Weekly news summary for May 7 to May 13
Friday, May 7, 2021: US Non-Farm Payroll Surge Misses Forecasts
The US non-farm payrolls registered growth in April, although it ended short of expectations, while the unemployment rate registered a sudden growth, underscoring the labor market’s rebound, despite less strict social distancing rules in the spring.
The world’s biggest economy added 266,000 jobs in the previous month, sharply missing Dow Jones’ forecasts of 1 million, while the 6.1% unemployment rate was higher than the expected surge of 5.8%.
Monday, May 10, 2021: DogeCoin Falls after Elon Musk’s SNL Appearance
DogeCoin dropped almost one-third of its value as investors sold the cryptocurrency shortly after its major supporter, Tesla Inc. chief executive Elon Musk, provided zero boosts during his appearance on Saturday Night Live (SNL).
DogeCoin stood above 52 cents, down from 73.8 cents, before the show went on air, while outflows from DogeCoin seemed to have found a place in Bitcoin and Ether, with the Ether gaining nearly 6% to as high as $4,163.73 before making a slight retreat.
Tuesday, May 11, 2021: China’s PPI Up Over 6%, CPI Posts Modest Growth
China’s factory-gate prices climbed at the fastest annual rate in more than three years last month, as the country’s economic momentum accelerates further after a setting new record growth in the first quarter.
China’s producer price index (PPI) was up 6.8% in April from 4.4% in March, due to orders expectations in domestic infrastructure investment, while the consumer price index (CPI) increased a modest 0.9%, despite the signs that the worldwide chip shortage is feeding through into higher prices for appliances.
Wednesday, May 12, 2021: Xiaomi Removed from US Blacklist, Rises Over 6%
Xiaomi Corp. has been removed from the Trump-era blacklist of companies that were believed to be associated with the Chinese military and would have led shares in the Beijing-based smartphone maker to be delisted from US exchanges.
The news drove Xiaomi’s shares as high as 6.5%, although they were still 30% short of their high in January.
Thursday, May 13, 2021: Colonial Pipeline Gradually Resumes Operations
The Colonial Pipeline started to gradually resume operations after a cyberattack suspended 2.5 million bpd of shipments of gas, diesel, and jet fuel last Friday, resulting in a panic buying in the southeastern US.
The company stated that it would take several days for the nation’s biggest fuel pipeline network to return to normal operations, even as motorists in southeastern states blocked stations that needed fuel, while analysts estimated that it could take a couple of weeks for sufficient supplies to return.