TikTok Plans to Challenge YouTube

MARKET MOVERS

• War in Ukraine disrupts ships around the Globe. The world’s biggest container ship operators—A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S and Mediterranean Shipping Co.—said they would temporarily suspend services to Russian ports, including those far from the conflict in Ukraine. Hundreds of vessels are trapped at ports, cargo being derailed and freight rates surging.
  
  
• U.S. oil jumps to a 7-year high above $101 a barrel as Russian assault prompts supply shortage fears. Key European financiers to commodity trade houses have already begun curbing financing for commodities trades, and Chinese banks are also pulling back. Current oil price differentials are reflecting a clear unwillingness to take Russian crude. Read more here.
  
  
• Demand for science lab buildings soars during the Covid-19 pandemic. Life-science space has also been enjoying high occupancy rates because—unlike traditional office buildings—much of the lab work requires specialized equipment and building infrastructure. Developers believe this demand will continue even with the Covid-19 infection rate declining. Government funding of life-sciences research shows no sign of ebbing.
  
  
• Bitcoin has decoupled from the stock market, thanks to Russian sanctions. While stock markets have actually seen only minor hiccups, Bitcoin has climbed more than 12% in the past 24 hours to above $43,000. With financial sanctions prohibiting transactions both to and from Russia, cryptocurrencies could come into their own. The isolation of Russia may finally have decoupled Bitcoin from the falling stock market.
  
  
• Bitcoin's price increased by 14% Monday. If it has another 40 days like this, it will become bigger than all the world's bond markets, which can't beat inflation & have high default risk. In its first 12 years, it's already had 60 days with higher daily percentage increases.

• Ukraine and Russia are two of the biggest agricultural exporters in the world, especially for grains. Ukraine got about four weeks until Ukrainian farmers are supposed to be planting. So if this war goes on for another 4 or 5 weeks, we could see barley, corn, and sunflower seeds which Ukraine is the largest exporter of go through the roof. We're talking about a fundamental short supply. Source(10:15)

WHAT TO WATCH

• TikTok plans to directly challenge YouTube by bumping max video lengths up to 10 whole minutes. The company aims to expand beyond short-form content and potentially take on  YouTube. By adding longer videos, TikTok wants a piece of the world’s second-largest search engine and to hopefully claw away some of the $28.8 billion YouTube earned in ad revenue last year. Read more here.
  
  
• SEC proposes new rules to monitor short squeezes like GameStop. Under the proposed rules, money managers would confidentially report to the SEC any short positions that exceed $10 million in value at the close of a day’s trading, or which exceed 2.5% of a company’s shares outstanding. The reports would be due 14 days after the month in which the positions occurred.
  
  
• Peter Thiel-backed digital bank N26 plans to be ready for IPO by end of 2022. N26′s stock market debut could take place as early as 2024, though the firm is in no rush to list. The German fintech start-up recently raised $900 million at a $9 billion valuation. N26 offers fee-free checking accounts through an app, competing with established lenders in addition to rival fintech firms such as Revolut.

• Housing inflation will surge roughly 7% in 2022, according to new research by Larry Summers. The former Treasury Secretary projects that residential inflation will keep overall inflation high this year in a new working paper he co-authored. They compared the past relationships between private-market measures of home prices and rents and movements in the government’s key inflation meters. Read more here.