The U.S. may have anchored inflation to 4%, SoftBank sold $550 million in WeWork debt, and Oracle cloud computing sales soared丨 Overseas Finance wants to participate

21st Century Business Herald reporter Hu Tianjiao comprehensive report

In October, the UK economy grew almost nothing as supply chain disruptions affected economic activity and the rebound in many services also came to a halt, increasing the likelihood of delaying rate hikes. Data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that from September to October, UK output grew by only 0.1%. The increase was lower than the 0.4 percent predicted by the economists surveyed and well below the 0.6 percent increase last month. The Uk's Office for National Statistics said the slowdown in growth was caused by a variety of factors. After a strong summer, the restaurant industry retreated, resulting in a 5.5% decline in accommodation and food service activities. Meanwhile, the Office for National Statistics said the construction sector saw its biggest drop since last April, "partly due to raw material shortages". Production fell by 0.6 percent due to a sharp decline in mining and quarrying, as well as in natural gas distribution.

Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers said U.S. policymakers who allowed the economy to overheat may have consolidated inflation of 4 percent or more, far exceeding their long-term goals. Summers said in an interview: "We started the excessive inflation caused by the overheating of the economy for the first time in 40 years. We will keep inflation above 2% – perhaps in the range of 4% or even higher. The Harvard professor said the November Consumer Price Index (CPI), released Friday, showed that high inflation was by no means "temporary" as the Fed and the Biden administration had called for much of the year. The data showed inflation reached an annual rate of 6.8% last month, a 39-year high.

Investment advisors have outpaced retail traders to become the largest owners of U.S. exchange-traded funds (ETFs), highlighting the increasing use of these tools by professional investors to structure portfolios. Research compiled by Citigroup shows that nearly two-fifths of ETFs listed in the U.S. by value are currently held by investment advisers. The bank's data shows that 5 years ago, the proportion was just over 35%. The data draws on quarterly filings filed by various institutions to detail their holdings in the United States. Wealth management firms hold 12.7 percent of the shares, while other institutions such as insurance companies and pension funds hold 8.8 percent. Citi's data shows that over the same time period, retail investors' stake in U.S.-listed ETFs has fallen from 40% to 38.9%.

More than a year ago, SoftBank offered the loss-making real estate conglomerate $550 million worth of debt during WeWork's liquidity crisis and agreed to sell the bonds at a discounted price to attract investors to the deal. Two people familiar with the matter said the Japanese telecom and technology company sold the bonds. The bonds have a coupon rate of 5% and will mature in July 2025 with a face value of about 86% of $1. The low prices pushed the yields of these bonds up to 9.75 percent, higher than the yields of WeWork's existing bonds. The $550 million debt is part of a $2.2 billion bailout package WeWork reached with SoftBank in 2019 and was recouped last year. SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son has staked heavily on WeWork, pouring billions of dollars into the company. As WeWork's valuation plummeted, the Japanese conglomerate suffered huge losses in its investment in WeWork, eventually offering bailout funds in the form of lines of credit and new debt.

The Norwegian government has announced a total aid package of more than 8 billion crowns ($890 million) to help mitigate the impact of record electricity prices on households across Europe. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said at a news conference that the government would pay half of the cost of electricity for households between December and March, with electricity market prices above 70 ore per kWh by deducting electricity bills. "Special circumstances like this require special measures," Store said. "We know that this is a powerful response to the dire and difficult situation that many people are experiencing."

Energy prices have skyrocketed due to global gas shortages, hitting European consumers, while rising commodity markets have pushed up food prices. Electricity prices have soared to record levels in the past few weeks after some of the largest hydropower stations in the Nordic region have been forced to cut production.

After Oracle reported an unexpected increase in cloud software sales revenue, Larry Ellison's net worth soared by $12 billion. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Ellison ranks ninth among the world's richest people with a wealth of $119.5 billion. He ranks second only to Former Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer and second only to Warren Buffett. Aryson, 77, who owns more than 40 percent of the enterprise software company Oracle, co-founded the company in 1977 and still serves as chairman and chief technology officer. While Ellison's Oracle stock accounts for about 75 percent of his wealth, he also owns Tesla Inc., an electric car maker. About $15 billion in shares, which makes him one of the company's largest individual shareholders.

According to an emailed government statement, Chad reached an agreement with the International Monetary Fund on Friday on a $570 million plan through its Extended Credit Facility. The IMF said the three-year plan would provide $78.28 million in funding immediately. The plan is seen as key to meeting the financing needs of Central African countries. Chadian Finance Minister Tahir Hamid Nguilin said in a government statement that the project would support Chad's economic recovery while helping the country's efforts to achieve sustainable debt levels. Chad formally requested the restructuring of its public external debt in January, the first country to do so under the new framework. It struck deals with official creditors, including China, France, India and Saudi Arabia, to reschedule their loans and back an IMF project that was crucial to the country's economic recovery in June.

In the wake of the Archegos family office scandal, the Bank of England has ordered a review of the large brokerage operations of British banks and said it should cut executive pay if they fail to solve the problem. The above statement is part of a coordinated international regulatory effort to avoid a recurrence of risk management failures. A failed risk management led to the collapse of family-owned wealth management firm Aechegos, resulting in more than $10 billion in losses. In a letter to the CHIEF Executives of British banks, the Bank of England said its analysis of Archegos' collapse found "significant cross-company flaws" in the way the bank's block brokerage business allowed the fund to accumulate huge loans that ultimately led to its default. In March, the family office, managed by Bill Hwang, a former Tiger global hedge fund manager, collapsed, costing several global banks that had Archegos as an institutional brokerage client a total of $10 billion.

Citigroup Inc CEO Jane Fraser said the bank would have to cut off some of its customers to meet its climate goals. She said the bank is conducting a survey of various industries to determine how to deliver on the commitment she made on her first day as CEO in March this year: by 2050, the bank will achieve net zero carbon emissions across all of its financing portfolios. Citigroup said it would announce plans and targets next year. Citigroup will begin by outlining plans on how to deal with customers in the energy industry. Citi will consider the projects initiated by the customer, the customer's commitment to greening itself, and the importance of the customer to Citigroup. "At the end of the day, it means we can choose which customers to serve and which customers not to provide," Jane Fraser said. "One size fits all will not work."

Amazon Inc. (Amazon.com Inc.) The automated processes of its cloud business this week caused a chain of breakdowns across the internet, affecting everything from Disneyland and Netflix video to robotic vacuum cleaners and ticket sales at Adele. Amazon said the problem began on Dec. 7, when an automated computer program designed to make its network more reliable ended up causing "a large" number of its systems to behave unexpectedly. This, in turn, led to a surge in activity on Amazon's network, ultimately resulting in users not being able to access some of its cloud services.

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