1st May 2025

May 3

Written By OhMyEcon .

Ditching Treasuries for Safety: Worried about US sanctions (like Russia’s frozen assets), China is slowly selling off US Treasury bonds and buying gold, mortgage-backed securities, and short-term assets. Gold reserves jumped from 2% to 6% of total holdings since 2022.
Trump’s Tariffs Spook Beijing: Fear of a “Mar-a-Lago accord” (forcing Treasury swaps for risky bonds) and Trump’s trade war pushed China to diversify into European and Hong Kong-managed assets, but liquidity remains a hurdle.
Walking a Tightrope: China’s strategy-“agile maneuvering”-balances avoiding market panic with reducing US exposure. Experts warn full decoupling is impossible, but sticking with Treasuries risks total loss if tensions boil over.
Private Markets Retreat: China’s secretive investment arm, Rosewood, scaled back US tech deals amid scrutiny, reflecting broader caution in cross-border capital flows.

A California judge rejected OpenAI’s bid to dismiss Elon Musk’s lawsuit, allowing claims of fraud and breach of contract to proceed to trial in 2026.
Musk alleges OpenAI abandoned its non-profit mission to benefit humanity in favor of profit, citing its partnership with Microsoft and plans to become a for-profit entity.
The ruling hinges on whether an “implied contract” existed between Musk and OpenAI, with the judge noting Musk’s contributions were tied to promises of maintaining a non-profit structure.
The case highlights tensions over AI governance as Musk and OpenAI’s Sam Altman vie for dominance in shaping the technology’s ethical and commercial trajectory.

Standard Chartered reported a 10% jump in Q1 pre-tax profits to $2.1 billion, driven by wealth management and foreign exchange swaps, but warned of looming risks from Trump’s tariffs.
CEO Bill Winters raised the bank’s modelled probability of a severe global trade war to 15%, which could stifle US and Chinese growth to under 1% annually for years.
The bank set aside $66 million for potential credit losses linked to trade disruptions and noted clients are reevaluating cross-border investments amid geopolitical fragmentation.
Despite optimism about China’s stimulus measures, executives cautioned that decades of globalisation are unravelling, creating a “more complex world” for international finance.

News written by Iskander Shyngyssov | Published by Zhangir Zhangaskin

2nd May 2025