DAILY DOSE: December 26, 2022
Posted on 12/26/2022
1. Expected in 2023, the Japanese government is set to remove a ban for foreign-issued stablecoins such as $USDT (launched by Tether Limited Inc.).
2. COVID EASE China’s Zhejiang is a large industrial province near Shanghai. The provincial government says they are dealing with roughly a million new daily COVID-19 infections. At the same time, the Chinese government is easing its COVID-Zero policy of strict lockdowns and quarantine after large historic protests and its impact on the Chinese economy. China recently ditched quarantine requirements for inbound travelers. Furthermore, China’s National Health Commission plans to start treating COVID-19 as a less infectious disease starting January 8, 2023.
3. Apple Inc. was hit with US$ 98 million in back taxes for missing duty-free abuses, according to Nikkei.
4. Japanese insurers are halting shipping insurance for all of Russia.
5. Duquesne University is working with Harrison Street Real Estate Capital, LLC and Radnor Property Group via a public-private partnership to construct a new 556-bed student apartment building on the university’s campus in Pittsburgh.
6. The average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage in the U.S. fell to 6.27% for the week ending December 22, 2022, according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey. This was a decrease from the previous week when it averaged 6.31%.
7. US$ 1.7 Trillion. Before Christmas, U.S. President Joe Biden signed a massive defense spending bill which funds military support for the war in Ukraine and a possible future conflict with China over Taiwan. The US$ 1.7 trillion dollar bill was opposed by a smaller Republican minority in the U.S. Senate. The bill also overhauls U.S. federal election law by revising the Electoral Count Act of 1887. In the U.S. House of Representatives, before the Republican takeover, the bill has passed nearly on party lines by 225 to 201.
The new law provided around US$ 45 billion for assistance to Ukraine and other NATO members.