Weekly Market Update - 14 November 2022

Relaxation Measures

China issued sweeping relaxation measures on property and Covid controls, in the strongest signal yet that President Xi Jinping is now turning his attention on rescuing the economy. Beijing unveiled an extensive 16-point rescue package for the struggling real estate market, just days after announcing 20 measures to guide officials as it eases its contentious Covid-Zero policy. The major policy shifts will likely aid China’s growth outlook and add fuel to a market rally that sent a gauge of Chinese shares in Hong Kong up 17% in the past two weeks.

Source: Bloomberg

FTX Chaos

Things move fast in the crypto world. A day after Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao said he would bail out Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX.com, his cryptocurrency exchange backed out of the deal citing financial and regulatory issues. The U-turn leaves FTX and its clients facing an uncertain future and has sparked renewed concerns about contagion risks across the industry. Bankman-Fried told investors that without a cash injection the company will need to file for bankruptcy, sources say. Bitcoin dropped below $16,000 to a level not seen since 2020.

Source: Bloomberg

Facebook Layoffs

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the company will cut more than 11,000 jobs, calling himself responsible for the first major round of layoffs in the social media giant’s history. The reduction is equal to about 13% of the workforce. The company, which owns Facebook and Instagram, will also extend its hiring freeze, reduce its real estate footprint and transition some employees to desk sharing. Meta is the latest in a line of tech firms cutting or freezing headcount this year. Among them are Snap, which said in August it would eliminate 20% of its workforce, and Twitter, which axed about half its workforce last week.

Source: Bloomberg