☕️ Anti-hoping bill sitting deferred, more feedback needed

1. MARKET SUMMARY

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE

26% of Malaysians have pushed back their plans of having a child or more children in the past two years due to Covid-19, according to a study by Ipsos Malaysia. The sample size was 500. Separately, three is the ideal number of children to have, according to Malaysians in the survey.

Amazon has secured 83 rocket launches over five years for its satellite broadband network to take on SpaceX’s Starlink. The rocket launches will put together a satellite constellation called Project Kuiper. The project will use 3,000 satellites in low earth orbit to beam high-speed, low-latency internet to customers.

USD107.2 mil — the total remuneration of the three chief executives of Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna in the two years of Pandemic, reflecting the massive success of the mRNA Covid vaccines.

3. COVID-19 SUMMARY

• If you’re diabetic, you are three to four times more likely than others to have severe Covid-19 symptoms.

• We’ll likely have to wear masks in the long term as Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah has asked the public to continue wearing masks.

4. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

1. Updates on ex-Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng’s 1MDB trial in New York:In a separate 1MDB trial in the KL High Court, Jho Low was invited to sit in a special 1MDB board meeting in 2009 but did not say anything, as his explanation would have been recorded in the meeting minutes.

   1. On top of receiving USD95.1 mil in kickbacks and bribes from Jho Low, Roger Ng and his boss, Tim Leissner, collectively received USD14.3 mil worth of bonuses in cash and stock from Goldman Sachs for their achievement in closing two 1MDB bond issuance of USD1.75 bil each. Goldman earned USD400 mil in fees for arranging these two issuances. 

   2. Money makes money — funds siphoned from 1MDB subsidiary SRC International Sdn Bhd were used for trading commodities.

   3. Roger Ng and associates considered buying prime real estate in London using the funds siphoned out of 1MDB using a company set up in Guernsey — an island off the coast of the UK that is known as a tax haven.  

   4. HIgh-end jewellery designer Lorraine Schwartz confirmed that she received payment for the controversial pink diamond necklace for Rosmah Mansor from funds belonging to 1MDB. The total invoice for the necklace was USD27.3 mil - USD23 mil for the pink diamond centre and USD4.3 mil for the diamond necklace. An FBI agent earlier testified the payment for this necklace came from the third and final issuance of 1MDB’s bond. In 2018, former PM Najib Razak insisted the diamond necklace was a gift from the deputy PM of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). 

   5. Jho Low instructed his subordinates to blind carbon copy (bcc) him in emails sent to 1MDB.

2. Minister in PM’s Department Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar confirmed that the special sitting on Apr 11 to table the anti-party hopping bill will be deferred. The bill has been returned to conduct more studies on the definition of “party hopping”. The sitting, however, will proceed to amend some parts of the Constitution to enable a full-fledged “anti-hopping” law in the future. 

3. Bersatu supreme council said the party has given party president Muhyiddin Yassin a full mandate to negotiate cooperation with other parties ahead of GE15. This came after reports of Muhyiddin meeting with other party leaders. Pejuang deputy president Marzuki Yahya said the party is still open to cooperating with other parties, including Bersatu. This contradicts with the party’s chairman tone Tun M. However, Marzuki denied that he was contradicting Tun M as its chairman has indicated the party could work anyone for the sake of Malays interest. 

4. Looking to invest in public listed companies venturing into the fast-growing electric vehicle (EV) industry? Here are some stocks breaking into the EV industry according to The Edge:

5. Manufacturers and importers of non-medical face masks must apply for MS SIRIM certification and labelling from SIRIM QAS International Sdn Bhd beginning July 4, 2022, onwards. The Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs (KPDNHEP) said to move to ensure non-medical face masks produced locally or imported comply with the set safety standards.

5. AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

1. Russian forces pound key cities as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the West needed to act decisively in taking “more rigid” steps. He told the UN Security Council to remove Russia, which is a permanent member of the council, or the UNSC can dissolve itself. Pope Francis described the killings in Bucha as a “massacre”. The killings have shocked the world. The US has imposed more sanctions — targeting Russian banks and elites. European Commission is examining energy imports.

2. India has finally spoken — the country has “unequivocally condemned” killings in Ukraine’s Bucha — at the UN meeting. However, it stopped short of blaming or naming Russia for the atrocity in Bucha. India is under pressure from Western countries over its diplomatic balancing act.

3. Europe’s energy-hungry economies have been approaching miners in Indonesia for coal, pushing coal prices in Asia higher. Rising electricity demand and a lack of new coal supply should keep prices elevated. In other words, use less air-cond or expect to pay higher electricity bills.

4. Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard wants to clamp down on hot-burning inflation ASAP as she hinted the Fed may shrink its USD9 tril balance sheet rapidly as soon as May. Inflation hasn’t been kind to the lower-earning households as they spent 77% of their income on necessities versus 31% for higher-income households.

5. HSBC Holdings plc has launched a fund for metaverse opportunities, but only for its wealthy private banking clients in Hong Kong and Singapore. HSBC last month made its debut in the metaverse after buying virtual real estate in The Sandbox. Metaverse shouldn’t be discriminatory, though.

6. On top of serving you your 16oz Spiced Pumpkin Latte, Starbucks wants to go into the non-fungible token (NFT) business, according to its interim CEO and founder, Howard Schultz. He’s back at the helm of the coffee chain for the third time, bean there, done that. Schultz thinks that Starbucks has a lot to offer — from collectables to the entire heritage of the company.

7. The maker of play-to-earn game Axie Infinity, Sky Mavis, raised a USD150 million round led by Binance to reimburse user funds lost in the USD625 million Ronin attack. The hacker has apparently moved 2000 stolen ether to privacy tool Tornado Cash earlier this week.

6. FOR YOUR EYES 👁👁

1. The excess ‘fat’ in projects. AKPK should consider using the same operating model in their programmes.

2. For iPhone users, a hack to quickly open your MySejahtera app each time entering a new premise using the iOS’ ‘Shortcuts’ feature.