US ECONOMY & POLITICS

US construction spending rises less than expected in November – Reuters, 1/2/2024

• U.S. construction spending rose less than expected in November amid a decline in outlays on public projects, but data for the prior month was revised sharply higher suggesting underlying strength in the sector.
• The Commerce Department said on Tuesday that construction spending increased 0.4%.
• Data for October was revised up to show construction spending surging 1.2% instead of gaining 0.6% as previously reported.
• Economists polled by Reuters had forecast construction spending rising 0.6%.
• Construction spending shot up 11.3% on a year-on-year basis in November.
• Spending on private construction projects increased 0.7% in November after rising 1.2% in October.
• Investment in residential construction advanced 1.1% after rising 2.0% in the prior month.
• Outlays on new single-family construction projects jumped 2.9%.
• Outlays on multi-family housing projects edged up 0.1% in November.
• Spending on public construction projects fell 0.7% after increasing 1.3% in October.
• State and local government spending declined 0.5% while outlays on federal government projects tumbled 3.1%.

EUROPE & WORLD

US Pressured Netherlands to Block China-Bound Chip Machinery – Bloomberg, 1/2/2024

• ASML Holding canceled shipments of some of its machines to China at the request of US President Joe Biden’s administration, weeks before export bans on the high-end chipmaking equipment came into effect, people familiar with the matter said.
• The Dutch manufacturer had licenses to ship three top-of-the-line deep ultraviolet lithography machines to Chinese firms until January when new Dutch restrictions take full effect.
• However, US officials reached out to ASML to ask them to immediately halt pre-scheduled shipments of some of the machines to Chinese customers, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because the discussions were confidential.
• Shipments of a limited number of machines were canceled following the US request, they said, though it wasn’t immediately clear how many of the devices, which can cost tens of millions of dollars apiece, were involved.
• ASML, Europe’s largest technology company, confirmed that the Dutch government partially revoked licenses recently for the shipment of certain lithography systems to China, affecting a small number of customers there.
• ASML said it doesn’t expect the latest blockade to have a “material impact on our financial outlook for 2023.”

All Passengers on Japan Airlines Jet Evacuated After Plane Collision – Wall Street Journal, 1/2/2024

• A Japan Coast Guard plane and a Japan Airlines passenger jet collided at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport but all 379 people on board the passenger jet were able to escape, Japan Airlines said.
• Five of the six people aboard the Coast Guard plane died in the crash, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said.
• He said they were planning to deliver relief supplies to people affected by an earthquake on the Japan Sea coast on New Year’s Day.
• Passengers in local television interviews said they saw a fire on the side of the Japan Airlines plane after it landed and were guided by cabin attendants to evacuate via escape chutes.
• The accident happened after sunset at around 5:47 p.m. local time, shortly after the Japan Airlines plane arrived at Haneda from Sapporo in northern Japan.
• Japan Airlines said the plane, an Airbus A350, had 367 passengers including eight infants and 12 crew.

Japan Quake Death Toll Rises to 48 With Search On for Those Still Trapped – Wall Street Journal, 1/2/2024

• The smoking ruins of what was a popular market for tourists and a seven-story building lying on its side testified to the destruction left by a New Year’s Day earthquake in Japan that killed at least 48 people.
• The city of Wajima in Ishikawa prefecture on the Japan Sea coast suffered some of the worst damage from the magnitude 7.6 quake.
• Japan’s military was mobilized along with police and fire units to deliver relief supplies and try to rescue those buried under homes and buildings.
• The Wajima morning market normally features local producers selling fresh seafood, vegetables and handmade crafts including the traditional lacquerware known as Wajima-nuri.
• The market, which is also popular among foreign tourists, was closed for the New Year holiday when the quake hit.
• The earthquake also caused a tsunami of up to four feet, but no casualties were blamed on the tsunami.
• Many old wooden houses collapsed and trapped people inside. Ishikawa prefecture said at least 48 people in the prefecture had died in the quake and the toll was likely to rise.

Surpassing Tesla, China’s BYD Will Take On the World in 2024 – Wall Street Journal, 1/2/2024

• China’s electric-vehicle maker BYD will be on top of the world this year, with overseas markets its main battleground.
• In the fourth quarter of 2023, it surpassed Tesla to become the bestselling pure EV maker in the world, having already overtaken Volkswagen last year as the most popular brand of any kind of car in China.
• Sales of new-energy vehicles, which include plug-in hybrids, grew 37% year-over-year in the first 11 months of 2023, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.
• More than one in three cars sold in China were EVs.
• The Warren Buffett-backed carmaker sold more than 3 million new-energy vehicles in 2023, an increase of 62% from a year earlier.
• Around half of that were plug-in hybrids, but its sales of pure EVs grew even faster at 73%.
• BYD data indicate it sold 526,409 pure EVs in the fourth quarter of 2023, compared with 484,507 vehicles that Tesla said Tuesday it delivered in the same period.
• BYD’s overseas sales in the second half of 2023 more than tripled from a year earlier.

Israel Reshuffles Forces, Prepares for Long-Term Conflict in Gaza – Wall Street Journal, 1/2/2024

• Israel began preparations for prolonged fighting in the Gaza Strip, reshuffling forces as it weighs how to sustain lower intensity fighting over the long term.
• Israel’s top general said that it would take at least several more months to destroy Hamas’s military capabilities in the enclave.
• On Monday, Israel said it would adjust its ground-force composition in Gaza, with plans to rotate five brigades—estimated to be thousands of troops—out of the Gaza Strip this week, some of which might be replaced.
• The military has also recalibrated the types of troops required, now relying more heavily on commando and combat-engineering forces, as Israel increasingly tries to penetrate subterranean tunnel infrastructure and hunt down senior Hamas leadership.
• “These adaptations are designed to ensure planning and preparation for 2024,” Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military’s chief spokesperson, said Sunday night.
• “The war’s goals require prolonged fighting, and we are preparing accordingly.”
• The prospect of an extended period of hostilities in Gaza comes amid friction between Israel and the U.S., its main ally, which has been pushing the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to begin winding down a war that has devastated the enclave and killed thousands.

Expiring Pfizer Covid Drug Doses Set to Cost Europe $2.2 Billion – Bloomberg, 1/2/2024

• Stockpiles of Pfizer’s Paxlovid worth $2.2 billion are set to expire by the end of next month in Europe and the UK as demand for the Covid-19 treatment plummets.
• The outdated supply includes $1.1 billion worth of doses that had already expired as of November, according to the London-based analytics firm Airfinity.
• The UK has seen the biggest chunk go to waste with an estimated 1 million past-date courses at a cost of some $700 million, Airfinity said in a report.

China Injects $50 Billion Into Policy Banks in Stimulus Push – Bloomberg, 1/2/2024

• The People’s Bank of China injected nearly $50 billion worth of low-cost funds into policy-oriented banks last month, suggesting the central bank may be ramping up financing for housing and infrastructure projects to support the economy.
• The outstanding amount of the PBOC’s Pledged Supplemental Lending program to policy banks climbed to 3.25 trillion yuan ($456 billion) at the end of December from 2.9 trillion yuan in the previous month, the central bank said in a Tuesday statement.
• The net injection of 350 billion yuan was the largest increase via the tool since November 2022.
• The PSL program is seen as an important tool in Beijing’s arsenal, which the government can use to shore up the property sector and stabilize growth this year.

Factmonster – TODAY in HISTORY

• Muhammad XI, the leader of the last Arab stronghold in Spain, surrendered to King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I. – 1492
• Georgia was admitted to the Union as the 4th state. – 1788
• Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre took the first photograph of the Moon. – 1839
• The Russo-Japanese war ended. – 1905
• The African American town of Rosewood, Fla., was burned by a white mob. – 1923
• The first spacecraft to fly by the Moon and also to orbit the Sun, Mechta (Luna 1) was launched by the USSR. – 1959
• Rudolph Giuliani is inaugurated as New York City’s mayor. – 1994