privacy coins and self-custody wallets under new anti-money laundering regime. The changes, including a ban on crypto mixers, are expected this week. DeFi, DAOs, NFT platforms, among others, will need to increase their due diligence on users.

The Anti-Money Laundering Regulation, or AMLR, will work in tandem with the Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation, or MiCA. Parts of the latter are expected to go live this year. When the AMLR law will come into force is still in negotiation, but it is expected between 2026 and 2027.

https://www.dlnews.com/articles/regulation/why-the-eu-is-about-to-outlaw-and-curb-key-crypto-features/

🇺🇸 🇾🇪 🇾🇪 "Today, in response to these continuing threats and attacks, the United States announced the designation of Ansarallah, also known as the Houthis, as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist - Jake Sullivan, U.S. National Security Advisor"

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/01/17/statement-from-national-security-advisor-jake-sullivan-on-the-terrorist-designation-of-the-houthis/

📎 CENTCOM

🇮🇹🤝💻 Italy Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, as part of the series of meetings on Artificial Intelligence, will receive the founder of Microsoft Bill Gates at Palazzo Chigi on Thursday 18 January, to take stock - we learn - on one of the main themes on the agenda of the Italian G7.

https://www.ansa.it/sito/notizie/politica/2024/01/17/bill-gates-a-roma-domani-incontro-con-meloni_56f419c9-ad0d-4576-b006-fa4b85cf88e2.html

🇾🇪❌🇬🇧🇺🇸 — 📰 Houthi's Military Media on Telegram:

Statement issued by the Yemeni Armed Forces’ Spokesman, General Yahya Sarae:

Within the framework of the right of response to the US-British aggression on our country, the Yemeni Naval Forces carried out an operation against the American ship "Jenko Picardi" in the Gulf of Aden with appropriate anti-ship missiles, resulting in accurate and direct hits