☕️ PM Anwar's cabinet lineup expected to be announced today

1. MARKET SUMMARY

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE

Elon Musk gains 268,303 followers a day, on average. Analysts predict Musk will overtake former US president Barack Obama (130 mil followers) as the number-one influencer on Twitter on Jan 17, 2023. The social-media industry has never before seen a platform with a chief executive who is also its biggest personality. Musk also said he planned to expand Twitter’s tweet character limit to 1,000 characters (from 280 characters currently).

Vietnam’s electric vehicle maker VinFast has shipped its first batch of 999 cars to the United States. Why 999? Because it’s considered a lucky number in Vietnam. VinFast has said it has almost 65,000 orders globally and expects to sell 750,000 EVs annually by 2026. VinFast’s EVs actually do look good.

430,000km — the furthest any spacecraft designed to carry humans has travelled, a milestone achieved by the US space agency’s Orion capsule. The ship is uncrewed in the current mission. Astronauts will be on the next outing in two years if the current flight is without incident. NASA is planning more complex missions with Orion as it wants to return to the Moon after a gap of 50 years.

3. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

Flash Floods in KLThat’s the news. Unfortunately.

We hope none of you was impacted by the floods yesterday. Please do not drive through rising waters; not worth the risk.

The Kajang SILK Highway also suffered the same fate after an hour-long downpour. However, the floods subsided within 30 minutes and gradually cleared.

A more balanced process for appointing judges in MalaysiaNegri Sembilan Yang di-Pertuan Besar Tuanku Muhriz Tuanku Munawir, who chaired the 260th meeting of the Conference of Rulers at Istana Negara, said the prime minister should not be deciding to appoint five of the nine members of the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC), a panel which nominates prospective new judges. The Ruler said the option should instead be given to several other institutions, such as the Malaysian Bar, the Sabah Law Society, the Advocates Association of Sarawak and the Parliament Select Committee, to ensure the independence of enforcement agencies and the judiciary from external influence in carrying out their duties.

BN demands more from PHSg Burong assemblyman Mohd Shamsudin Lias wants the Selangor state government to treat Barisan Nasional representatives as allies. Lias wants BN assemblymen in the state to be granted the same funding as PH state lawmakers and include them in the executive council.

This is a rather timely ask, as three states currently being ruled by Pakatan Harapan will need to hold state elections by September 2023. Will the coalition work together in those state elections? Time will tell.

Najib Razak and Rosmah Mansor can sleep soundlyHigh Court judge Muhammad Jamil Hussin on Nov 14 dismissed the government’s application to forfeit RM80 mil in luxury items owned by Najib Razak and his wife, Rosmah Mansor. Attorney-General Tan Sri Idrus Harun said the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) would not appeal against the High Court's decision as they agree with the Judge’s decision.

Anwar Ibrahim’s cabinet is expected to be announced todayBerita Harian said the new cabinet is expected to be sworn in before Friday as the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah is expected to go abroad this Saturday. Rumours of the announcement became rife after a post on the Istana Negara Facebook account yesterday with four photos showing Sultan Abdullah receiving the prime minister. Sin Chew Daily also reported that the list of ministers could be revealed today.

Anwar’s first test is undoubtedly challenging, as he has to manage the party and coalition heads.

Authorities ask TikTok Malaysia to explain sponsored May 13 warning videos on its platformMalaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) have requested TikTok to explain three paid-partnership videos related to May 13 warning on its platform. Before the press release by MCMC, Malaysiakini reached out to a TikTok spokesperson, who said the social media platform was not able to verify if the videos were sponsored by politicians (couldn’t find these videos, but the preceding link shows the images of it).

Business Shorts:

1. Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) reaped the benefits of favourable crude oil prices in Q3 2022 as its net profit for 3QFY22 ended Sept 30, 2022, rose 88% YoY to RM30.8 bil. The higher prices and forex impact helped push revenue up 60.5% to RM99.2 bil from RM61.8 billion the year before. Its 9-month net profit doubled to RM77.2 bil from RM35.1 bil. Bringing back the tweet below:

2. CIMB Group Holdings Bhd also recorded great results for its 3QFY22, ended Sept 30, 2022 — RM1.41 bil of net profit from revenue of RM5 bil, on the back of improved operating income from both net interest income (NII) and non-interest income (NOII). Group CEO Abdul Rahman Ahmad said the group is on track to exceed its FY22 targets.

3. Celcom Digi — the name of the newly-merged entity due to the completion of the merger of Celcom Axiata Bhd and Digi.com Bhd. Both Axiata and Telenor now own 33.1% each of Celcom Digi. It is now the biggest telecommunication operator in Malaysia, serving an estimated 20 mil customers. Wen 5G?

4. Tealive expands to the North American market through its first store in Ottawa, Canada. The tea brand plans to open 50 more stores across the country in the next five years. Wen IPO?Read: How much do Malaysians spend on bubble tea? 

4. AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

Proposal to rebuild Ukraine with Russia’s money, oil price cap hits a wall

• The European Union (EU) has seized EUR300 bil of the Russian central bank reserves and frozen EUR19 bil of Russian oligarchs’ money, according to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen. In her statement, she proposed to seize these funds, create a structure to manage these funds and use the profits to rebuild war-torn Ukraine, which has suffered around EUR600 bil in damages from the ongoing war. Earlier in the year, Russia criticised such moves as  “outright theft”. 

• The EU’s price cap mechanism on Russian seaborne crude oil to starve Russia of its oil revenue is to kick in on 5 Dec, but the EU government disagreed on the price cap. The EU discussed a cap of USD65-70, but “uncompromising” Poland, Lithuania and Estonia insisted on a cap of USD30 per barrel. Russia’s estimated production cost per barrel is USD20. 

Football: Swirling rumours of Ronaldo’s world record contract with Saudi club Al-Nassr, Juventus facing accounting scandal

• Saudi club Al-Nassr and Ronaldo remain tight-lipped on the latter’s rumoured 2.5-year contract worth almost USD518 mil. The 37-year-old footballer has been in the limelight lately over his departure from Manchester United and his desperate attempt to claim a hair-scoring goal (watch here). The contract is worth USD210 mil a year, a world record and includes an attractive signing-on fee.

• Italian football club Juventus FC is facing its Serba Dinamik moment as its chairman Andrea Agnelli and the club’s entire board of directors have resigned amidst a probe into alleged false accounting and market manipulation. Juventus is controlled by the Agnelli family, who founded the automaker Fiat (now Stellantis).

China: A day of national achievement and loss

• China successfully executed its first in-orbit crew handover at its Tiangong space station, sending three taikonauts to replace the existing three crews that are living there. This also marks the last of 11 missions to assemble the station. China was excluded from the International Space Station in 2011.

• On the same day, former Chinese president Jiang Zemin passed away at 96 due to leukaemia and multiple organ failure. He came to power after the Tiananmen Square protests. He oversaw the peaceful handover of Hong Kong back to China by the British in 1997 and China’s entry into the World Trade Organization in 2001. 

Fashion: Shein’s chemically toxic clothing, H&M layoffs

• Greenpeace Germany reported that based on tests carried out on 47 items sold by the Chinese fast-fashion brand Shein, it found the presence of “hazardous chemicals”, with some of these products breaking EU regulatory limits. Read Greenpeace’s statement here. Bloomberg reported that the company has grown rapidly, with revenue booming to USD16 bil in 2021 from USD10 bil in 2020.

• World’s no.2 fashion retailer H&M became the first big European retailer to start laying off workers to save 2 bil Swedish crowns (USD190 mil) a year. 1,500 staff will be laid off, mainly back-office workers. H&M employs roughly 155,000 people globally. 

Shorts:

1. Luxury fashion brand Balenciaga filed a lawsuit seeking USD25 mil in damages from the production company behind its heavily criticised ad campaign that sexualised children. No mention of whether the person responsible who approved the ad in the company was held accountable. 

2. Jack Ma has pretty much disappeared from the public since two years ago after a run-in with Chinese authorities. The Financial Times reported that he spends his time in Japan mainly within several private members’ clubs and travelling to the US and Israel. 

3. Yahoo’s new area of focus - fintech. In the hands of a new owner, It’s planning to build a retail trading platform within Yahoo Finance, allowing its users to buy and sell stocks. The idea is known internally as “Bloomberg for retail trading”. Private equity giant Apollo Global Management acquired Yahoo for USD5 bil last year from Verizon.

5. FOR YOUR EYES 👁👁

1. Who said that Fahmi Reza is PH’s macai? Fahmi Reza made this meme about PM Anwar Ibrahim’s confession that the pair of Louis Vuitton loafers he wears was a gift from the Johor Sultan.

2. To clarify, Volkswagen Italia sells cars and cars only. Feel free to visit their IG page here.

3. Whilst Ronaldo desperately claims his hair-scoring goal, Messi once shamelessly celebrated after scoring a goal with his hand.