Hello everyone, welcome to today’s episode of “Financial Avenue”. First of all, I wish everyone a Happy Mid-Autumn Festival and a reunion with family. This week is a “super central bank week” because the Federal Reserve will announce its latest interest rate cut plan on Wednesday. At the same time, the central banks of many major countries worldwide will adjust their financial plans for the next steps, especially in Japan and the Eurozone, making it a “super central bank week”.
Today’s focus: The confinement and secret killing of a reporter’s birth mother made Biden embarrassed on the spot, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia’s succession drama! The interest rate cut during the “super central bank week” moves people’s hearts! Over a thousand executives resigned in 30 days, mainland China’s economic prospects are terrifying! New business opportunity: electric vehicle charging pile maintenance!
At the Federal Reserve monetary policy meeting on Wednesday, Chairman Powell will deliver a speech, and the focus now is on how large the interest rate cut will be, whether it will be 50 basis points or 25 basis points. The recent economic data has been mixed, whether it’s inflation or employment data, it hasn’t provided a clear basis for determining the size of the interest rate cut. The “Consumer Price Index” CPI data released last Wednesday showed a slight slowdown in inflation, leading to a higher probability of a 25 basis point interest rate cut. However, last Thursday’s “Producer Price Index” PPI data showed a significant cooling on a year-on-year basis, increasing the possibility of a 50 basis point interest rate cut.
Last weekend, Wall Street Journal reporter Nick Timiraos wrote that starting with a 25 basis point interest rate cut would face less resistance and avoid market panic caused by a large rate cut. However, starting with a 50 basis point rate cut could reduce market debate over the subsequent size of rate cuts.
Former “Third in Command” of the Federal Reserve, former President of the New York Federal Reserve Bill Dudley’s speech at a forum in Singapore this Friday also bolstered expectations of a significant interest rate cut.
He said: I believe that whether the Fed cuts rates or not, there is sufficient reason for a 50 basis point cut.
Currently, financial professionals generally expect the Federal Reserve’s interest rate cut to reach 50 basis points. As the rate cut approaches, expectations are likely to be realized, with the price of international gold breaking historical highs last Friday, with the spot price of gold reaching $2586 per ounce, marking its strongest weekly performance since 2020.
Let’s focus on some news in the financial market. The well-known French beauty skincare brand L’Occitane is very popular in mainland China, especially their hand cream, which has been dubbed the “Hermes of hand creams”. However, in recent years, L’Occitane’s sales in the Chinese market have declined, and last Friday (September 13th), L’Occitane, which has been listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange for 14 years, announced the formal suspension of stock trading and will officially withdraw from the Hong Kong stock market on October 16th. This becomes another typical event of foreign capital withdrawal under the decline of the mainland China economy.
In recent years, there has been a “migration wave” among the wealthiest families in the United States and the millennial generation aged 26 to 35, seeking more development opportunities and a more comfortable lifestyle, and they have moved to states that offer tax incentives.
Tracy Wilson, a real estate broker in Austin, Texas, said in an interview with Fortune magazine: They hope their money can last longer and be more valuable. Young wealthy people also consider whether they can develop their careers and improve their quality of life in one place.
Data from financial advisory company Smart Asset shows that the four most attractive states for these young elites are: Florida in first place, and Texas in second place. These two states have attracted a large number of young wealthy individuals because they do not have state income tax.
Amazon founder Bezos moved to Florida and the richest man, Musk, chose Texas.
Ranked third is Colorado and fourth is North Carolina.
Investing guru Buffett often says: Buying back company stocks can benefit shareholders. However, the key point to note is: buying back stocks at the right price is beneficial to shareholders. In the past, Buffett often repurchased shares of his company Berkshire Hathaway, for example, in the second half of 2020, repurchasing around $9 billion worth of stocks every quarter.
On August 28th this year, Berkshire Hathaway’s market value exceeded the trillion-dollar mark. Of course, it has shrunk slightly in recent days, with a market value of $965.9 billion and a share price of around $447.
So far this year, Buffett has been significantly reducing holdings of various stocks. Now he doesn’t even want his own company’s stock because he finds it expensive! In the second quarter of this year, Berkshire Hathaway only repurchased around $345 million worth of stocks, the smallest repurchase scale since 2018.
Buffett currently holds nearly $277 billion in cash, and experts also say: Buffett seems to believe that the best investment at the moment is cash and government bonds. This move is likely due to his foresight of an impending economic downturn and unpredictable risks.
In last week’s program, we quoted experts’ suggestions that, if possible, it might be a good idea to keep some extra cash at home for emergencies.
Recently, there has been shocking news from mainland China. In less than a month, over 1,100 senior management personnel of listed companies have announced their resignations, including chairmen and CEOs. What’s even more terrifying is that some of these high-ranking executives chose to take their own lives by jumping from buildings. Some netizens speculate that these executives may have seen a bleak economic outlook in China or that the industry ecosystem is heading towards a dead end, choosing to escape early.
These high-ranking executives include: Pan Yanhong, chairman of Pacific Life Insurance Company, Liu Jin, CEO of Bank of China, Zhang Rongsen, CEO of Zhejiang Bank, Liu Jun, CEO of China Bank, Wang Zhiheng, CEO of Chongqing Bank, Xiong Kai, vice president of China Gold, and Dong Zenghe, chairman of National Pharmaceutical Group, among others. This list is terrifying; these are the top figures in the Chinese business community in recent decades, and now they have all chosen to leave unexpectedly. It is evident how bleak the economic future of mainland China is.
On August 18th, the media in mainland China reported that Chen Fenjian, chairman and party secretary of China Railway Construction Group Limited, suddenly fell to his death. Public opinion believes that Chen Fenjian most likely fell to protect his own assets and superiors.
Even more outrageous, a Twitter user named “The Ugliest #1 in Raksha Country” revealed that a company named Yongchang Shares had its chairman jump from a building only on the third day of listing. The chairman held 90% of the shares on behalf of local government officials, burnt all the holding agreements in advance, and distributed the shares to his children through a will before jumping from the building, leaving those officials who held shares at a loss. It is evident to what extent high-ranking officials in mainland China have been scrambling for interests among themselves.
Among the recent resignations of high-ranking executives, nearly half come from the financial system, and most are bank executives. The real reason behind their resignations is likely to evade risks, shirk responsibilities, or cash in on their hidden illegal gains early. These high-ranking executives are running away early to avoid imminent risks, cash in their embezzled profits early, and leave quickly to avoid being caught in the future, escaping imprisonment or even worse consequences.
As investors, they are always looking for good business opportunities. In fact, opportunities are everywhere, and diligent people can always find opportunities that fit current social trends and firmly grasp them to make their first bucket of gold. For example, with the government’s active support, the electric vehicle industry is rapidly developing, but many electric vehicle owners have found that the quality and maintenance of charging piles cannot keep up with the industry’s development speed. Research has found that there are over a quarter of fast-charging stations in the Bay Area of California that are inoperable and urgently need maintenance. Therefore, someone targeted this business opportunity.
Charger Help! Co-founder and CEO Kameale C. Terry: “I have a Tesla, so I can use Tesla’s supercharging pile to charge it. But when I tried to charge at a non-Tesla charging station for the first time, I found that there was actually a charging station less than a mile away, and the chargers there have been broken.”
Unpleasant charging experiences prompted the agile-minded Kameale to start thinking that charging station maintenance might be a good business opportunity.
Charger Help! Co-founder and CEO Kameale C. Terry: “So, when I found out that the charging experience was not very good, I wanted to figure out how to make it a better experience.”
It is this way that Kameale C. Terry’s rapid charging pile maintenance company Charger Help! was born. They can quickly deploy technicians to provide maintenance and repair services for charging piles, as well as track local charging station data to better understand the problems and maintenance situations of charging stations.
Charger Help! Fast charging pile maintenance worker Clyde Ellis: “We come here to do preventive maintenance and repair on DC fast charging stations.”
Charger Help! Fast charging pile maintenance worker Clyde Ellis: “The most important thing for me is to ensure that those charging piles work correctly every day.”
Why do electric vehicle charging stations break down so easily? The reasons are varied.
Charger Help! Co-founder and CEO Kameale C. Terry: “Charging stations are really like computers, so they are much more complex than gas stations.”
Charger Help! Fast charging pile maintenance worker Clyde Ellis: “Sometimes it’s an accident, someone might hit the charging pile and damage it, or sometimes the circuit boards may burn out by themselves.”
But sometimes there are even more unexpected and ridiculous reasons.
Charger Help! Fast charging pile maintenance worker Clyde Ellis: “We once encountered a situation where a charging station couldn’t work because a squirrel burrowed into it and got burned. We’ve also seen frogs, bee nests, and real bees there, even bee hives, with honey flowing out of the sides of the charging pile.”
Haha, my goodness, honey flowing out of the charging pile! Well, I often eat honey, but I’ve never tasted the honey from a charging station. Speaking of honey, two Australian beekeepers have invented a clever new type of beehive that is currently selling very well in the United States.
Dave Leemhuis, who used to work in the construction industry, never dreamed that he would one day become a beekeeper and thus get rich. This all started from a chance encounter.
Professional beekeeper Victor Crocker: “Dave and I both took our daughters to ballet lessons, and we met at the ballet school gate.”
Crocker is a professional beekeeper whose grandmother started beekeeping in the 1920s, and the family business has now been passed down to the third generation, Crocker.
Professional beekeeper Dave Leemhuis: “I invited him (Crocker) to my house, we sat on the backyard patio, had a few glasses of port, started chatting, and before long, maybe after drinking half a bottle of wine, the neighbors didn’t know what was going on.”
In this way, the kindred spirits Leemhuis and Crocker started a partnership in the beekeeping business and embarked on a brainstorming session that took the beekeeping business to new heights.
Beekeeping is not easy; to make sure that baby bees survive and grow, the temperature inside the beehive needs to be maintained at around 35 degrees Celsius. When the weather is cold, part of the bee colony must act as “heating bees,” responsible for generating heat to keep the beehive warm.
Professional beekeeper Victor Crocker: “These heating bees generate heat by vibrating their flight muscles, making them like small heaters generating a lot of heat. The metabolism of these bees is very high, so their lifespan is not long.”
Based on the bees’ habit of vibration heating, Leemhuis and Crocker believed that finding a way to keep the beehive warm would prolong the lifespan of the bees and increase the honey production.
Professional beekeeper Victor Crocker: “We had many discussions and essentially redesigned the beehive from scratch, from the working principle of the beehive entrance to the floor ventilation, and how the beehives are interconnected, everything has been redesigned.”
Currently, 95% of beehives in the world still use ancient designs from the 19th century, and the materials used are wood. The two have redesigned and improved this ancient design that has been preserved for nearly two centuries.
They used dense polystyrene foam as the material and successfully controlled the temperature inside the beehive. The redesigned beehives significantly improved the bees’ health status, increasing honey production by nearly 30%.
Professional beekeeper Dave Leemhuis: “The demand for the new beehive was so high that it became uncontrollable, so we expanded production scale.”
This new type of beehive has been well received by beekeepers as orders continue to increase. Last year, the two officially entered the U.S. market.
Professional beekeeper Dave Leemhuis: “We got the productivity and everything from the bees, and we decided we couldn’t keep the secret to ourselves; we had to use it to help others.”
Professional beekeeper Victor Crocker: “I rented a car, brought some samples of our products, and then set off on a journey. In the first week, we developed six new distributors in California, and then expanded our business further.”
Twelve months later, the number of beehive distributors in the United States reached 55, forcing them to expand production scale once again. Currently, they send 500 new beehives to the United States every week. Their goal is to make beekeeping easier, allowing more beekeepers to taste the taste of success and sweeter, fresher honey!
Professional beekeeper Dave Leemhuis: “The taste is really good!”
Wow, I never realized beekeeping could be so exquisite. The next time I make honey water, I will definitely think of these two minds behind the new beehive design. Well, that’s it for today’s program, thank you for watching. Once again, I wish you a Happy Mid-Autumn Festival, good health, joy, and family reunion. Remember to subscribe to the New Tang Dynasty TV channel and tune in to hear me talk about business stories. Thank you again for watching “Financial Avenue”, and see you next time!
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Produced by the “Financial Avenue” production team