☕️ Muhyiddin: PN considering to work with PH

1. MARKET SUMMARY

S&P 500 briefly fell into the bear market territory, defined as a 20% pullback from the record high.

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE

RM5.48 million (£1m) per week — the salary of Paris Saint-Germain’s Kylian Mbappe, making him the highest-paid footballer in the world. Not that much, only RM543.65 per minute. By the time you finish reading today’s newsletter, Mbappe has already made more than the minimum wage in Malaysia.

5.3% and 6.3% - Malaysia’s economic growth rate this year, according to the Ministry of Finance’s 95th People's Financial Report. The growth will come from higher domestic demand and support from external demand, increased economic activity, and continued labour market recovery.

2x gold medals - Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia made a stunning comeback to win his second gold medal of the year in the Thailand Open after winning the Asian Championships early last month.

3. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

1. PN chairman Muhyiddin Yassin said the coalition is mulling whether to work with PH in the upcoming GE15 to avoid clashes between the two coalitions to take a straight fight with BN, No official meetings had been done, but overtures were made by certain quarters. PH and Malaysia already had a front-row seat to what could potentially happen next if this happens and a change in government was a success. A sequel with a similar plot and same antagonists with the same tricks is a setup for failure at the box office, or in our case, for the nation. Also, the same person and mastermind behind Langkah Sheraton, Muhyiddin Yassin, said the country should not fall under kleptocrats’ rule again as it will cause bigger issues and problems for the country.

2. Pasir Salak MP Tajuddin Abdul Rahman has come out defending himself over his appointment as Malaysia’s ambassador to Indonesia. He said the criticism against him has been “unfair” and that he is being “treated like some person by the roadside” although he has “served the government and the country for 45 years”. Fair or not, nobody can judge in this case. But with his behaviour and conduct, it’s appropriate that the common perception towards him is as such. Malay Mail compiled a summary of his controversies since 1995.

3. US chocolate maker The Hershey Company announced the opening of its new 10,400 sq feet R&D centre in Johor, making it one of Hershey’s largest R&D facilities outside of the US. However, no value of this investment was not mentioned. The company previously invested USD250 mil in Johor to open a 700,000 sq feet manufacturing facility in 2015. The 125-year old company has more than 100 brand names in around 80 countries generating more than USD8.9 bil in annual revenue. Its current market cap stands at USD42.6 bil (RM186.9 bil).

4. Representatives of Starlink, the satellite arm of Elon Musk’s SpaceX, will be visiting KL next week to explore providing its Internet services in Malaysia whilst the government is still considering its proposal, according to the Minister of International Trade and Industry Azmin Ali. Last week, he made a visit to SpaceX’s facility in Texas. Deep inside, he must be disappointed with the visit — Elon Musk did not personally take him on the tour of SpaceX.

5. PM Ismail Sabri gave his speech at the ASEAN-US Special Summit last week in the national language and he confidently asserted that the US President well-received Sabri’s speech. The PM said that it is “Bahasa Melayu”, not “Bahasa Malaysia”, that Malaysia wishes to promote as the language of ASEAN as the latter is widely used across Asean in different variations. Being able to converse naturally instead of via a translator is a huge advantage for effective communication, yet this opportunity was squandered. 

Shorts:

1.  MACC said it has completed its investigation into Court of Appeal Judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali over alleged claims that he received funds transferred from Jho Low during his time as general counsel of Maybank. Nazlan was the High Court Judge that sentenced former PM Najib Razak.

2. Arul Kanda, ex-CEO of 1MDB and accused in the 1MDB audit report tampering trial, will be testifying against the other co-accused in this trial - former PM Najib Razak.

3. “KJ” was among the entries in a ledger owned by Ultra Kirana Sdn Bhd submitted as evidence in the corruption trial of former DPM Ahmad Zahid Hamidi. However, the witness could not confirm that the initials “KJ” referred to Khairy Jamaluddin.

4. Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia has signed an MoU with conglomerate The Regional Group of Qatar to open a campus overseas in Doha, Qatar, making it the country’s first public university to do so.

4. AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

1. In Anthony Albanese, Out Scott Morrison. Over the weekend, the Australian people voted for a change as the Labor Party’s leader, Anthony Albanese, seeks to replace Scott Morrison as the PM. Centre-left Labor remains four to five seats short of a majority of 76 in the 151 seats lower house. Climate change and gender equality were among the main topics that differentiated the voters. The push toward climate change policies was largely due to the recent floods experienced by the country this year. On another note, Malaysian-born Sam Lim pulled a surprise win for the Australian Labour Party for the seat of Tangney. Lim was formerly a dolphin trainer and policeman. He migrated (aka talent export by Malaysia) in 2002 and can speak up to 10 languages!

2. US President Joe Biden offered Covid vaccines to North Korea but did not get a response from the country. The country is under a nationwide lockdown as nearly 2.5 million people have been sickened by “fever“ in North Korea. North Korea’s officials have recommended remedies such as drinking herbal tea, gauging saltwater and taking painkillers to the public. We heard drinking warm water helps, too. Not scientifically proven, though.

3. Just when we’re getting comfortable without our masks on, another disease is getting more viral than TikToks — monkeypox. More than 80 cases have been confirmed in at least 12 countries — nine European countries, the US, Canada and Australia. The virus does not spread easily between people and the risk to the wider public is said to be very low. A smallpox vaccine offers 85% protection as the two viruses are quite similar.

4. China is looking to buy cheap Russian oil as it seeks to fill its strategic petroleum reserves. Both countries are in talks, but no volume of crude has been agreed upon and a deal isn't guaranteed. China is the world’s largest crude importer and imported nearly 1.6 million barrels a day of Russian crude oil in 2021.

5. FDI in Malaysia, not. Malaysia received a slap in the face as Tesla has reportedly agreed to build a battery and electric vehicle factory in Indonesia, according to the country’s head of investments. PM Sabri invited Tesla to invest in Malaysia during his US trip last week. Although it isn’t official yet, Elon Musk did mention Tesla aims to announce locations for new factories by the end of the year.

Shorts:

1. JP Morgan investors rejected a USD52.6mil retention bonus for CEO Jamie Dimon. If the proposal had gone through, Jamie’s bonus would have been up by a whopping 266% from the year before. Not sure if we can say the same for their employees, though.

2. SpaceX reportedly paid USD250,000 to its flight attendant to settle a sexual misconduct claim against Elon Musk in 2018. The attendant accused Musk of exposing his erect penis to her. Musk called it a politically motivated hit piece of news.

3. Manchester City won the 2021/2022 Premier League after beating Aston Villa 3-2. It was one of the closest races in recent history as Liverpool was only one point fewer than Pep Guardiola’s team. Sorry Liverpool fans.

5. FOR YOUR EYES 👁👁

1. Malaysian rapper Namewee’s ‘Fragile’ song has been nominated for the 7th time at the prestigious Golden Melody Awards. The song, which has been viewed on YouTube 45.6 mil times courted controversy as Chinese authorities banned it as it was believed to mischievously target China.

2. A simple graph of how much you need to make to recoup your losses.

3. Seven Malaysian artists have been featured on Billboard New York Times Square for EQUAL Spotify monthly Campaign.