New Policies Needed to Stabilize and Boost Chi¬na’s Stock Market
In the first four months of 2022, China’s A-shares market continued to fall. Behind a series of disappointing data, investors have been worried about the A-share market. What is even more surprising to the market is that a large number of blue-chip stocks that are regarded as “ballast stones” have also experienced a sharp decline in their share prices. In the process, the market value of listed companies has also dropped.
Behind the continuous tumble, what factors are stir¬ring up the A-share market, the second largest market in the world? Many people interviewed by Caijing reporters be¬lieved that the impact of overseas factors such as the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the Fed’s interest rate hike, combined with the impact of the domestic epidemic on the economy and the resulting pessimism, became the main factors affecting the trend of the A-share market in the first four months. In addition, since the beginning of this year, the accelerated pace of new share issuance and the outflow of market funds have also impacted the A-share. Under such circumstances, it is urgent to strengthen policies to stabilize economic growth.
ByteDance Taps Senior Lawyer Gao Zhun as Its New CFO
A well-known stock market veteran and senior lawyer Gao Zhun surprisingly ended her 20-year career of advising on IPO of Chinese technology startups and joined ByteD¬ance as the company’s new CFO. This position has been vacant for months. This is interpreted by the industry as a change in the prospect of Chinese Internet companies going public offshore. Few lawyers have successfully transitioned into executives outside of the legal department of large cor¬porations.
The first China concepts stock IPO advised by Gao was the listing of Ctrip in 2003. In the following 23 years, she led the team to facilitate the IPO of 123 Chinese com¬panies overseas. In the past six months or so, the number of IPOs of Chinese Internet companies has plummeted, and Gao chose to join ByteDance at this time. The appointment itself is quite unusual because Gao obviously lacks finan¬cial-related experience. The appointment of Gao does not mean that ByteDance will be listed soon.
Ukraine Tensions Urges China to Strengthen Food Security Strategy
The United Nations’ World Food Program has warned that climate shocks, conflicts, the Covid epidemic and rising food and fuel costs, combined with the Ukraine crisis, could push at least 47 million people in 81 countries to the brink of starvation. China will also be affected, mainly because its agricultural imports from Ukraine will be impacted. As Ukraine and Russia’s largest trading partner in recent years, China usually imports a large portion of agricultural prod¬ucts from the two countries.
Several agricultural experts pointed out that the impact of the Ukraine crisis on China’s food security is controlla¬ble. What is more optimistic is that China’s grain reserves are safe. At the same time, some scholars believe that China should pay close attention to cooperation with developing countries, promote China-Africa cooperation, and help less developed countries to improve agricultural science and technology. Because, enhancing the food security of these countries can actually help solve China’s food supply prob¬lem in the context of globalization.
Pfizer’s Covid Antiviral Drug Paxlovid Tested Effective But Its Pricing is Questioned
Paxlovid, an oral Covid-19 drug made by Pfizer, has been imported into China for clinical treatment for a month and is being used in some hospitals to treat patients. Doctors have found in clinical use that the drug is very safe and ef¬fective, reducing patients’ risk of hospitalization or death by 89%.
Paxlovid was the first Covid antiviral drug to receive emergency approval in the United States in December 2021. As soon as the drug was launched, it received multiple government purchase orders. Data analytics firm Airfinity expects Paxlovid to generate $23.6 billion in sales in 2022, making it one of the best-selling pills of all time. Paxlovid’s pricing has also raised concerns. The WHO is concerned that some patients in low and middle income countries may not receive Paxlovid treatment in time.
