Finance

One of the few detailed stimulus plans Beijing has announced this year extends tax breaks for electric car purchases, according to documents released Wednesday.
However, tax breaks don’t resolve the fundamental reason why people in China haven’t bought more electric cars: mileage concerns.
“Growth in EV sales can only be sustained if charging demand is met by accessible and affordable infrastructure, either through private charging in homes or at work, or publicly accessible charging stations,” according to the International Energy Agency.

Cadillac advertises for its electric car in Shanghai on May 23, 2023. A traffic police woman stands below.
Hugo Hu | Getty Images News | Getty Images

BEIJING — Subsidies for electric cars aren’t enough to boost growth in China’s slowing economy.
One of the few detailed stimulus plans Beijing has announced this year extends tax breaks for electric car purchases, according to documents released Wednesday.

The incentives – which were set to expire this year – will now run until the end of 2027.
Authorities expect additional consumer savings of 520 billion yuan ($72.43 billion) as a result.
However, tax breaks don’t resolve the fundamental reason why people in China haven’t bought more electric cars: mileage concerns.

Charging challenges

Charging the car battery is still “relatively troublesome,” said Craig Zeng, CFO of online car information and shopping site Autohome. That’s according to a CNBC translation of his Mandarin language remarks.
He was speaking about the electric car market in general.

The layout of China’s residential areas means there aren’t many private parking spaces and there’s a limit to how many chargers communities can install, he pointed out.

Most people live in apartment compounds in China’s cities, with some parking underground or in lots surrounding the apartment buildings. In the capital city of Beijing, having a designated parking spot —without a battery charger — can cost nearly $100 a month or more on top of the apartment rent.
In such an environment, “after many people buy a car, the problem of charging it will gradually become more apparent,” Zeng said, noting the problem will affect people’s future decisions about buying an electric car.

Read more about electric vehicles from CNBC Pro

During a press briefing Wednesday, Chinese officials noted the charging problems and called for faster installation of charging infrastructure in residential parking spaces – especially in new developments. That’s according to an official transcript of their remarks.
The officials pointed out the country has rapidly expanded its charging infrastructure over the last seven years, and that in central urban areas, charging stations offer the same coverage as gas stations.
However, China still has a long way to go.
More than 70% of total public fast chargers are located in just 10 provinces, the International Energy Agency said in its 2023 electric vehicle outlook report. That’s only about a third of the country.
Fast charging allows drivers to charge car batteries in less than an hour, but it still takes far longer than filling up a gas tank.
China still leads globally in the installation of public fast charging stations – almost 90% of the global growth in such chargers last year, the IEA said.
“Growth in EV sales can only be sustained if charging demand is met by accessible and affordable infrastructure, either through private charging in homes or at work, or publicly accessible charging stations,” the IEA report said.

Broader economic slowdown  

Spurring demand for electric cars also faces challenges from tepid consumer spending.
China’s retail sales grew more slowly than expected in May from a year ago.
Auto sales, one of the largest components of retail sales by value, maintained steady year-on-year growth – but fell by 8% from the prior month. Many brands have also cut prices this year to boost sales.
Recent meetings of the top executive body, the State Council, noted the economic challenges and called for further support, specifically for new energy vehicles. But the announcements and interest rate cuts have fallen short of market expectations for broader stimulus.
“Although Beijing may still introduce certain policy measures to stabilize growth in coming months, the disappointing State Council meeting suggests measures for stimulating the economy could be introduced in a gradual manner, as decision-making is now highly centralized with an emphasis on ‘security,'” Nomura analysts said in a report on Monday.

Growing market penetration

Analysts are still expecting growth for electric cars in China, the largest auto market in the world.
China typically lumps electric cars into a broader category called new energy vehicles, which includes battery-only and hybrid-powered cars.
Penetration of new energy vehicles in overall passenger car sales has reached about one-third of the market in recent months, according to figures from the China Passenger Car Association.
That’s well beyond the official target of at least 20% penetration by 2025.
Autohome’s Zeng said he expects new energy vehicle sales penetration to remain between 30% and 40% this year, and reach 50% in 2025.
Chinese authorities have supported the growth of the domestic new energy vehicle market over the last decade in a bid to become a global player in the auto industry.
On the consumer side, cities such as Beijing and Hangzhou have made it far easier for drivers to get a license plate for an electric car versus a traditional internal combustion engine vehicle. More

Ripple said it received in-principle approval of a Major Payment Institution Licence from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the country’s central bank.
The license allows Ripple to offer regulated digital payment token products and services and expand customers’ use of XRP, a cryptocurrency it is closely associated with.
It comes as Ripple continues to spar with the Securities and Exchange Commission over a lawsuit.

Brad Garlinghouse, chief executive officer of Ripple, speaks during the CoinDesk 2022 Consensus Festival in Austin, Texas, US, on Saturday, June 11, 2022.
Jordan Vonderhaar | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Blockchain company Ripple said Thursday it received in-principle regulatory approval to operate in Singapore, in a rare moment of good news for the cryptocurrency industry globally as it faces tightening policy back home in the United States.
Ripple said that it was granted in-principle approval of a Major Payment Institution Licence from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the country’s central bank.

The license will allow Ripple to offer regulated digital payment token products and services and expand the cross-border transfers of XRP, a cryptocurrency the company is closely associated with, among its customers, which are banks and financial institutions.
XRP was trading at around 50 cents late Wednesday evening.
Ripple, a San Francisco-based fintech company, is mostly known for XRP as well as an interbank messaging services based on blockchain, the distributed ledger technology that underpins many cryptocurrencies.
The company’s on-demand liquidity service uses XRP as a kind of “bridge” between currencies, which it says allows payment providers and banks to process cross-border transactions much faster than they would over legacy payment rails.
But Ripple also operates a blockchain-based international messaging system called RippleNet to facilitate massive transfers of funds between banks and other financial institutions, similar to the global interbank messaging system SWIFT.

The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Ripple, co-founder Christian Larsen and CEO Brad Garlinghouse with conducting an illegal securities offering that raised more than $1.3 billion through sales of XRP.
Ripple denies the SEC allegations, contending that XRP is a currency rather than a security that would be subject to strict rules.
Singapore is one of the largest currency corridors from which Ripple sends money across borders using XRP, the company said in a press release.

A majority of Ripple’s global on-demand liquidity transactions flow through Singapore, which serves as the company’s regional Asia-Pacific headquarters, Ripple said.
Ripple has doubled its headcount in Singapore over the past year across key functions including business development, compliance, and finance, and plans to continue increasing its presence there.
MAS, the Singaporean financial regulator, was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.
The central bank was previously in the news for blasting Three Arrows Capital, the disgraced crypto hedge fund that imploded after betting billions on failed stablecoin terraUSD, for providing misleading information concerning its relocation to the British Virgin Islands in 2021.
The Asian megacity has gained a reputation over the years for being a more financial technology and crypto-friendly jurisdiction, opening its doors to a number of major companies including domestic banking giant DBS, British fintech firm Revolut, and Singapore-based crypto exchange Crypto.com.
Garlinghouse is due to speak at the Point Zero Forum in Zurich, Switzerland, next Wednesday to “discuss the resurgence of innovation in digital assets through investment and thoughtful regulation,” the company said.
It comes on the heels of Ripple’s $250 million purchase of Metaco, a crypto custody services firm, to expand its reach in the Swiss market and diversify away from its home in the U.S. Recently, Ripple’s Garlinghouse said the firm will have spent more than $200 million in legal fees by the time its legal battle with the SEC is wrapped up. More

The price of bitcoin jumped above $30,000 following a series of recent applications from traditional financial firms. Investors are growing bullish about the prospects of BlackRock and other major institutional names getting involved in digital assets.
Last week, BlackRock submitted an application for a spot bitcoin ETF, which would track bitcoin’s underlying market price.

The value of bitcoin exceeded the threshold of $66,895 in October for the first time in history.
Chesnot | Getty Images

Bitcoin hit its highest level since April on Wednesday, as traders got excited about the prospects of a spot bitcoin ETF following a series of recent applications from companies including BlackRock.
The price of the flagship cryptocurrency touched a high of $30,749.45, its highest level since April 14, according to CoinMetrics. At 6:39 p.m. ET, the price was $29,988.46.

Investors are growing bullish about the prospects of BlackRock and other major institutional names getting involved in digital assets.
That’s despite all the bad news that’s been surrounding the crypto space of late, with the market still reeling from the scandal of FTX’s collapse and the ensuing regulatory fallout.
“The slate of spot bitcoin ETF application announcements by larger institutions has definitely brought back bullishness into the crypto markets,” Vijay Ayyar, head of international markets at CoinDCX, India’s largest crypto exchange, told CNBC.
“We also hit major support at $25K for BTC, and we’ve seen this move be driven more by pure spot buying rather than a short liquidation type move which is quite healthy,” Ayyar said.

“Market structure wise on BTC we broke a major downtrend that started in April this year and lasted around 2 months, hence most traders would be looking for us to test at least $32,000. Breaking that level opens up $36,000 and then $45,000 to 48,000.”

ETF announcements

Last Thursday, BlackRock filed an application for a spot bitcoin ETF, which would track bitcoin’s underlying market price. Crypto proponents say this would give investors exposure to bitcoin without them having to own the underlying asset.
Coinbase is listed as the bitcoin custodian for the proposed BlackRock ETF. BlackRock has an existing strategic partnership with Coinbase. The major U.S. crypto exchange has been undergoing a period of hardship lately, under huge regulatory pressure from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Subsequent to BlackRock’s announcement, a litany of other asset management firms have filed their own applications for a bitcoin ETF, including WisdomTree and Valkyrie.
Elsewhere, investors are keeping a close watch on macroeconomic indicators for a sense of movement in the crypto market.
Previously, digital coins have been tied to moves in financial markets more broadly, with bitcoin often tracking the price of U.S. equity markets. So investors have been watching data on inflation and the health of the economy for a sense of where bitcoin may end up trading next.
“Overall, crypto has also been lagging the traditional equity markets, hence this is also kind of a catchup move in a sense,” Ayyar said.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the timing of BlackRock’s filing for its spot bitcoin ETF.
WATCH: Crypto enthusiasts want to reshape the internet with ‘Web3.’ Here’s what that means More

People walk by a Dollar Tree store in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, December 11, 2018.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading.
Amazon — Shares of the online retail giant slumped 0.8% after the Federal Trade Commission said it was suing Amazon over allegations of deceptively pushing customers to sign up for Prime and frustrating them in their efforts to cancel.

FedEx — The delivery company fell 2.5% after quarterly revenue missed expectations and announced Chief Financial Officer Mike Lenz would retire July 31. The company posted revenue at $21.93 billion, below the consensus estimate of $22.67 billion, according to Refinitiv. Adjusted earnings were better than expected at $4.94 per share against the anticipated $4.89, while forward guidance was about flat.
Coinbase, Riot Platforms — Coinbase added 1.8%, while crypto miner Riot popped 3.8%. The jumps come despite multiple challenges for Coinbase recently, including disagreements with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and BlackRock’s launch of a bitcoin exchange-traded fund.
MicroStrategy — Shares of the enterprise software company jumped 5.7%. The move coincides with a 7% pop in bitcoin. MicroStrategy has made a big bet in the cryptocurrency.
Tesla — The electric-vehicle maker slid 5.5% following a downgrade to equal weight from overweight by Barclays. The firm said it may be time to take profits after recent outperformance. Rivian tumbled 6.7%, a day after the company said customers would have access to Tesla’s charging network beginning next year.
GlaxoSmithKline — Shares moved 1.5% higher after the biopharma company said its respiratory syncytial virus vaccine to protect adults ages 60 and older remained effective across two RSV seasons.

Petrobras — U.S. shares of the Brazilian oil giant gained 5% after Goldman Sachs upgraded them to buy. The Wall Street bank said the company still has an attractive valuation, and mitigated risks make the stock still worth buying despite its recent outperformance.
OneSpaWorld — The spa company traded up 2.8% on the back of an upgrade to buy from hold by Loop, which noted its exclusive rights to serve major cruise lines.
Walt Disney Company — Shares of the media giant fell 1.2%, putting them on track for their third straight session with a decline of more than 1%. Influential Needham analyst Laura Martin said in a note to clients that sentiment around Disney is becoming more negative, questioning the company’s long-term plans with CEO Bob Iger set to retire at the end of 2024.
Advanced Micro Devices — Shares of the chipmaker pulled back 5.7%. AMD has had a huge run this year amid optimism toward artificial intelligence. The stock is still up more than 70%.
Palantir Technologies — Palantir Technologies slid 7.3% during midday trading along with other notable AI beneficiaries. On Tuesday, the software stock was downgraded to outperform from strong buy at Raymond James, which cited its recent rally. Palantir is 128% higher this year.
Dollar Tree — Shares of Dollar Tree popped 4.6% after the discount retailer reiterated its fiscal second-quarter 2023 earnings guidance. The company expected quarterly earnings between 79 cents per share and 89 cents per share. It also maintained its full-year outlook for the fiscal year.
— CNBC’s Yun Li, Michelle Fox, Jesse Pound, Sarah Min and Brian Evans contributed reporting. More

Powell was snapped June 3 at a Dead & Company show in Bristow, Virginia. An ensuing Twitter post created a bit of a social media sensation.
“It was terrific. What can I say? It was great,” Powell of the show said during a House committee hearing Wednesday.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell arrives to testify during the House Financial Services Committee hearing titled “The Federal Reserve’s Semi-Annual Monetary Policy Report,” in Rayburn Building on Wednesday, June 21, 2023.
Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images

Let it be known: The leader of the U.S. Federal Reserve, the most important central bank in the world, is a Deadhead.
No one is ever likely to confuse Jerome Powell with Jerry Garcia, but the policymaker apparently likes to stop and smell the “Scarlet Begonias” when he can.

Indeed, Powell was snapped June 3 at a Dead & Company show in Bristow, Virginia. An ensuing Twitter post created a bit of a social media sensation.
No one dared ask Powell about his excursion at last week’s post-meeting press conference. But the subject finally did come up Wednesday when he addressed legislators on the House Financial Services Committee.
Rep. Wiley Nickel (D-N.C.) said he was “excited” to hear that Powell was at the show, and asked him what he thought.
“It was terrific. What can I say? It was great,” Powell replied. “I’ve been a Grateful Dead fan for 50 years.”

(L-R) John Mayer, Jay Lane and Bob Weir of Dead and Company perform during 2023 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival at Fair Grounds Race Course on May 06, 2023 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Erika Goldring | Getty Images

Online reports indicated it must have been fun: The band played staples such as “Brown-Eyed Women,” “Uncle John’s Band” and “Deal” while pulling out “One More Saturday Night” and the Beatles’ “Dear Prudence” for the first time this tour.

The questioning Wednesday provided some kinship for Powell, Nickel and a few other committee members who expressed Dead fandom.
“I like people who like the Grateful Dead,” Nickel said. More

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Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell speaks Wednesday to the House Financial Services Committee in the first of two days on Capitol Hill where he will be testifying on monetary policy. The sessions are held twice each year.

In prepared remarks, Powell reiterated that Fed officials expect multiple additional interest rate increases this year to tackle inflation that he said is still too high.
“Inflation has moderated somewhat since the middle of last year,” he said. “Nonetheless, inflation pressures continue to run high, and the process of getting inflation back down to 2% has a long way to go.”
The Fed has raised rates 10 times since March 2022, but inflation is still well above the central bank’s 2% target.
Along with his comments on monetary policy, Powell noted that officials are attuned to the need for prudent fiscal and regulatory controls over a banking sector that experienced turmoil in the early part of the year.
Powell will speak Thursday before the Senate Banking Committee.
Read more:Fed holds off on rate hike, but says two more are coming later this yearInflation rose at a 4% annual rate in May, the lowest in 2 yearsFormer Fed Chair Ben Bernanke says there’s more work ahead to control inflation More

Voicemod, which is based in Valencia, Spain, on Wednesday released 20 humanlike characters, ranging from a 20-something woman to an elderly man.
Users can change their voice to that of several different voices, from a high-pitched female speaker to a baritone male voice.
Used by more than 40 million people, Voicemod’s tech can be used by people in the social app Discord to speak with each other in voices other than their own while playing games. 

Voicemod has created 20 “AI humans,” digital personas that allow gamers to speak in voices other than their own.

An artificial intelligence firm in Spain has unveiled a number of “AI humans” that allow people to modify their voices in video games — in real time.
Voicemod, which is based in Valencia, on Wednesday released 20 humanlike characters, ranging from a 20-something woman to an elderly man. The voices are trained on voices from professional human voice actors. 

In a demonstration of the tech on a call with CNBC, Voicemod’s CEO, Jaime Bosch, showed himself speaking regularly and changing it to several different voices, from a high-pitched female speaker to a baritone male voice.
Gamers can download the app on their Apple Mac or Windows PC and incorporate Voicemod’s technology as a “virtual microphone” that sits in between the microphone application they’re using to start speaking through the alternative personas. 
Voicemod, which counts talent from leading technical universities in Valencia and Barcelona, has been working on voice synthesis and interactive audio features since 2014, with many of its employees specializing in music technology and audio. 
Used by more than 40 million people, Voicemod’s tech can be used by people in the social app Discord to speak with each other in voices other than their own while playing games. 
“We have an amazing creativity community using this mainly to have fun, enjoy it with their friends and have a sense of belonging,” Bosch said in an interview with CNBC.

“One of the biggest use cases I love the most is shy people — we have some people who write to us saying I wasn’t able to really socialize with people who are now able to do that.”
It’s a milestone in the world of conversational AI. While many of today’s AI algorithms allow people to submit text and receive something AI generated back, the feat of ensuring this is done in real time is much harder.
The technology requires a significant amount of computing power. And producing and patenting the proprietary algorithm models behind it takes a lot of investment, and talent. 
To that end, Voicemod has raised $23 million in cash from several venture capitalists including Leadwind and Bitkraft Ventures.
Bosch is also no stranger to the risks surrounding how the technology can end up being abused — voice-changing technology could be used to imitate leading political figures or scam people, for example.
“This is something I think of every single day, something we’re thinking about in the company every single day when it comes to the creation of voices,” he said.
The company is close to finishing a “watermarking” solution that can identify whether voices have been generated using modification systems. It is also in discussions with other firms about standardization of such systems and ensuring voice-changing tech is released safely.
“One thing is, clear laws will come,” Bosch said. “We know Europe is working on that. The reality is that, usually, companies go faster than the laws.”
WATCH: Cannes Lions 2023: AI won’t make markets lazy — TBWA CEO More

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Wednesday affirmed that more interest rate increases are likely ahead as inflation is “well above” where it should be.
“Inflation pressures continue to run high, and the process of getting inflation back down to 2% has a long way to go,” he said.
Powell said the labor market is still tight though there are signs that conditions are loosening.

Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell departs after speaking during a news conference following the Federal Open Market Committee meeting, at the Federal Reserve in Washington, DC, on June 14, 2023. 
Mandel Ngan | AFP | Getty Images

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Wednesday affirmed that more interest rate increases are likely ahead until more progress is made on bringing down inflation.
Speaking a week after Federal Open Market Committee officials decided for the first time in more than a year not to push rates higher, the central bank leader indicated that the move likely was just a brief respite rather than an indication that the Fed is done hiking.

“Nearly all FOMC participants expect that it will be appropriate to raise interest rates somewhat further by the end of the year,” Powell said in prepared remarks for testimony he will deliver to the House Financial Services Committee. The speech is part of his semiannual appearance on Capitol Hill to update lawmakers on monetary policy.
Following last week’s two-day FOMC meeting, officials indicated they see rate increases totaling 0.5 percentage point through the end of 2023. That would indicate two additional hikes, assuming quarter-point moves. The Fed’s benchmark borrowing rate is currently pegged in a range between 5%-5.25%.
Noting that inflation has cooled but “remains well above” the Fed’s 2% target, Powell said the central bank still has more work to do.
“Inflation has moderated somewhat since the middle of last year,” he said. “Nonetheless, inflation pressures continue to run high, and the process of getting inflation back down to 2% has a long way to go.”
Fed officials generally prefer to look at “core” inflation, which excludes food and energy prices. That is showing inflation running at a 4.7% year-over-year rate through April, according to the central bank’s preferred measure of personal consumption expenditures prices. The core consumer price index for May was at 5.3%.

Monetary policy moves, such as rate hikes and the Fed’s efforts to shed bond holdings on its balance sheet, tend to work with lags. As such, officials decided to skip hiking at this month’s meeting as they observed the impact that policy tightening has had on the economy.
Powell said the labor market is still tight though there are signs that conditions are loosening, such as an increase in labor force participation in the prime 25-to-54 age group and some moderating in wages. However, he noted that the number of open jobs still far exceeds the available labor pool.
“We have been seeing the effects of our policy tightening on demand in the most interest rate-sensitive sectors of the economy,” he said. “It will take time, however, for the full effects of monetary restraint to be realized, especially on inflation.”
Inflation expectations, considered a key variable for where prices are heading over time, are “well-anchored,” Powell said. The closely watched University of Michigan consumer confidence survey, for instance, showed that the inflation outlook for a year from now dipped to 3.3%, the lowest since March 2021.
However, Powell also noted that getting inflation lower will require slowing down the economy to below-trend growth. He also emphasized that rate decisions will be made based on incoming data and meeting by meeting, rather than on a preset course.
The remarks also briefly touched on the banking turmoil earlier in the year. Powell said the episode served as a reminder that the Fed needs to make sure its supervisory and regulatory practices are appropriate. More