China's Evergrande Subsidiary Sees Major Decline in Annual Profit | Business Matters (Mar. 7)

in today's business matters well-known drugstore chain Walgreens is going private in a potential billion dollar agreement Walgreens boots Alliance closed a deal valued at nearly $24 billion so Thursday's announcement comes after the company's largely disastrous run on the public stock markets so over the past 5 years Walgreens shares have lost nearly 80% of their value the company says a private Equity Firm has agreed to pay more than $11 a share in cash Walgreens first went public in 1927 the deal brings an end to the change nearly 100 years as a publicly traded company exchanges on the NASDAQ could soon take place around the clock International demand has surged in recent years for the US market that's why NASDAQ plans to introduce 24-hour trading in a LinkedIn post NASDAQ president how Cohen said that has started discussions with regulators it expects to launch 24-hour trading 5 days a week in the second half of next year uh the round thee clock trading model will allow exchanges to tap into Global demand brokerages Charles swab and Robin Hood currently offer limited 24-hour trading on their platforms meanwhile us lawmakers are pressing Chinese telecommunications companies over any connections to the military or authorities in China leaders of a house panel have asked China mobile China Telecom and China Unicom to answer its questions by the end of the month this is based on a letter seen by Reuters lawmakers have cited National Security concerns posed by the company's presence in the US they fear the firms could exploit access to American data through their us cloud and internet businesses the letters show Growing bipartisan concern about the Chinese Communist party and the Telecommunications footprint in the US after a series of Chinese letters attacks the subsidiary of the world's most heavily indebted property developer seeing major decline in profit so China's evergr Property Services Group said today it could see a decrease of up to 37% in its annual profit for 2024 and the decline is due to Legal expenses among other reasons ever Grand property began legal proceedings against its parent in early January a GU Court in China ordered ever Grand to repay $1.5 85 billion owed to the subsidiary ever Grand property expects to lose a record loss of up to $80 million in profit and a message to Congress from a group of American businesses the US must crack down on Chinese companies being subsidized by the Chinese Communist party and those circumventing us tariffs by shipping Goods through third countries Executives from a slate of mids size industrial companies met with lawmakers on Capitol Hill Wednesday they said for years the US has been losing out on tariff revenue and what's more American companies have been forced out of business by Chinese firms that exploited trade rules take a listen for years we have battled unfairly traded Imports of cast iron products heavily subsidized Chinese foundaries operate below cost and dump these products in the United States far below fair market value over the course of the last 7 years we have spent millions of dollars to Avail ourselves of every legal remedy to stop dumping illegal subsidies trans shipment and Customs fraud from Chinese producers who wish to take our jobs we have filed than one anti-dumping and countervailing duty cases with duties ranging from 41 to 494 c. to avoid paying these duties Chinese producers trans ship their products through third countries primarily Malaysia and Cambodia where they are fraudulently labeled as originating from those Nations by our estimate and to Betsy's point we uh we believe Customs has been unable to collect $51 million in duties owed on our products alone so the speaker just now that was Brad Mohler he's the vice president of corporate Communications uh Charlotte Pipe and Foundry so the company has been founded for more than one 120 years in 1901 it's the largest American producer of cast iron plastic pipe and fittings for plumbing next China saw Imports unexpectedly tumble over January and February with exports also cooling off inbound shipments dropped 8.4% when they had been expected to rise exports grew at less than half the forecast rate the disappointing figures comes as a trade War heats up since taking office president has imposed an extra 10% tariff on Chinese goods and then doubled it for a cumulative 20% in new levies now the drop off in export growth may be related to shippers rushing out Goods in previous weeks to get ahead of the curbs as for imports experts say it may show that Beijing is scaling back purchases of key Commodities numbers were down for grains iron ore and crude oil president Trump suspended yesterday tariff of 25% he had imposed this week on most goods from Canada and Mexico the latest twist in an Ever unfolding crossbo trade drama take a look one for Canada one for Mexico yes sir US president Donald Trump on Thursday delayed for nearly one month his 25% tariffs on a wide range of goods from both Canada and Mexico the latest twist in his fast shifting trade policy the exemption covers Canadian and Mexican Goods under the North American Trade pact it comes just two days after Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on goods from the country's two largest trading partners which has rattled financial markets and Business Leaders who warned the move would hurt American consumers at a press conference Mexican president Claudia shine bomb read aloud Trump's truth social post announcing the one-month reprieve she said the decision followed a quote respectful phone call with Trump during which she explained that Mexico's security measures have been working to reduce the flow of fento into the US in February alone the reduction in fentanyl seizures on the US side of the border with Mexico was reduced by 41.5% so I said to him we are getting results president Trump now that you put in the tariffs how are we going to continue cooperating collaborating with something that hurts the people of Mexico April 2nd is going to be a very big day for America Trump said the Tariff exemptions will last until April 2nd when he has threatened to impose a global regime of reciprocal tariffs on all us trading partners the latest development comes a day after Trump Exempted Automotive goods from the 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico economists said those levies threaten to stoke inflation and stall growth across all three economies a blow to American amica's Farm sector Canada has suspended imports from the biggest US pork processing plant and this comes as Washington and Ottawa Spar over tariffs but the US Department of Agriculture says the suspens suspension was unrelated to recent trade activity instead the agency says this is in line with standard protocols under Canadian law three non-compliance issues within 6 months triggers a temporary suspension the USDA says it's working with Smith field Foods in North Carolina to resolve the issues and see whether Canada will reconsider the suspension a French company is joining the Trump administration's Fleet to revive the shipping industry in the US CMA CGM has pledged to invest $20 billion in the US to build out shipping Logistics and terminals the company says projects will include the expansion of container ports and the creation of an Air Cargo Hub in Chicago the CEO of the French shipping firm said that the investment would create 10,000 jobs cmacgm has started talks about possibly building medium-sized container vessels in the US president Trump is trying to weaken China's grip on the shipping sector he's expected to impose a levy on chips linked to China when they make stops at us ports gold price wings have calmed as a result gold moving from London to the US has slowed the London buling Market Association reported that the outflow of gold stored in London vaults to the US eased up last month in fact the amount of gold stored in London vaults at the end of last month dipped to a 5year low since late November though when President Trump threatened tariffs on Mexico and Canada bullan worth nearly $65 billion entered the comics gold stocks that drove them up 126% to a record high the inflow to the comic stocks has significantly slowed in recent weeks premiums between US Gold Futures and London spot prices have returned to normal levels a privately owned lunar lander is no longer working after landing sideways it's now stuck in a crater near the Moon South Pole uncertainty of outcome sent the company stock down on Thursday and today officials say the Landers mission is over NTD Shawn Marshall has more on the story texas-based intuitive machines stock was down over 22% at the time of this report on Friday the uncertain condition of their Athena moon lander on Thursday left people wondering about the Lander's future despite the announcement of a successful Landing a lack of clear information triggered investors resulting in a sharp selloff after the mission's live stream ended despite the drop the stock was still around 60% higher than it was a year ago the private lunar lander is no longer working after land Landing sideways in a crater near the Moon South Pole and its mission is over officials said Friday after landing Mission controllers were able to accelerate several program and payload Milestones including part of a NASA experiment before the Lander's batteries depleted intuitive machines does not expect Athena to recharge this was the second Landing attempt for intuitive machines a mission last year also ended with a sideways Landing the company's about page says intuitive machine provides lunar delivery data transmission and infrastructure services to open access to the moon for the progress of humanity NASA originally paid 62 million to intuitive machines to get its three experiments to the Moon intuitive machines CEO said Thursday that the company May delay its third lunar Landing Mission set for next year under the NASA commercial lunar payload Services Program the space agency also awarded the firm a fourth mission in 2027 to deliver six payloads to the Moon that could help reveal the origin of water throughout the solar system Sean Marshall andd News and Roundup weed killer could be pulled from Chels unless it gets more legal protection over liability so far the maker Bayer has paid about $10 billion to settle disputed claims that Roundup causes cancer the company has set aside another $6 billion for more pending cases the German company argues people should not be able to take it to court given the EPA and Regulators around the world have repeatedly labeled the product as safe to use a note from analysts revealed that Bayer leadership has said it will need to exit The Business Without legal Clarity has called on us lawmakers to strengthen legal protection against liability president Donald Trump is considering extending the deadline for Tik Tock to be sold Trump said yesterday he would probably extend the timeline if a deal isn't reached by the initial deadline in January the president signed an executive order giving Tik Tock Chinese parent company 75 days to find a new owner he didn't say how long that extension would last he added that China will also play a role in the decision last April President Biden signed a law requiring the app to be sold or face a US ban law enforcement officials and the lawmakers who backed the bill argue that Tik Tok poses a national security threat the US economy added 151,000 jobs last month according to the latest jobs reports the first fully monthly tally of the labor market under Donald Trump's second presidential term for more analysis I spoke to Julia Pock Chief Economist at zip recruiter take a look uh how's the labor market doing because the February job report showing uh below expectations growth uh what does this signal is is a Slowdown on the horizon this is a solid report I mean that 151,000 number should be seen in the context of an Administration in which uh immigration has already fallen substantially uh and a time in our history in which the population is aging out of the labor force so it's a very strong Top Line number at the same time there are some signs of softening in this report not of a collapse but of some signs of softness for example the work week is unusually short 34.1 um hours that's a number typically only seen in recessions it coincides with an increase in the share of workers working part-time for economic reasons that means forced to take part-time jobs when they'd rather be working full-time that is happening at the same time that we've seen a pop uh in the share of workers holding multiple jobs um and partly it really is because employers are cutting hours and workers are needing to find more than one job to pay the bills how significant are the impacts from federal job Cuts because the unemployment rate actually ticked up right to 4.1% yes so the unemployment rate probably does not reflect the federal Workforce Cuts remember this report uh is based on a survey conducted in the week uh of February 10th and so it only reflects a a small share of the federal Workforce cuts that have taken place uh it probably that 10,000 decline that we saw in the number of federal workers is probably a fraction of the 30,000 probationary workers who had been laid off at that point and we'll probably see that number get get bigger in the coming months so in addition to the work hours labor force participation declined as well uh what's your angle on this what's causing this something to worry about or not I think it's connected to sectoral Trends so what we're seeing is restaurants shutting down and shedding jobs uh in this report 27,500 jobs were lost at restaurants why well it's a hangover of the big spending that we did the high inflation and high interest rates those especially are hurting small businesses small restaurants that rely on credit card financing you know most small businesses in America don't rely on business loans they rely on credit cards and those payments are just too high for businesses to stay afloat right now we also sorry why is that connected to late Force participation well restaurants are often the Bottom Rung of the labor force ladder they're an entry point for workers the other entry point that we're seeing struggle is in Tech uh with computer systems design and related Services shedding 9,800 jobs in this report Tech has lost jobs for about two years now and there are lots of Young Americans who thinking that Tech was the place to be majored in computer science and related fields and they are finding a very soft labor market and so many are taking a long time to hit their stride and enter the labor force all right Julia always great to speak with you thank you very much for your time good talking to you and Costco could be mixing up its supply chain over tariffs the membership only retailer said it would consider making changes to its International Supply Chain if tariffs lead to big price hikes on an earnings call the CEO explained that there aren't many items it can't find a replacement for on that same call the warehouse giant reported missing Wall Street expectations for its second quarter profit only about onethird of Costco's Us sales are products imported from other countries with less than half of those from China Mexico and Canada but Costco's margins are being impacted by Soaring coffee cocoa and egg prices when these decades long chocolate or vanilla only Frosty flavors will end with a new makeover later this year the new offerings called Frosty Swirls and frosty fusions will allow customers to either add new sauces or mix uh mixins with new ones to create unseen new flavor combinations new packaging with a new cup lid a Blue Spoon will also be added to create maximum customer satisfaction the change comes at a time when sales are down across the industry and customers want more and better offerings while competition is getting tougher by the day okay on to stocks uh us indexes finished higher today rebounding from early declines after Federal Reserve chair drone Powell uh said the economy was in a good place but stocks still posted a weekly loss on uncertainty about us trade policy now markets have been royed this this entire week by uncertainty about Trump's tariff decisions uh so that's on imported goods from Canada Mexico and China meanwhile reciprocal trade barriers and other Duties are expected to take effect in the following weeks we'll keep a close eye on that so just a quick update there and that's it for today's business matters