FirstFT: Yellen and Liu search to ease US-China financial tensions

China has mentioned it will welcome a go to by Janet Yellen this yr after the US Treasury secretary met vice-premier Liu He in Zurich, marking the primary prime degree financial assembly between the powers since US president Joe Biden took workplace.

The assembly, which comes as US-China relations stay fraught over points from Taiwan to commerce and expertise, was described by each side as “candid”. In separate statements, each side sought to ease considerations a couple of additional deterioration in ties between the world’s two largest economies.

China’s state-run information company Xinhua mentioned the 2 officers agreed in a three-hour assembly that their financial and commerce groups would “proceed to take care of communication in any respect ranges” and that Beijing would welcome a go to from Yellen “at an appropriate time this yr”.

The Treasury mentioned each side agreed that it was “vital for the functioning of the worldwide economic system to additional improve communication round macroeconomic and monetary points”. It added that Yellen “seems ahead to travelling to China” and to welcoming her Chinese language counterparts within the US.

The Zurich talks comes two months after Biden and President Xi Jinping held their first in-person assembly as leaders on the G20 in Bali. The 2 tried to halt the deterioration in relations that reached a brand new low when China held enormous army workout routines round Taiwan in August.

5 extra tales within the information

1. BoJ retains yield management measures The Financial institution of Japan has defied market stress and left its yield curve management measures unchanged, sending the yen sharply decrease and shares greater because it caught to a core pillar of its ultra-loose financial coverage. The choice follows weeks of turmoil within the Japanese authorities bond market, throughout which yields surged.

2. Shein discussing fundraising that will slash valuation Shein is in talks to boost as much as $3bn in a transfer that will result in the Chinese language fast-fashion group accepting a vastly decreased valuation of $64bn, down greater than a 3rd from its peak following a downturn that has led traders to re-evaluate frothy tech start-up valuations.

3. Thiel’s fund wound down bitcoin wager earlier than market crash Founders Fund, the enterprise capital agency co-founded by billionaire Peter Thiel, closed nearly all of its eight-year wager on cryptocurrencies shortly earlier than the market started to crash final yr, producing about $1.8bn in returns.

4. China to launch state-owned ride-hailing app The app, referred to as Sturdy Nation Transport, will initially goal Communist celebration members and staff of government-owned enterprises, in a problem to the nation’s reigning market chief Didi. State media yesterday reported that the app can be backed by the transport ministry and different authorities companies.

5. Behind Musk’s ‘funding secured’ tweet Elon Musk made the “split-second determination” to tweet that he had “funding secured” to take Tesla personal in 2018 after seeing a narrative within the Monetary Occasions, a lawyer for the billionaire informed jurors in San Francisco. Musk despatched the message whereas in a automobile on the best way to an airport after he learn a report within the FT detailing how Saudi Arabia’s Public Funding Fund had quietly acquired a $2bn stake within the electrical automobile group, a lawyer for Musk and Tesla mentioned.

The day forward

Activist fund takes intention at South Korea’s KT&G Flashlight Capital Companions will submit proposals to shareholders at this time, pressuring tobacco maker KT&G to triple its dividend payout, appoint two well-known Korean enterprise leaders as exterior administrators and spin off its ginseng unit right into a separate itemizing.

Australian Open tennis continues The second spherical of singles matches will happen in Melbourne, that includes Andy Murray towards fellow non-seed Thanasi Kokkinakis of Australia and Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur versus Marketa Vondrousova.

Greta Thunberg reportedly meets IEA govt director The Swedish activist is ready to meet at this time with Fatih Birol, head of the Worldwide Vitality Company, in Davos on the sidelines of the World Financial Discussion board (Reuters).

European Central Financial institution minutes The central financial institution will publish the minutes of its December assembly at this time and numerous central bankers can be discussing regional and international economics at Davos.

The World Financial Discussion board continues. Tune in to the Davos Every day Present, hosted by the FT’s Andrew Hill, from 12pm GMT January 17-19. Register right here at no cost.

What else we’re studying

Can Apple decouple from China? Apple is going through political, strategic and investor stress to chop its manufacturing reliance on China. But when the connection is untenable, it’s also near-unbreakable. Because the tech big more and more finds itself beholden to America’s largest geopolitical rival, the query is whether or not diversification is even potential.

Bollywood blockbuster meets India’s tradition wars Pathaan, the big-budget Bollywood movie out subsequent week, marks the grand return of India’s largest actor: Shah Rukh Khan. However it would even be a check for Khan and Bollywood following a run of field workplace flops and Khan changing into a goal for harassment from hardline Hindu teams.

Davos: There’s life in international capitalism but The World Financial Discussion board in Davos has been the assembly place and cheerleader for international capitalism. Whereas some argue this trigger is lifeless, rumours of the demise of worldwide enterprise and commerce have been exaggerated, writes Martin Wolf.

Disney activist investor focuses on Fox deal Nelson Peltz, the activist investor who’s attempting to pressure his manner on to Disney’s board, has fixated on a $71bn deal that noticed the leisure firm purchase Fox’s motion pictures and tv enterprise. Peltz blames the deal for what he calls Disney’s “stability sheet from hell”, saddling it with further debt and stopping the corporate from returning money to traders.

Chinese language snooker gamers charged in match-fixing probe Ten Chinese language skilled snooker gamers have been charged by the sport’s governing physique as a part of an investigation into match fixing, in an embarrassing episode that threatens the game’s standing in its most vital progress market.

Take a break from the information

Beef is a critical enterprise in South Korea: native butchers usually determine 120 totally different cuts (versus the western 20 or 30) that run from the tenderloin to obscure elements of the tail. Hanwoo beef is taken into account essentially the most luxurious of its choices, however though famend in South Korea it’s much less identified overseas. Does Hanwoo stand to be the subsequent Wagyu steak?