Global Markets Up Shrugging Off Inflation Fears!!

Global equity gauges climbed higher last week as investors appear to be shrugging off inflationary concerns. The S&P 500 was up 0.4% as global investors warm up to the Fed’s view that the rise in inflation is transitory as supply chain bottlenecks are resolved. The technology-heavy Nasdaq index chalked up gains of 1.9%. In Asia, the broader MSCI Asia ex-Japan index climbed a meagre 0.1%, whilst the Hang Seng index closed 0.3% lower.

Last week, US lawmakers in the House of Representatives proposed a set of antitrust bills to rein in the power of big tech companies. The definitions of big tech companies targeted by the bills state that it must have a market capitalisation of at least US$600 billion, more than 50 million active monthly users or 100,000 monthly active business users. Whilst the bill did not name any specific company, only 4 tech giants including Facebook, Amazon, Apple, and Google currently meet these criteria.

Under the proposed bill, it would bar big tech companies from self-preferencing, i.e. promoting their own products in their respective platforms and side-line competitors. For example, Amazon which also competes with other third-party sellers in its platform by selling similar products under its own in-house brand may no longer be allowed to do so under the new bill. The bill might also make it harder for big tech companies to acquire smaller competitors.

However, the bill is still at the preliminary stage. It would still need to go through several readings at the House of Representatives before being approved by the Republican- controlled Senate. 

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