MSI, Acer, ASUS responded! Named by Yale University for “ignoring withdrawal request”

The Russian-Ukrainian war set off a boycott in Europe and the United States, and more than 450 companies announced their withdrawal from Russia. According to the latest list compiled by Yale University, there are currently 43 companies that “ignore the withdrawal request”, including Acer, ASUS, MSI and other three Taiwanese brand factories, and after being named, issued statements in response.

On February 28, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, associate dean of the Yale School of Management (Yale School of Management) and his research team first announced the list of multinational companies that have withdrawn or remained in the Russian market, and ranked them in order of rank. For “exit”, “pause”, “reduce”, “buy time” and “ignore exit request”.

Withdrawal refers to the complete withdrawal from the Russian market and cut off all contacts; suspension is to reduce business and keep the possibility of going back; downsizing is to reduce some business activities while continuing other businesses; buy time is to suspend new development and investment plans; ignore withdrawal Requirements are insisting on staying, refusing to quit or reducing activity requirements.

Companies named by Yale University for “ignoring the withdrawal request” include French sports retailer Decathlon, Credit Suisse, Chinese technology companies Alibaba, Huawei, Tencent, Lenovo, Xiaomi and Didi Chuxing. The Taiwanese companies on the list include Acer, ASUS, and MSI.

Acer recently responded that Acer is closely monitoring the development of the conflict in Russia and Ukraine. At present, Acer’s primary focus is to take care of the safety and resettlement of the affected Acer employees and their families. So far, 5 Acer Ukrainian employees and their families have arrived in Poland, Germany and other places. The local Acer branch is doing its best to assist employees to work and live locally.

Acer pointed out that it maintains close contact with Acer employees still in Ukraine every day, abides by relevant laws and regulations on international trade, and attaches great importance to humanitarian care.

ASUS recently responded that ASUS has always been committed to complying with the norms of the countries where it is located. In addition to the complex challenges formed by supply chain, logistics, banking transactions and other factors, shipments to the Russian market have stagnated. In order to do our part, we decided to donate The Disaster Relief Foundation, a consortium, has NT$30 million for the “Relief Ukrainian Special Account”. We sincerely hope that peace and humanitarian assistance can be given to every affected person immediately.

MSI issued a statement today stating that MSI has always abided by international trade regulations and laws and regulations of various countries. At the time of the outbreak of the humanitarian crisis in Russia and Ukraine, all sales and operations to Russia abide by relevant international laws and resolutions, and attach great importance to humanitarian care and employees. Safety, I hope this incident can end peacefully as soon as possible, thank you for your concern.

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It is rumored that the “nickel king” is unwilling to give up the short order, and the epic short squeeze is still pending?

Due to the shortage of nickel caused by Russia’s sanctions, it is rumored that China’s Tsingshan Group, a private stainless steel “carrying tyrant”, was affected by the epic short squeeze triggered by foreign capital. The price of nickel futures surged by 250% in a total of 48 hours on March 7th and 8th. London Metal The Exchange (LME) must suspend nickel trading. According to market rumors, Tsingshan Group has not given up its nickel short order.

Bloomberg reported on the 11th, citing unnamed sources, that Xiang Guangda, chairman of Tsingshan Group, known as the “nickel king”, told about 10 banks and brokers in recent days that he believed nickel prices would eventually fall, so he decided to keep the short position. single. News earlier this week had suggested that Xiang Guangda might be willing to get rid of all the shorts.

According to reports, the LME announced on March 8 that it will start a process to try to match the long and short positions of market participants to close short positions before the restart of nickel market trading to prevent another short squeeze after the market opens. However, Xiang Guangda, who currently holds a short order for 150,000 tonnes of nickel, has shown little interest. In fact, the LME admits that both long and short position holders are reluctant to reduce their positions before the market opens, especially those with short positions, and traders have very divided views on the price. This suggests that once the nickel market restarts, the quotations may spark more sparks.

Beijing Daily reported that in response to rumors of being short-squeezed by foreign capital, Tsingshan Group responded on March 9 that it had deployed sufficient cash for delivery. Market rumors pointed out that Tsingshan Group was short-squeezed by foreign investment (reportedly the international mining giant Glencore), and the potential loss of short positions could be as high as US$6 billion to US$12 billion. 60% stake in the mine.

White House reveals IC inventory has only 5 days left, warns of buying advanced chips from Taiwan

The U.S. Department of Commerce has warned that some U.S. companies may be forced to temporarily shut down and put their employees on unpaid leave as global manufacturers have only five days left in their wafer inventories.

The Financial Times, The Verge and the Washington Post reported that the Commerce Department surveyed about 150 companies around the world, showing that manufacturers will have a median of only 5 days of wafer inventory left at the end of 2021, much lower than the 40 days in 2019.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo warned at a press conference on the 25th that the U.S. is vulnerable to a fragile supply chain, and that even with only minor disruptions, some U.S. companies could face temporary closures and employees forced to take unpaid leave.

Let me show you how fragile the supply chain is,” said Raimondo. …… There are only five days of wafer inventory left, and there is no room for error. What does that mean? Whether it’s an epidemic, a hurricane, a natural disaster, political instability or equipment failure, if there’s a plant around the world that’s disrupted, the impact will be felt in the United States.

This underscores the extent to which the U.S. relies on overseas chip makers, such as TSMC. We buy almost all of our advanced semiconductor chips from Taiwan, which are needed for sophisticated military equipment,” said Raimondo, adding that “U.S. domestic production of advanced semiconductor chips is zero.

Raimondo called on Congress to pass the Chips for America Act, which would unlock a $52 billion grant program to encourage U.S. domestic chip manufacturing activity. Although the bill has passed the Senate, it has stalled in the House.

According to a Commerce Department survey, the median demand for chips from surveyed manufacturers in 2021 is 17 percent more than in 2019. The shortage is particularly acute in traditional process-based and automotive industries. Respondents predict that the shortage of wafers will be difficult to resolve in the next six months.

According to the Commerce Department’s report, the types of chips most affected include traditional logic ICs (medical devices, automobiles and other products), analog ICs (power management, image sensors, radio frequency, etc.) and optoelectronic ICs (sensors and switches).

The report points out that the affected chips are not necessarily the most advanced process, but rather the 40-800nm process chips are facing a “serious semiconductor supply and demand imbalance”. The report said the main bottleneck appears to be silicon wafer capacity, which requires a long-term solution.

Reuters quoted a congressional aide as saying that U.S. House leaders later on the 25th unveiled a bill to enhance competitiveness with China, which would also raise the federal government’s budget for semiconductor spending.

U.S. CPI surged by 7% | Expert: The decline of the U.S. exchange is due to the fact that the dragon has been fried earlier! U.S. stocks rally is unfinished

The U.S. inflation rate in December last year hit the highest level since 1982, but the market did not fluctuate much, but the U.S. dollar index fell below the 95 mark.

Expert analysis pointed out that the market had high expectations for inflation earlier, and the current drop in the US dollar is a short-term adjustment. They believe that there is still a great opportunity for US stocks to rise, and it is recommended to buy stocks that resist inflation and grow rapidly.

The US consumer price index (CPI) rose 7% year-on-year in December last year, hitting a new high in nearly 40 years, in line with market expectations, and rose 0.5% month-on-month, slightly higher than expected; excluding food and energy prices, the core CPI rose year-on-year 5.5%, up 0.6% month-on-month, both higher than market expectations.

The reason for high inflation comes from the blockage of the supply chain. Fed Chairman Powell said at the hearing of the Senate Banking Group on Tuesday (11th) that the supply and demand imbalance and supply chain bottlenecks in the reopening of the economy after the epidemic are important reasons for raising inflation. It is hoped that this year will be able to “Return to normal supply conditions” but supply constraints are very persistent and not much progress has been made so far. And the Fed has pledged to act to avoid “entrenching” high inflation, which it will do if it has to raise interest rates more times over a longer period.

At the same time, the Fed is confident of maintaining price stability, normalizing policy in 2022, ending its asset purchase program at the end of March, and potentially allowing for a reduction in its balance sheet later this year. At the same time, U.S. President Biden said that the latest inflation data reflects a slowdown in price increases, but there is still a long way to go before returning to normal levels, while Deese, Biden’s economic adviser, also believes that price pressures are expected to ease in 2022.

Lin Qiaoji: The decline of the US exchange is only short-term, and the opportunity for US stocks to rise is still great
In an environment of high inflation, the Fed has accelerated water collection to control inflation. The interest rate dot plot from December last year shows that the United States will raise interest rates three times this year, while the market maintains the forecast that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates in March. According to Bloomberg interest rate futures, the market believes more than 80% chance that the United States will raise interest rates in March. In fact, many Fed committees have said that the bureau needs to speed up the tightening of monetary policy. Even Brainard, a dovish representative, said that controlling inflation is the most important task, and he wants to bring inflation back to 2%.

However, U.S. inflation has been at 5% or more for eight consecutive months, and tightening monetary policy has traditionally brought money back, but now the market is doing the opposite. The U.S. 10-year bond yield fell to 1.75% at the end of the session, and the U.S. exchange index fell sharply and fell below the 95 mark.

Lin Qiaoji, managing director and head of research at CEB International, believed in an interview that the correction in the US dollar index is only a short-term adjustment, “Earlier, the market had higher expectations for inflation, so the US dollar exchange rate and bond interest rates rose more rapidly. In line with expectations, we will make short-term adjustments.” He expects that U.S. inflation will remain at a high level of 5 to 6 percent this year, and that the U.S. is currently in a state of “work and no return.” He believes that Powell’s remarks are mainly used to lower the market’s inflation expectations, thereby slowing down the pace of wage growth.

Xu Huifang: Seeing support at the 94.6 level of Meihui
In addition, Lin Qiaoji believes that the chances of U.S. stocks rising repeatedly are still high for the time being. Compared with the epidemic, the market is more concerned about inflation. Therefore, it is recommended to buy stocks that resist inflation and grow rapidly, while U.S. stocks are still higher than other markets.

Xu Huifang, an investment advisor of Guotai Junan Wealth Management, said in an interview that the market has now expected to raise interest rates from 3 times to 4 times, so I believe that the US exchange will not weaken. It regained its upward trend, and other currencies took the opportunity to adjust, and were optimistic about commodity currencies such as New Zealand paper and Australian paper. At the same time, she is also optimistic about US stocks, and emerging markets also rebounded while the US dollar fell.