Monday morning links
The COVID-19 infection rate is getting out of control in Singapore, Taiwan and Vietnam.
Indian variant B.1.617 seems a lot more transmissible, can also infect vaccinated individuals and can also lead to symptomatic infections among children.
New lockdowns in Singapore and Taiwan led their stock markets into a tailspin. Transport stocks and banks suffered while grocery stocks rallied.
Chinese housing prices grew at the fastest pace in eight months at 0.48% MoM, compared to 0.41% MoM as speculators try to hedge themselves against rising global inflation.
The Hong Kong government has unveiled a REIT subsidy plan to compete with Singapore’s and Japan’s REIT markets.
Commodity prices are starting to fall back to earth, and many are asking themselves whether it’s driven by a peak in China’s credit cycle. Or is China’s stockpiling of commodities decelerating?
Company-specific reports
I did a deep-dive on Malaysian palm oil company United Plantations (KLSE:UPL — US$1.4 billion) ($)
The Value Investing Substack on Malaysian oil company Hibiscus Petroleum Berhad (KLSE:HIBISCS — US$318 million)
Wickhams Hill Capital on Steel Pipe Industry Industry of Indonesia (IDX:ISSP — US$137 million)
NipponNuggets on high-flying Japanese enterprise software stock V-Cube (KLSE:HIBISCS — US$604 million)
Undervalued Japan on Fukuda Denshi (JASDAQ:6960 — US$604 million)
Pembridgecap gives a bullish account of Nintendo (TSE:7974 — US$67 billion)
Blue Orca Capital claims So-Young International (NASDAQ:SY — US$541 million) is faking its accounts
Long-form writing
I wrote a post about how East Asian countries developed and what it might imply for stock selection
I wrote another post about insider buying trends across Asia: what countries, what sectors and what companies are seeing the most insider buying ($)
Discussion on Southeast Asian entrepreneurship in Hayden Capital’s 1Q21 letter
Open Insights is not convinced that inflation is transitory
Glenn Chan makes the case that vaccinations might not solve COVID-19
Financial Times: Tether is backed by only 2.9% reserves
Chinese state media makes a 180 turn and becomes positive about Tesla
Sign of the times: hottest job for young Chinese is to become civil servants
American Chamber of Commerce says US companies in China are being discriminated against
Hong Kong’s government freezes opposition leader Jimmy Lai’s assets
40% of expats in AmCham survey respondents say they will leave Hong Kong
Nikkei on South Korea’s booming IPO market
The story of the failure of Philippines first unicorn company Revolution
Podcasts and videos
Asia Matter podcast on Biden’s first 100 days (48 mins)
China Tech Investors on China’s nascent semiconductor industry (1:06 hours)
The Economist Radio on China’s population census (23 mins)
The Little Red Podcast discussing China’s global propaganda push (52 mins)
Poly Matter discusses China’s Wolf Warrior Diplomacy (19 mins)
Arjun Murti painting a realistic picture of the renewables industry (1:06 hours)
Jeffrey Gundlach is worried about inflation (19 mins)
Dan Sundheim at Sohn 2021 (37 mins)
Bill Ackman interviewed by the Wall Street Journal (30 mins)
Stanley Druckenmiller is bearish on the US Dollar (11 mins)
Chart of the week – Tech ETF market share has started to drop
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Thanks for reading, and I wish you a great week ahead!