TikTok Files Lawsuit Against US Government

Good Morning,

New details have emerged about a Killer Beez gang member who was found dead in Taupō after gunning down a man on Ponsonby Rd at the weekend, A Labour MP has apologised for making a social media post about Act Party leader and Government minister David Seymour, The Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine is being withdrawn worldwide & TikTok and its Chinese parent, ByteDance, said on Tuesday (Wednesday AEST) that they had filed a lawsuit against the US government.

Let's jump in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• Australian shares are poised to edge higher. While Wall Street struggled, the S&P 500 ended the day 0.1 per cent higher, extending its rally to a fourth day. The Dow edged up; the Nasdaq slipped. (AFR)

• JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Nelson Jantzen has a calming notion for investors alarmed by the US corporate default rate rising to almost 6% by one calculation. (BBG)

• Investors have gone from bracing for a U.S. recession to positioning for the world's biggest economy to keep chugging along. (RT)

Earnings and Data

• European stocks rose to a fresh record as a clutch of solid company reports provided evidence that the earnings recovery is filtering through to a wider swathe of the economy. (BBG)

News Summary

• New details have emerged about a Killer Beez gang member who was found dead in Taupō after gunning down a man on Ponsonby Rd at the weekend. (Herald)

• A Labour MP has apologised for making a social media post about Act Party leader and Government minister David Seymour and the ongoing conflict between Israel and Gaza in the Middle East. (Herald)

• A power retailer and New Zealand’s electricity provider are at odds, after one claimed that there was a tightness of electricity supply - and the other said there was no such issue. (Stuff)

• The Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine is being withdrawn worldwide, months after the pharmaceutical giant admitted for the first time in court documents that it can cause a rare and dangerous side effect. (Stuff)

• Air New Zealand is about to get some competition in the Far North with Barrier Air announcing it plans up to four return flights a day between Auckland and Kerikeri. (RNZ)

• Hundreds of the world’s leading climate scientists expect global temperatures to rise to at least 2.5C (4.5F) this century, blasting past internationally agreed targets. (Guardian)

• A new survey has found Australians' trust in Coles and Woolworths has plummeted after the supermarket giants suffered the worst reputational damage seen in seven years. (9 News)

• TikTok and its Chinese parent, ByteDance, said on Tuesday (Wednesday AEST) that they had filed a lawsuit against the US government challenging a law that would force a sale or ban of the app. (AFR)

Deal Flow

Investments / M&A

• Australian Unity has called in Cushman & Wakefield’s alternative capital markets team to shop one of its biggest investor’s units in its healthcare trust, in hopes of closing the book on an ugly period for the manager. (AFR)

• Street Talk understands home and motor insurance provider Royal Automobile Club of Queensland has called in its old friends at Bank of America to fire up a sale. (AFR)

• Apple, opens new tab cofounder Steve Wozniak's space data startup, Privateer, has raised $56.5 million and also acquired the analytics firm Orbital Insight, a merger that will add mapping and intelligence services to Privateer's space data offerings. (RT)

VC & Fundraising

• A California startup that’s making cocoa-free chocolate in a bid to sidestep the volatility of commodities markets has raised $52 million in a funding round. (BBG)

Equity Raises

• Billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla’s Hindalco Industries Ltd. is considering seeking about $1.2 billion in a planned initial public offering of US aluminum products maker Novelis Inc., people familiar with the matter said, in what could be one of the year’s biggest share sales. (BBG)

Debt

• Cryptocurrency exchange FTX has amassed billions of dollars more than it needs to cover what customers lost in its November 2022 collapse, setting them up to receive full recoveries, plus interest, a rare outcome in US bankruptcy proceedings. (BBG)

Daily Picks

• Avid readers and travel enthusiasts of roughguide.com have made an impressive list of 20 of the world’s most beautiful countries, and the No 1 spot won’t come as a surprise to most Kiwis. (Herald)

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