China’s manufacturing activity expanded more than expected in February and marked the fastest pace since April 2012, official data showed on Wednesday, as consumer sentiment gathered momentum on easing of the country’s COVID-19 restrictions.
The official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) stood at 52.6 against 50

China Feb manufacturing activity expands fastest since April 2012 - official PMI

General Motors Co  (GM.N)  is cutting hundreds of executive-level and salaried jobs as it looks to cut costs and streamline operations, a person briefed on the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.
The global reductions are in the “low hundreds,” the person said

GM cutting hundreds of jobs to reduce costs

* CEREBRAL SAYS REDUCING THE SIZE OF OUR WORKFORCE BY ABOUT 15 PERCENT

Cerebral Says Reducing The Size Of Our Workforce By About 15 Percent

英伟达再度站上风口

* TENCENT IN TALKS TO SELL META&#39;S QUEST 2 VR HEADSET IN CHINA - WSJ Source text: [https://on.wsj.com/3XHejug] Further company coverage: (0700.HK)
((Reuters.Briefs@thomsonreuters.com;))

Tencent In Talks To Sell Meta's Quest 2 VR Headset In China - WSJ

Chinese fintech giant Ant Group (688688.SS) said on Tuesday it has entered a strategic partnership with the NBA league in China that will see the two cooperate in areas such as video content, program broadcasting and membership. Ant made the announcement on its official WeChat account.

NBA, Ant Group launch strategic partnership in China

Telecom gear maker Ericsson  (ERICb.ST)  plans to cut around 1,400 jobs in Sweden as part of a broader plan that could also result in thousands of job losses in other countries, particularly in the Americas, two sources familiar with the matter said.
Ericsson did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Ericsson to cut 1,400 jobs in Sweden, sources say

Tesla Inc  (TSLA.O) :

APPROXIMATELY 4% OF EMPLOYEES ON AUTOPILOT LABELING TEAM IN BUFFALO WERE EXITED AS A RESULT OF THIS PERFORMANCE REVIEW CYCLE
THE IMPACTED EMPLOYEES WERE IDENTIFIED ON FEBRUARY 3, 2023, WHICH WAS WELL BEFORE THE UNION CAMPAIGN WAS ANNOUNCED
TESLA - CONDUCTS PERFORMANCE REVIEW CYCLES EVERY 6 MONTHS; TAKES PLACE GLOBALLY, INCLUDING IN NORTH AMERICA, EUROPE, CHINA;NOT LOCALIZED TO BUFFALO.  Source text: <a href="https://bit

Tesla Says It Fired 4% Of Employees In NY Before Union Campaign "Was Announced" - Blog

Tesla  (TSLA.O)  raised prices of performance and long-range versions of its Model Y crossovers in China on Friday, according to its Chinese website.
The starting prices of the two versions of Model Y in China increased by 2,000 yuan each to 311,900 yuan ($45,473) and 361,900 yuan, respectively, information on the website showed.
($1 = 6.8590 Chinese yuan)

Tesla raises prices of some Model Y versions in China - website

Hedge funds betting against stocks in the technology sector rushed to unwind those trades in the first half of February as markets rallied, data from Goldman Sachs  (GS.N)  and JPMorgan &amp; Chase prime brokerage units showed on Thursday.
“The short covering in U.S. tech stocks from Jan 31st to Feb 15th is the second largest in magnitude over any 12-day period in the past decade,” Goldman Sachs wrote in a note reviewed by Reuters

Hedge funds' short-covering of tech bets is 2nd biggest in a decade - banks

The Hong Kong government has priced its inaugural HK$800 million  ($102 million) digital green note, in what it claims to be the first tokenised sovereign green bond globally.
The notes, which have a 365-day tenor, will pay a semi-annual coupon at 4.05%, in line with indicative rate first marketed to investors on Monday, according to a term sheet seen by Reuters

Hong Kong government prices inaugural $102 mln tokenised green note

Tesla will halt some production at its Shanghai plant until the end of February in order to begin rolling out a revamped version of the Model 3 in the Chinese market, according to Bloomberg. The post Tesla to halt production at Shanghai plant for more upgrades to produce new Model 3, report says appeared first on CnEVPost. For more articles, please visit CnEVPost.

Tesla to halt production at Shanghai plant for more upgrades to produce new Model 3, report says

Tesla chief executive Elon Musk donated shares worth $1.95 billion in the world’s most valuable automaker to charity last year, a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) showed on Tuesday.
Musk donated about 11.6 million shares between August and December last year, according to the filing, which did not say which organization or organizations were the recipients.
The world’s second-richest person now owns around 13% of Tesla

Musk donated around $1.95 billion in Tesla shares last year

* FITCH RTGS: CHINESE BATTERY SEPARATOR SUPPLIERS TO RETAIN DOMINANCE ON HIGH BARRIERS
* FITCH-CHINESE BATTERY SEPARATOR PRODUCERS ARE LIKELY TO BENEFIT FROM ROBUST GROWTH IN GLOBAL DEMAND FOR EVS AND ENERGY STORAGE BATTERIES

Fitch Says Chinese Battery Separator Suppliers To Retain Dominance On High Barriers

SOROS FUND MANAGEMENT LLC

SOROS FUND MANAGEMENT RAISES SHARE STAKE IN WALT DISNEY CO BY 53.2% TO 189,609 SHARES - SEC FILING
SOROS FUND MANAGEMENT CUTS SHARE STAKE IN RIVIAN AUTOMOTIVE INC BY 12.3% TO 14

Soros Fund Management LLC Raises Share Stake In Walt Disney, Cuts In Rivian Automotive

DBS Group  (DBSM.SI)  reported a 68% rise in quarterly profit on Monday as rising interest rates boosted its net interest margins, but Southeast Asia’s largest bank by assets said that interest rate increases would moderate in 2023.
DBS, the first Singapore bank to report this season, said October-December net profit rose to S$2.34 billion ($1.76 billion) compared with an average estimate of S$2.16 billion from three analysts, according to Refinitiv data, and S$1

Singapore bank DBS Q4 profit jumps 68%

Advanced Micro Devices Inc  (AMD.O)  has captured nearly a third of the market for central processor units while British chip technology firm Arm Ltd’s rise in the PC market slowed in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to an analyst report.
AMD has grabbed share away from Intel Corp  (INTC.O) , which still remains the largest player in the market for what are known as x86 processors, which work with popular operating systems like Microsoft Corp’s  (MSFT.O)  Windows

AMD wins nearly a third of processor market, Arm's climb slows, analyst report

*
Visitors will no longer need to buy COVID travel insurance
*
Travellers not fully vaccinated won’t need to show test results
*
Masks will not have to be worn on public transport
*
Relaxed rules to come in from next week
*
By Chen Lin
SINGAPORE, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Singapore will drop a requirement for travellers who are not fully vaccinated to show COVID test results or purchase coronavirus travel insurance from Feb 13, t

Singapore relaxes COVID travel curbs, mask rules further

* TESLA’S FORMER HEAD OF AI, ANDREJ KARPATHY SAYS HE IS JOINING OPENAI- TWEET Source text: https://bit.ly/3RK9wGV
((reuters.briefs@thomsonreuters.com;))

Tesla's Former Head Of AI, Andrej Karpathy Says He Is Joining OpenAI - Tweet

这是目前 AI 犯下的最昂贵的错误。

Bard 首次亮相就大翻车，端掉了谷歌 1000 亿美元市值

Some Twitter users were unable to tweet on Wednesday, prematurely encountering a message that said “You are over the daily limit for sending Tweets.”
Twitter was down for about 9,000 users in the United States at 5 p.m. Eastern time, according to outage tracking website Downdetector.com. The number of outages declined to 2,500 by 6 p.m. Eastern.
“Twitter may not be working as expected for some of you. Sorry for the trouble

Twitter outage leaves some users unable to tweet

Boeing Co  (BA.N)  expects to slash about 2,000 white-collar jobs this year in finance and human resources through a combination of attrition and layoffs, the planemaker confirmed to Seattle Times newspaper on Monday.
Last month, the Virginia-based company announced it would hire 10,000 workers in 2023, but some support positions would be cut

Boeing to slash about 2,000 white-collar jobs in finance and HR - Seattle Times

Tesla Inc  (TSLA.O)  raised prices in the United States of its best-selling vehicle, the Model Y, by $1,000 after the government raised the ceiling on the price of crossover electric vehicles eligible for tax credits.
Tesla increased the price of the Model Y Long Range to $54,990, and the Model Y Performance to $57,990, an increase of $1,000 each, according to current and previous prices posted on its website

Tesla raises Model Y prices by $1,000 after U.S. relaxes tax credit terms

Xpeng Inc (9868.HK) :
* CHINA&#39;S EV MAKER XPENG: LAUNCHES G9 SUV AND P7 SPORTS SEDAN IN EUROPE
* XPENG: MODELS AVAILABLE FOR ORDER IN DENMARK, NORWAY, NETHERLANDS AND SWEDEN
Source text
Further company coverage: (9868.HK)
(Reporting by Hong Kong Newsroom; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
((Ethan.Wang@thomsonreuters.com;))

Xpeng Launches G9 SUV And P7 Sports Sedan In Europe

DAVIDsTEA Inc (DTEA.O) :
* DAVIDSTEA INC - TEMPORARY LAY-OFF OF 15% OF HEAD-OFFICE STAFF AND CUTTING OTHER EXPENSES BY $6.0 MILLION TO $8.0 MILLION
* DAVIDSTEA INC - SALES FOR Q4 ESTIMATED BETWEEN $29.0 MILLION AND $31.0 MILLION
* DAVIDSTEA INC - FULL-YEAR FISCAL 2022 REVENUES ARE ESTIMATED BETWEEN $80.0 MILLION AND $82.0 MILLION

Davidstea Inc Temporary Lay-Off Of 15% Of Head-Office Staff

Microsoft Corp  (MSFT.O)  on Wednesday rolled out a premium Teams messaging offering powered by ChatGPT to simplify meetings using the AI chatbot that has taken Silicon Valley by a storm.
The premium service will cost $7 per month in June before increasing to $10 in July, Microsoft said.
OpenAI-owned ChatGPT will generate automatic meeting notes, recommend tasks and help create meeting templates for Teams users

Microsoft rolls out ChatGPT-powered Teams Premium

PepsiCo Inc (PEP.O) :
* PEPSICO INC - DECLARED A QUARTERLY DIVIDEND OF $1.15 PER SHARE OF PEPSICO COMMON STOCK

Pepsico Inc Declared A Quarterly Dividend Of $1.15 Per Share Of Pepsico Common Stock

China’s smartphone sales fell 13% year-on-year in 2022, the largest plunge for the sector in a decade as consumers spent cautiously, market research firm IDC said on Sunday.
The total number of devices shipped was 286 million, down from 329 million in 2022.
That meant total 2022 sales volume was the lowest since 2013 and the first time since then that annual sales have dropped below 300 million, IDC said in a report

China's 2022 smartphone shipments the lowest in 10 years - research firm

A potential U.S. recession and tough comparisons to a stellar 2022 are weighing on the prospects of energy stocks delivering an encore to last year’s stunning run, despite valuations that are seen as still comparatively cheap.
The S&amp;P 500 energy sector  (.SPNY)  is up 4.2% year-to-date, slightly lagging the rise for the broader index  (.SPX) . The sector logged a 59% jump in 2022, an otherwise brutal year for stocks that saw the S&amp;P 500 drop 19.4%

Wall St Week Ahead-Recession fears pose challenge to energy shares after stellar year

Tesla has a number of challengers in China, including a slew of start-ups such as Nio, Xpeng and Li Auto. Tesla's biggest rival in China right now is BYD.

Elon Musk says a Chinese automaker will likely be second to Tesla: 'They work the smartest'

Detroit? Nope. Germany? Nein. Elon Musk sees the toughest competition for Tesla in China, home of the company he expects “most likely to be second” in electric vehicles.
China is Tesla Inc’s  (TSLA.O)  second-largest market - accounted for about two-thirds of all electric vehicles sales globally in 2022 - and the home of Tesla’s biggest plant.
It’s also a market that has embraced EVs and is replete with rivals competing on style and price, including Xpeng  (9868

Musk says China rivals 'work hardest, smartest'

押注 AI 再放大招，微软要把 ChatGPT 嵌入旗下全家桶。

微软下个十年的想象力，藏在 ChatGPT 里

Today, we are honored to announce the release of "The Secret Masterplan Chapter 3". This chapter aims to provide a viable solution for achieving a globally sustainable energy economy through terminal electrification, sustainable power generation, and energy storage. This article outlines the assumptions, data sources, and calculation process behind this plan. We welcome input and suggestions from all sectors.

The Secret Masterplan of Tesla: Chapter Three

Step 1: Create a car model with a very small production volume, which will definitely have a high price;
Step 2: Use the money earned to develop a car model with a moderate production volume and a relatively lower price;
Step 3: Use the money earned again to create a mass-produced car model with an affordable price;
And...
Step 4: Provide solar power. No kidding, this plan has been appearing on our website for the past 10 years.

The Second Chapter of Tesla's Grand Plan

So, in short, our overall plan is:
1. Produce sports cars.
2. Use the money earned to produce affordable cars.
3. Use the money earned to produce even more affordable cars.
4. While accomplishing the above, also provide zero-emission power generation options.

The Secret Masterplan of Tesla (You Know, I Know)

Jack Ma, the cofounder of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, is said be in Hong Kong to meet friends and finance executives, the Hong Kong Economic Times (HKET) reported on Friday, citing anonymous sources.

Billionaire Jack Ma Reportedly Visits Hong Kong As Regulatory Pressure Eases In Mainland China

Apple Inc  (AAPL.O)  has postponed the launch of its lightweight augmented-reality glasses indefinitely due to technical challenges, but is still planning to unveil its first mixed-reality headset this year, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday.
The iPhone maker’s mixed-reality headset - which combines both augmented and virtual reality - is set to launch in this year’s spring event, Bloomberg said, adding that the device will cost around $3,000

Apple indefinitely postpones launch of AR glasses - Bloomberg News

A top Macau gambling boss has been sentenced by a local court to 18 years in jail after he was found guilty of charges including enabling illegal gaming, Hong Kong broadcaster TVB reported on Wednesday.
Alvin Chau was chairman of Macau’s Suncity junket - which brokered the gambling activity of Chinese high rollers - until December 2021, a month after his arrest.
Chau had pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Macau court sentences junket mogul to 18 years in jail - TVB

Tesla’s  (TSLA.O)  retail sales surged in China in January after it slashed prices for its top-selling models earlier in the month, data compiled by China Merchants Bank International (CMBI) showed.
Average daily sales for Tesla in China during the Jan. 9 to Jan. 15 period jumped 76% from the same period in 2022 to 12,654 vehicles, CMBI’s data showed.
That compared to a 14

Tesla's retail sales in China surged after price cut -brokerage data

* EVERGRANDE IS SAID TO PROPOSE TWO OFFSHORE RESTRUCTURING OPTIONS- BLOOMBERG NEWS

Evergrande Is Said To Propose Two Offshore Restructuring Options- Bloomberg News

China’s population fell last year for the first time since 1961, a historic turn that is expected to mark the start of a long period of population decline.
The country had 1.41175 billion people at at the end of 2022, compared with 1.41260 billion a year earlier, China’s National Bureau of Statistics said.

China’s population shrinks for the first time since 1961

Activist investor Ryan Cohen has built a stake in China’s Alibaba Group Holding Ltd  (9988.HK)  worth hundreds of millions of dollars, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Cohen is privately pushing the Chinese e-commerce giant to accelerate and further boost its share repurchase program, the newspaper reported.

Activist investor Ryan Cohen builds stake in Alibaba -WSJ

Tesla is sabotaging its competitive advantage as rivals gain market share. Buy stock in the faster-growing rivals.

How Elon Musk Is Trimming Tesla Margins And Ceding Market Share To Ford

Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker BYD Auto Co plans to build a plant in Vietnam to produce car parts, three people with knowledge of the plan told Reuters.

Chinese EV maker BYD to build Vietnam component plant

(Recasts with Spotify back up, adds status tweet)
Jan 13 (Reuters) - Audio streaming platform Spotify (SPOT.N)  suffered a brief outage on Friday, leaving tens of thousands of users unable to access the platform before services appeared to come back online.
“Everything’s looking much better now!” Spotify Status, an account that provides updates about the audio platform’s status, said on Twitter

Spotify back up after brief outage -Downdetector

Electric carmaker Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) has delayed plans to expand its Shanghai factory, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. Tesla China did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Tesla delays plans to expand Shanghai factory -Bloomberg News

Subway has retained advisers to explore a sale that can value the sandwich chain at more than $10 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The process, which is in an early stage, is expected to attract potential corporate buyers and private-equity firms, the report said, adding though it is possible there won’t be a sale or other deal

Subway explores sale that could value it at over $10 bln - WSJ

* SUBWAY EXPLORES SALE THAT COULD VALUE SANDWICH CHAIN AT MORE THAN $10 BILLION- WSJ Source text [https://bit.ly/3QFGYhl]
((Reuters.Briefs@thomsonreuters.com;))

Subway Explores Sale That Could Value Sandwich Chain At More Than $10 Billion- WSJ

Qualtrics International Inc  (XM.O) :

QUALTRICS INTERNATIONAL INC - COMMITTED TO A PLAN TO ELIMINATE APPROXIMATELY 270 ROLES ACROSS COMPANY GLOBALLY
QUALTRICS INTERNATIONAL INC - ESTIMATES THAT IT WILL INCUR NON-RECURRING CHARGES OF APPROXIMATELY $5

Qualtrics International Inc To Eliminate About 270 Roles

Dow Jones, a division of News Corp that includes the financial news outlets the Wall Street Journal, Barron’s and MarketWatch, plans to lay off a number of employees today, according to IAPE, the union representing unionized Dow Jones employees.
A spokesperson for Dow Jones did not immediately respond to questions about the layoff plans