Aurelia Butler

General Motors (NYSE:GM) first launched Chevrolet Bolt EVs in 2015, and used batteries made by LG entities as part of a business arrangement with the car manufacturer. GM started recalls in 2020 after it faced numerous complaints about fires in some vehicles.”GM, LG Energy Solution and LG Electronics have agreed to a settlement with plaintiffs to resolve class action litigation related to the Bolt EV battery recall,” GM said in an emailed statement to Reuters.”As a result, Bolt owners who received a battery replacement or who have installed the latest advanced diagnostic software may qualify for compensation,” the company said.Owners of the recalled Bolt EVs who installed the final software remedy at a GM-authorized dealership before Dec. 31, 2023 may receive up to $1,400, according to documents filed with Michigan eastern district court.Owners who sold or terminated the lease of their vehicle before the software remedy became available and those who already received a battery replacement will receive a minimum $700 payment, according to the filing.Last year, GM ended production of the Bolt EV to make room for new electric vehicles.In 2021, the company had announced a billion dollar recall campaign to cover thousands of Bolts over battery fire risks. The recall prompted GM to halt Bolt production and sales for more than six months at that time. More

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LONDON (Reuters) – Pressure on Japan to prop up a weak yen may have ebbed, but currency weakness remains a headache for Tokyo.The yen is down 9.4% against the dollar so far this year, and looks set for a fourth year of declines. That’s created a two-speed economy, with exports and tourism benefiting from a more competitive exchange rate while households and small businesses are squeezed by rising import prices.Four investment managers shared four ideas on how to trade yen weakness. Their views do not represent recommendations or trading positions, which they cannot reveal for regulatory reasons.1/ FLORIN COURT CAPITAL* Diversified systematic asset manager* Size: $2 billion assets under management (AUM)* Founded in 2016* Key trade: Short-Asia currencies ex-JapanFlorin Court CIO Doug Greenig says that instead of playing a weak yen, investors should put on bets against Asia’s emerging market currencies. “Investors can consider shorting other Asian currencies like the Korean Won or the Thai Baht, where real interest rates are also relatively low versus some other EM currencies,” Court said. “And you don’t directly face the risk of BOJ intervention.”The Bank of Japan (BOJ) was believed to have intervened twice, on April 29 and May 1, to stabilise a yen that had slumped to 34-year lows around 160 per dollar. It is now around 155.6.The yen has weakened sharply for clear reasons: real interest rates are much higher outside of Japan. U.S. rates have been kept high by loose fiscal policy and a robust economy. By contrast, Japan does not have a free hand in raising policy rates, Greenig said. Japan’s huge public debt pile is 263% of GDP, but the Bank of Japan holds almost half of that, so the situation might be more nuanced than it looks, he said.2/ AQR CAPITAL MANAGEMENT* Systematic asset manager* Size: $108 billion * Founded in 1998* Long Japanese stocksJonathan Fader, managing director in the Macro Strategies Group at AQR Capital Management, says BOJ intervention complicates matters for yen bears but the key driver of yen weakness remains – accommodative Japanese monetary policy while rates elsewhere are at multi-year highs.He favours Japanese stocks that benefit from currency weakness.Fader noted that the tight relationship between the yen and Japanese shares broke down as Tokyo stepped up verbal intervention. But stock tailwinds remained, such as governance improvements and banks benefiting from an end to negative rates.The BOJ in March delivered its first rate hike in 17 years.”Should yen volatility calm down, Japanese shares could well resume their outperformance,” said Fader.Japan’s blue-chip Nikkei is off record highs hit earlier this year, but is still up some 16% year-to-date. 3/ MOUNT LUCAS MANAGEMENT* Macroeconomic hedge fund* Size: $1.5 billion * Founded in 1986* Dollar/yen forwardsFor David Aspell, partner at Mount Lucas, a large U.S/Japan rate gap means investors will continue to use the yen as a funding currency for carry trades.One way to play yen weakness is through currency forwards, contracts that allow investors to hedge FX risk, he said.Buying a dollar/yen one-year forward contract which trades at a discount to current levels means the currency pair would need to weaken over a year to loose money, said Aspell. Investors would gain if there is no change or dollar/yen strengthens.”Intervention has the best chance of working medium term when it is a genuine surprise and when it is helped along by the fundamentals,” Aspell said. 4/ PINEBRIDGE INVESTMENTS * Global asset manager* Size: $168.2 billion* Independent since 2010* Buy high quality, investment grade portions in short duration, refinanced U.S. 2024 CLOs The BOJ has also abandoned yield curve control where it capped long-term interest rates around zero, but said it would keep broadly buying government bonds as before and ramp up purchases if yields rise rapidly.Since this policy’s 2016 start, Japanese investors sought higher returning investments elsewhere. The plus 5% yields on investment grade tranches (portions) of U.S. collateralized loan obligations (CLOs) drew many. “Right now as investors in CLOs, they are our competition because they have such a strong demand for U.S. fixed income assets,” Laila Kollmorgen, a PineBridge managing director, adding that what Japanese investors do will determine how Pinebridge invests later in the year. Now that JGB yields have hit decade highs, this might tempt Japanese investors to bring funds back home. “We must remain nimble,” Kollmorgen says.While the typical CLO deal length is eight years, she’d opt for newly reset CLOs in 2024. On these, the deal time has been restarted. She’ll look for an extended three-year reinvestment period, refinanced debt and lender protection against the bonds being paid back in full during the first year. More

Foreign firms including financials and automakers such as Elon Musk’s Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) have been lobbying the Chinese authorities to allow cross-border sharing of information after Beijing tightened control of data generated domestically in a national security drive.The 2022 rules require all “important” offshore transfer of data related to operations within the country to clear security reviews by the Cyberspace Administration of China. This has caused indefinite delays in data transfers, confusion and concern among foreign firms.The government of Shanghai, China’s market and business capital, has compiled a first batch of “ordinary data” in three sectors – intelligent and connected vehicles, mutual funds and biomedicine. These require the least regulation for data transfers, the government document says.Under a one-year pilot project, companies registered in the city’s free-trade Lingang Area, where Tesla’s Shanghai factory is located, may transfer data on the list overseas without needing further security assessments, according to the document，which was shared with companies attending an event announcing the white list in Shanghai. The document details broader plans for Lingang to become a hub for cross-border data, as well as specific scenarios for each of the three sectors that would be classified as “ordinary data”.For the auto sector, the data includes information involving manufacturing such as procurement and stockpile, research and development including auto design and tests, after-sales services and used car sales. The Shanghai government’s event on Friday about the new scheme with foreign companies included Tesla, Ford (NYSE:F) and BMW (ETR:BMWG), said a person with direct knowledge of the matter.The city government and the three companies did not immediately reply to Reuters requests for comments.Shanghai’s pilot project follows company demands for more clarity around cross-border data transfers. Data transfer permission was a topic when Musk met last month with top Chinese government officials.The list of “ordinary data” will be expanded over time, the document says.Reuters reported in February that Shanghai planned allow faster cross-border data transfer. More

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The data for April shows an uptick in job growth, while work hours witnessed a small decline. After two months of tighter conditions, there was an increase in spare labour capacity.Morgan Stanley analysts anticipate that this month’s increase in the unemployment rate is likely overstated. They expect a potential reversal in the coming month, similar to the trend observed in January and February. The broader trend of a gradual rise in unemployment, alongside positive job growth, is likely to persist. Early indicators softened slightly faster this month, suggesting potential accelerated weakness, although this is not the central prediction.Government spending has been a critical stabiliser for the job market, and the Federal budget is expected to continue this trend with further spending increases. Although the rise in unemployment surpasses the RBA’s forecast of 4.0% for Q2, analysts believe the RBA will focus on the overall trend, which aligns with their existing narrative.Key takeaways from the April data include exceeding job growth expectations with 38k jobs added, primarily part-time. However, increased participation resulted in a sharp rise in the unemployment rate to 4.1%. The data remains volatile, with the Australian Bureau of Statistics noting more people than usual waiting to start work, similar to the situation in January, when unemployment subsequently reversed.Despite these fluctuations, the labour market’s spare capacity continues to slowly grow, with job growth remaining positive. Forward-looking labour indicators suggest a continued gradual softening, with SEEK job ads and NAB employment intentions indicating sharper weakness this month.Overall, economic indicators suggest a tight labour market with only a gradual easing. The unemployment rate spiked sharply to 4.1%, and underemployment rose slightly to 6.6%. This unemployment rate partially reflects more people than usual waiting to start work. Broad under-utilisation rose to 10.7% in April, while employment to population remained steady at 64%. Both male and female participation rates increased in the month. Annual employment growth was highest in Queensland, while unemployment remains highest in Victoria and lowest in New South Wales. Job growth in the month was entirely part-time. Australia’s unemployment rate is gradually ticking upwards. Employment intentions fell sharply in the month. ANZ and Indeed job ads ticked up in the month, while Seek ads decreased. More

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – The dollar headed for its largest weekly fall versus the euro in two-and-a-half months on Friday as signs of cooling inflation and a softening U.S. economy raised the prospect of rate cuts.The euro is up 0.9% on the dollar this week, has broken above resistance around $1.0855 and traded as high as $1.0895 in the wake of U.S. inflation posting a slowdown.It was last at $1.0861. April’s annual U.S. inflation numbers met expectations but, since they were lower than the month before, they encouraged confidence that the Federal Reserve can cut interest rates in September and December – driving rallies in stocks and bonds and pressure on the dollar.U.S. retail sales were also flat in April and softer-than-expected, and manufacturing output unexpectedly fell. “(Besides inflation) a lot of activity data has been cooling off,” said Westpac strategist Imre Speizer, contributing to selling of the dollar.At the same time, even though markets price European rate cuts beginning in June, recent data has shown some upside surprises. Germany’s economy grew more than expected last quarter and investor morale is at a two-year high.The Australian and New Zealand dollars are each up more than 1% on the U.S. dollar this week, with the kiwi up 1.7% and eyeing its best week of the year. [AUD/]At $0.6675, the Aussie was knocked from a four-month high as a surprise rise in unemployment figures seemed to curtail any risk of another rate hike.The New Zealand dollar was last steady at $0.6120 with traders looking ahead to next week’s central bank meeting, where the official cash rate is expected to stay at 5.5%.Sterling is up 1.1% this week to $1.2664. The Japanese yen has been broadly steady at 155.48.In cryptocurrency markets bitcoin is up 6.6% this week to $65,343.Chinese retail sales and industrial output data is due later in the session, and later on Friday final European CPI numbers are published. More

“We must spend some time in deciding what to do with our ETF holdings, including whether to unload them in the future,” Ueda told parliament.The BOJ ended eight years of negative interest rates and other remnants of its radical stimulus programme in March, including a framework to buy risky assets such as ETFs.But the central bank has yet to lay out a plan to unload its huge holdings of ETFs and government bonds partly out of concern of destabilising financial markets. More