From Sri Lanka's bailout to The Weeknd's popularity – Here's your March 22 news briefing

To start off, we're looking into:

Sri Lanka’s US$3 billion IMF bailout

The backstory: Sri Lanka has been having a tough time with a heap of economic and social issues on its plate. With COVID, high energy prices, populist tax cuts and inflation soaring over 50%, it's been a real struggle for the country's economy.

More recently: Last year, Sri Lanka secured a preliminary agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a US$2.9 billion bailout package. That's a lot of cash, but there was a catch. Before Sri Lanka could get the money, it had to clean up its debt situation and get it under control.

Two weeks ago, China hopped on board with big bilateral creditors, like India and Japan, to support the sweet deal.

The development: Sri Lanka has officially landed a four-year IMF program worth almost US$3 billion. That's a game-changer for this island nation. The idea is to get everyone fully on board with restructuring the country's debts, though that might take up to 18 months.

Sri Lanka is set to receive nine payments, starting with a massive US$333 million right off the bat. But, in exchange for the much-needed bailout, Sri Lanka must make some important reforms, such as taking a hard stance against corruption and fighting inflation, among other things.

India cuts Punjab internet

The backstory: At the end of February, internet advocacy watchdog Access Now reported that India had the highest number of internet shutdowns worldwide in 2022, and it's been at the top of that list for the past five years. The Indian government has gotten a rep for shutting down the internet in certain areas, often saying it's for security reasons.

More recently: Recently, Indian authorities have been looking for Amritpal Singh, a leader in the separatist Khalistan movement. This movement wants Khalistan to be its own state for people in the Sikh religion. Singh is wanted for causing trouble with public harmony.

The development: Since Saturday, the Punjab state government has shut down the internet in the region as authorities look for Singh. Originally the shutdown was supposed to be just 24 hours, but it's been extended a few times and is still ongoing. There are 27 million people in Punjab, and they don't have mobile internet access or text messaging.

The internet ban has been partially lifted but only in parts of the state. The government and police officials say the shutdown is meant to avoid public unrest and the spread of misinformation and "fake news" during this time.

Japan’s lagging on the EV scene

The backstory: For years, Japanese carmaker giants Toyota, Honda and Nissan have been the big players in the gas-powered car scene, but things are changing with the rise of electric vehicles (EVs).

And it's not just the competition from other countries that Japanese automakers have to worry about. For example, the Chinese EV market has been growing like crazy, and that's creating a potential threat for Japanese automakers to lose their market share.

More recently: Honda and Nissan's sales have been taking a hit in the world's biggest auto market, China, for the past couple of years. Even Toyota, which hadn't seen a decline in sales for 10 years, experienced a plunge in 2022.

The COVID-related lockdowns and chip shortages definitely played a role, but it seems the real problem is the lack of attractive electric car options from these automakers.

The development:  The EV market is about to see a massive surge in 2023, with an estimated 9 million sales and a 35% market share. But here's the deal, while Tesla and Volkswagen are reportedly ruling the EV game, Japanese automakers are struggling to catch up.

Meanwhile, Chinese automaker BYD is causing a stir in the mid-market, giving tough competition to Japanese car manufacturers. In fact, it has become the best-selling domestic brand in China, with over 1.85 million vehicles shipped in 2022.

To end, we'll look into:

The world’s happiest counties, ranked

The World Happiness Report for 2023 was just released by the UN. This report ranks the happiest countries in the world and the overall state of world happiness.

While happiness is subjective, there’s a very specific way that these results are calculated. The report used data from the Gallup World Poll surveys from 2020 to 2022. Usually, the surveys are based on 1,000 respondents from each country. The results are gathered from over 150 countries around the world. This report is released annually on March 20 for the International Day of Happiness.

These surveys ask respondents specific life evaluation questions. One of these questions is called the “Cantril ladder.” According to the World Happiness Report website, this question “asks respondents to think of a ladder, with the best possible life for them being a 10 and the worst possible life being a 0. They are then asked to rate their own current lives on that 0 to 10 scale.”

For each country, Gallup measures social support, income, health, freedom, generosity and the absence of corruption. Gallup conducts the polls from its Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN). Gallup says: “Leaders need more inclusive metrics to effectively track and lead the progress of their nation. The World Happiness Report is the first report to rank countries by how their populations feel.”

This year’s report shows Finland is the happiest country in the world. It’s held that honor for the past six years. Other Nordic countries also top the list, with Denmark at number two and Iceland in third place.

“Finland seems to excel here because of the Finnish welfare system’s ability to help its citizens feel taken care of,” explains Aalto University lecturer Frank Martela. “Things like relatively generous unemployment benefits and nearly free healthcare help mitigate sources of unhappiness, ensuring that there are fewer people in Finland who are highly unsatisfied with their lives.’’

But we all have reason to celebrate. One of its authors, Lara Aknin, notes: “For a second year, we see that various forms of everyday kindness, such as helping a stranger, donating to charity and volunteering, are above pre-pandemic levels.”

In other news ...

📈Stocks: MSCI’s global gauge of stocks is up 1.25% at 2711.84 at the time of writing.

• Dow Jones jumped 0.98% to 32,560.60.
• Nasdaq Composite rose 1.58% to 11,860.11.
• S&P 500 gained 1.30% to 4,002.87.
• Hang Seng Index jumped 1.36% to 19,258.76.

🧠Some quick factors to bear in mind:

• US stocks rallied on Tuesday as traders felt optimistic about the financial sector's outlook, thanks to some reassurances from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
• Yellen said that measures were in place to keep bank deposits safe and mentioned the government was willing to take more action if needed to prevent banking crises.
• The SPDR Regional Banking ETF saw gains of around 6%. Regional banks like KeyCorp and US Bancorp also saw boosts of over 8%.
• First Republic Bank, which had lost nearly half its value Monday, shot up by almost 30% after JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon reportedly discussed potential steps to stabilize the bank, including through a possible investment.
• Despite the recent banking crisis, markets were still expecting an 86% chance of a quarter-point rate hike for the Fed's decision on Wednesday, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool.
• China stocks closed higher on Tuesday as investors also felt less worried about the banking sector and are waiting to see what the Fed would do with interest rates.

👄Some comments and chatter:

• “The steps we took were not focused on aiding specific banks or classes of banks. Our intervention was necessary to protect the broader US banking system. And similar actions could be warranted if smaller institutions suffer deposit runs that pose the risk of contagion.” said Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
• “If [the Fed] were to pause their rate hikes, that would be the same as acknowledging that they know something that maybe the markets don’t know. I think that would be devastating idea for them. It was never really an argument for them to go to back down from the 25 [basis points],” said Johan Grahn, head of ETF strategy at Allianz Investment Management.

🛢Oil: Oil prices rose more than 2% on Tuesday after the rescue of Credit Suisse, which helped ease concerns about a banking crisis that could have a negative impact on fuel demand. With this, US crude rose 2.5% to US$69.33, and Brent jumped 2.1% to US$69.33 per barrel.

👛Bitcoin: At the time of writing, Bitcoin is up 0.82% at US$28,050.80.

🤝Japan’s Kishida visits Ukraine: Chinese President Xi is currently in Russia, speaking with Putin mainly about the ongoing conflict with Ukraine. Meanwhile, Japanese PM Fumio Kishida just arrived in Ukraine on a surprise, unannounced visit and met with Zelenskiy in Kyiv on Tuesday.

😲Israeli minister’s remarks: Over the weekend, Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich denied the existence of Palestinian people and culture, saying that “there is no such thing as a Palestinian people.” Weeks earlier, he called for a Palestinian town to be “erased.” These remarks are being condemned internationally, with the US, France, Arab states and other countries disavowing the remarks.

✌Taiwan president to visit US:  Over the past few weeks, the US has reassured China that the Taiwanese president has traveled through the US during broader international trips many times over the years. Current President Tsai Ing-wen has made a few unofficial visits over the years for this purpose, stopping to meet with US officials. Now, Tsai is planning another stopover, and the US doesn’t want this visit to escalate existing tensions between the three.

🚫More Chinese chip guardrails: The US Biden administration will soon reveal new restrictions on Chinese chipmakers that get US funds to build in the US. It will bar them from expanding their output by 5% for advanced chips and 10% for older tech. This is not great news for big firms like TSMC and Samsung.

💾Nvidia announces new tech: The past year’s AI boom has driven AI computing firm Nvidia’s shares up 77% this year. It’s about to become even hotter. On Tuesday, CEO Jensen Huang announced plans to make the supercomputers used to create AI technologies like ChatGPT available for rent to pretty much any business for US$37,000 a month.

🤖Google’s AI chatbot: Speaking of AI, Google is following in Bing’s and other search engines’ footsteps by making their AI chatbot available to users. On Tuesday, Google launched a chatbot called Bard to a limited number of users in the US and UK. Bard will become available to more users, countries and languages in the near future.

🥽VR treadmill starts heading out:  AR and VR experiences are becoming more and more popular. VR company Virtuix has been developing a treadmill-like VR machine for years with the help of crowdfunding campaigns. Now, the Omni One is starting to be sent out to investors, allowing them to physically run, walk, kneel and jump IRL while playing VR games.

💻Ferrari hack: Italian luxury carmaker Ferrari said it was the victim of a ransomware attack. The information exposed to hackers includes names, addresses, emails and phone numbers. No banking info or details of what Ferrari cars customers may own were leaked. The company is investigating the incident.

🛰Satellite light pollution: Since 2019, the number of satellites in low Earth orbit has more than doubled. On Monday, astronomers reported that the light pollution caused by satellites could be a global threat to nature. With more and more satellites going up into orbit, the night sky gets a little brighter, making fewer stars visible to animals in nature and humans.

🦡Badger traffic: In the Netherlands, badgers burrowing under the train tracks all over the country have caused delays and cancellations on at least two train lines. One of the lines will be out of service for at least a week. This is because the burrowing could cause the tracks to subside, which would create dangerous rail conditions.

🕷New spider species: A ginormous new species of trapdoor spider was found in Australia, and the pics are making people NOPE! all across the internet. Scientists say it’s likely an endangered species due to habitat destruction.

🔍Porcupines on the lam: On Tuesday, police said that two porcupines had gotten loose from a zoo in central Germany after they were apparently stolen. One, named Brain, has gotten back home safely. But the other, Pinky, is still missing.

🎤The Weeknd is killing it: Recording artist Abel Tesfaye, better known by the world as The Weeknd, just recently broke the Spotify record for 100 million monthly listeners. Well, according to Guinness World Records, The Weeknd is the world’s most popular artist, with no one even coming close to his streaming success.

Written and put together by Joey Fung, Vanessa Wolosz, Shebby Farooq and Christine Dulion