Chinese trade soared in April, rising 32% YoY in dollar terms as global consumers spent their stimulus checks.
China’s securities regulator is looking to tighten the rules for firms listing overseas.
Bytedance announced it had hired thousands of people to challenge Alibaba in e-commerce.
Hong Kong apartment rents have started to drop as expats move away from the city and unemployment rises.
Japan’s prime minister Suga set a target of 1 million vaccinations per day to make sure the country is read for the Tokyo Olympics in July.
On Friday later this week, Suga is set to decide on whether to extend the state of emergency for Tokyo and three other key regions in Japan.
Singapore is battling a new outbreak of COVID-19 variant B1617 which seems to be in an early stage of spreading within the community.
Company-specific reports
Third Point has invested in Singapore ride-hailing company Grab (Not yet listed) as it’s preparing to list via a SPAC, as per their 1Q21 letter
Financial Times Lex discussing Singapore Press Holding’s (SGX:T39 — US$1.8 billion) corporate restructuring into a pure-play property company ($)
Bonhoeffer’s 1Q21 letter mentions Korean construction company DL E&C (KOSE:375500 — US$2.5 billion), which post-spin-off trades at a large discount to peers
Long-form writing
I wrote an article describing Robert Kuok’s career and the extent of his business empire throughout Asia ($)
I also argued that China’s business cycle will soon peak ($)
Short-seller Carson Block discussing SPACs, China, Robinhood & Archegos
Dexter Roberts on increased state influence over private companies in China
Chinese state-sponsored Substack account Pekingnology dissecting Xi’s use of the concept “dual circulation” and what it means for policy
A Washington Post survey finds 98% of Chinese support their government
The Semi-Literate Substack discussing key supply-chain risks in the global semiconductor industry
Seifel Capital giving a primer of the semiconductor industry from a top-down perspective
Asianometry Substack on TSMC’s reliance on crypto miner revenue
Nikkei report discussing the main contenders in China’s race to build up a domestic semiconductor industry ($)
NipponNuggets released a list of the Japanese stocks he sees as most innovative
Tokyo Mothers Index Substack with links to resources for analysing Japanese stocks
Nikkei on the rise of Indian tech unicorns ($)
Nikkei on Taiwan’s stock market bubble (yes - work-from-home stock speculation is a global phenomenon) ($)
Podcasts and videos
I did an interview with Brandon Beylo at Value Hive, discussing a range of topics (1:13 hours)
I also did an interview with Jon Kingston at the Capital Employed (15 mins)
Sam Zell buys gold with inflation trends reminding him of the 1970s (8 mins)
Defense expert Tom Shugart discusses the risk of a war over Taiwan (53 mins)
Tech Buzz China discussing key trends in China tech (1:15 hours)
Warren Pies from 3Fourteen Research giving his outlook for the global oil market (1:24 hours)
Isabella Weber giving a history lesson on China’s economic reforms in the 1980s (1:01 hours)
Chart of the week – Delhi’s COVID-19 outbreak starting to get under control
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