In today’s recap, Marcello talks about Elon Musk becoming the second richest man after Jeff Bezos and surpassing the fortune of Bill Gates. Also, the Trump administration has allowed the beginning of the transition of power, putting an end to weeks of political uncertainty.
Elon Musk the billionaire entrepreneur has added $100.3B to his net worth in 2020, surpassing Microsoft’s Bill Gates to become the world’s 2nd-richest person at $127.9B, after Amazon’s Jeff Bezos. The 49-year-old Tesla co-founder has the electric vehicle & clean energy company to credit for his enormous increase in his wealth.
Globally stocks, oil & more at risk currencies, including Bitcoin, gained on Tuesday as U.S. “President-elect Joe Biden” is now able to formally begin his transition to the White House.
Central banks & governments globally have committed to spend a total of $19.5T since the coronavirus erupted to help their economies says the IMF. Governments announced nearly $12T in stimulus measures as of September & central banks have put in at least $7.5T, to soften the impact of the pandemic on their economies. This astounding amount is likely to rise even further in 2021.
It took 18 years for the U.S. Dow index to go from 10K to 20K, but less than 4 years to climb from that level to 30K, despite the pandemic. The end of enhanced federal jobless benefits, the lack of an additional stimulus bill & the U.S. Treasury ending the Federal Reserve’s special pandemic facilities, have so far failed to end the spectacular run upwards.
The Indian economy fell -7.5% in Quarter 3, government data showed on Friday, showing some signs of a recovery, after the easing of coronavirus pandemic business restrictions, that had triggered a record contraction of -23.9% year-on-year in the previous quarter.
The European Central Bank is warning that European banks will not see profits return to pre-pandemic levels, before 2022. The pan-European Stoxx 600 banking index is down near 22% since the start of 2020, largely due to the government ordered business lockdowns, which has slowed economic activity, thus hurting the financial sector.
France will require big tech companies to pay its digital services tax. The 3% tax on revenue from digital services in the country was introduced last year, but the French gov’t had suspended collections per negotiations at the OECD. Amazon, Facebook & Google are among the US tech firms that will have to pay the tax, which applies to companies with global revenue of more than €750 million ($894 million).
Germany’s DAX Index erased losses for the year up near 15% this month, on renewed investor optimism & hopes for economic growth in 2021. The stock exchange plans its most sweeping overhaul since its inception, adding 10 new firms & new security controls after the implosion of Wirecard AG, damaging investor confidence in the gauge.
The speculation surrounding the mysterious metal monolith discovered by the Utah Department of Public Safety in one of the most remote parts of the state continues. It is a 3-sided, stainless-steel structure protruding 10-12 feet from the ground.
Disney will lay off 32,000 employees at the end of March; China to impose heavy tariffs on Australian wines; North America could tight wood supply & demand; Tesla to open design center at its Berlin gigafactory.
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