Briefs

Twitter and Facebook suspended Donald Trump’s accounts for the first time, finally escalating their crackdown on the US President’s social media posts after he encouraged and supported thousands of violent rioters at the US Capitol on Jan 6.

Twitter required Trump — who lost the popular and electoral college vote — to delete certain posts after “repeated and severe” violations of its rules on election misinformation.

This includes a video sending love to the violent uprising in the US capital protesting Trump’s November defeat to President-elect Joe Biden. The latter will be sworn in on Jan 20.

The same video was also removed by Google’s YouTube. This helped to tip the scales at Facebook, which said it was banning Trump’s page from posting for 24 hours.

“As a result of the unprecedented and ongoing violent situation in Washington, DC, we have required the removal of three @realDonaldTrump tweets that were posted earlier today for repeated and severe violations of our Civic Integrity policy,” Twitter wrote in a post on its site.

Once the tweets are deleted, Trump will get his account back after a 12-hour lock is lifted.

For years, social media — especially Twitter — has been Trump’s preferred way to disseminate information directly to the public.

Since November, Trump has posted regularly without evidence that the presidential election was “rigged”.

Twitter has labelled dozens of Trump’s posts as disputed or misleading and Facebook flagged misleading election posts by pointing users to trusted news sites.

More significantly, Jan 6 was the first time Trump has been kicked off either platform — even temporarily.

Twitter also threatened to ban Trump entirely if he continues to break the rules. — Bloomberg

NYSE to delist three Chinese telecoms in dizzying about-face

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) said on Wednesday it will delist three Chinese telecom companies, confirming its latest U-turn on the matter a day after US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin told the NYSE chief he disagreed with an earlier decision to reverse the delistings.

The latest move, which is effective Jan 11, marks the third time in less than a week the Big Board has ruled on the issue.

The flip-flopping highlights the confusion over which firms were included in an executive order issued by President Donald Trump in November barring US persons from investing in publicly traded companies Washington deems to be tied to the Chinese military.

It also comes amid escalating tensions within Washington on China policy in the final days of the Donald Trump administration.

“There is a unique situation where there is an outgoing administration that is disengaged and (there are) orders sitting out there, so something has to be done, but no one wants to take on responsibility,” said Leland Miller, the CEO of the US-based consultancy China Beige Book.

“I think in future that anyone getting these orders will say: Tell us exactly what you want us to do, and force administrations to be more focused.”

The NYSE originally announced plans to delist China Mobile, China Telecom Corp and China Unicom Hong Kong.

On Jan 4, it did a U-turn after consulting with regulators in connection with the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and decided to keep them listed. The Jan 6 decision marks a return to the original plan.

The decision to keep the companies listed had prompted criticism that the Treasury was being dovish on China.

Mnuchin has long been seen as seeking to thwart attempts by hardliners in the administration — many led by the State department — to crack down on Chinese companies.

But sources who asked to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the matter said Mnuchin had called NYSE President Stacey Cunningham on Jan 5 to express his concerns over the decision to relist the companies, as the exchange sought further confirmation on the matter

On Jan 6, the exchange operator said in a statement its latest decision, to move forward with the delistings, was based on “new specific guidance received on January 5, 2021, that the Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control provided to the NYSE”.

Trading in the securities will be suspended at 4 am ET (9am GMT) on Jan 11, the NYSE said.

The flip-flopping caused investors to sell positions in the securities, the prices of which dropped on the initial announcement, then rose on the next, and tumbled again on Jan 6.

S&P Dow Jones Indices, which has also made U-turns in decisions, said late on Jan 6 it will remove the three telecom firms’ American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) from its benchmarks before Jan 11.

Other index makers including FTSE Russell and MSCI Inc have cut a dozen Chinese companies on the list from their benchmarks, but have not removed the three telecom firms, all of which have major passive US funds amongst their top shareholders. — Reuters

Hong Kong stock traders dash for HSBC as Chinese giants sink

Hong Kong investors are finding shelter in the city’s bank shares as everything from Chinese telecommunications firms to Tencent Holdings turns toxic.

Financial stocks were the biggest gainers on the benchmark Hang Seng Index on Jan 7, led by HSBC Holdings, which rose as much as 5.5% in Hong Kong following its 10% rally in London the day prior.

Standard Chartered rose 7.7%. On the other hand, Alibaba Group Holding dropped 5.9% and Tencent fell 4.4% in Hong Kong, after reports that the Donald Trump administration may bar investments in two of the world’s most valuable companies.

“People are shifting their money, there are so many troubles and uncertainties for growth stocks right now,” said Dickie Wong, executive director of research at Kingston Securities, adding that banks currently offered a haven from recent regulatory and political tensions.

One factor behind HSBC’s recent gain is a jump in the yield on US sovereign notes, with the ten-year rate this week climbing to the highest level since March. Financial firms have suffered as low interest rates and quantitative easing from central banks around the world suppressed bond yields across virtually all maturities.

Sentiment toward the stock was also improving as investors anticipate share buybacks this year, said Ample Capital’s Wong. HSBC could spend as much as US$3.5 billion ($4.6 nillion) between this year and next, according to a recent research note from Goldman Sachs.

HSBC is up 54% since touching its 25- year low in September. The rebound follows months of uncertainty for the lender, as investors fretted over how mounting regulatory, economic and geopolitical pressures would affect it.

Since then, hopes that a US presidency change will ease tensions between Washington and Beijing, and signs that British regulators will soften their stance on a dividend ban, have helped fuel optimism.— Bloomberg