Weekly news summary for October 1 to October 7, 2021
Friday, Oct. 1, 2021: Tesla Helps Drive Norway’s EV Sales to Nearly 80%
Data showed on Friday that the demand for Tesla Inc.’s mid-sized cars drove Norway’s overall electric vehicle (EV) sales up to almost 80% in September, with the Norwegian Road Federation (OFV) saying battery EVs accounted for 77.5% of all new cars, a 61.5% increase from 2020.
The California-based carmaker’s compact sports utility vehicle (SUV) Model Y led the sales with 19.8% of the car market, followed by the Model 3 sedan at 12.3%, while Skoda’s Enyaq came in third with 4.4%
Monday, Oct. 4, 2021: Evergrande Hong Kong-listed Shares Suspended
Hong Kong-listed shares of troubled Chinese property developer Evergrande Group and its property management arm Evergrande Property Services have temporarily stopped trading on Monday pending an announcement related to a major acquisition of Evergrande Property’s shares.
Citing unnamed reports, state-backed newspaper Global Times stated that real estate company Hopson Development Holdings Ltd. was looking to buy a 51% stake in Evergrande’s property management unit for over HK$40 billion ($5.1 billion), signaling Evergrande is still attempting to meet its obligations.
Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021: El Salvador Offers $0.20 Per Gallon Fuel Discount
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele announced on Twitter that citizens can receive a $20 per gallon discount in petrol prices when paying with state-backed Bitcoin wallet Chivo.
Bukele said there is no limit to the reduction, and any local individual or company can access the fuel subsidy, adding that the rebate will eliminate some surges in the price of fuels across the world and cut transportation costs in supply chains.
Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021: US Private Payrolls Surpass Estimates in September
US private payrolls rose more than expected in September as the number of COVID-19 infections started to go down, improving employment at restaurants and other high-contact businesses.
The ADP National Employment Report showed on Wednesday that the country’s private payrolls surged to 568,000 jobs in the prior month, beating economists’ forecasts of 428,000 jobs increase, while figures for August were revised lower to 340,000 jobs from 374,000.
Thursday, Oct. 7, 2021: Senate Appears Near Temporary Debt Limit Extension
The US Senate seemed to be close to reaching a short-term agreement to prevent a national debt default and economic crisis after Democrats said they might agree to a Republican proposal to resolve a partisan standoff that is putting the broader economy at risk.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell offered a temporary deal that would provide more time to settle the matter, allowing Democrats to use normal measures to pass an emergency debt ceiling extension to take care of current spending levels into December.
