Good afternoon
Trump is topping his previous madness…he now plans to to punish US companies, which are doing business with China, and vows to hold China “accountable for allowing the virus to spread around the world”. Every large US tech company is doing business with China - so his comments, allongside this mornings news, that Tesla will NOT become a member of the S&P 500, is pushing NASDAQ into deep red…following a positive start here in Europe. There will also be immens pressure on Softbank, to cut it´s option positions.
Surprisingly, gold is following South today…as are base metals. And as usual, when things are wobbly, the A$ is weaker as well….
There is increasing criticism of Victoria overdoing things in terms of fighting the virus! Only about 50 cases per day in Australia overall, and Victoria has extended the lockdown! There are still massive travel restrictions in place between the Australian states - very hard to get from Sydney to Perth, Brisbane of Melbourne !
Electric car sales are booming in Europe - and new models like the new VW or the MiniE are now hitting the show rooms. In China, auro sales generally have been very strong in July - up by 8.8% yoy - and especially EV demand increased by 45% to 82500 vehicles. Ev sales are strongly supported by subsidies. I think the market is getting much more interested again in this story. Macquarie issued a research paper today, estimating a 5fold increase in battery production between 2019- and 2025. The nickel, lithium and graphite will have to some from somewhere - as has the copper for the wiring - and not to forget for the infrastructure.
I fear there was pretty little to report today from the micro side!
Have a nice evening
WS