Sudden thunderstorm in peripheral markets!
The chief executive of Ericsson, the leading 5g provider of Swedish Telecom, said on Wednesday that the company suspected that some of its employees in Iraq might bribe members of the organization of Islamic States to allow its road transportation through the country. Subsequently, Ericsson's share price began to plummet, and the company once fell more than 13% before the stock price listed in the United States. Ericsson said it also found "payment plans and cash transactions that may pose money laundering risks", but "the investigation cannot determine that any Ericsson employees are directly involved in financing terrorist organizations".
In addition to Ericsson, another star stock also plummeted by more than 16% in front of the U.S. stock market, that is roblox, known as the first stock in the meta universe. Data show that the company's profit and revenue in the fourth quarter of last year were lower than market expectations, with a loss of 25 cents per share in the fourth quarter, exceeding the expected 13 cents; Revenue rose 83% to $569 million, but still lower than the expected $772 million.
the general environment of the peripheral market has changed again. NATO accused Russia of increasing its troops on the Ukrainian border the day after Moscow said it had begun withdrawing some military units. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday that the Kremlin was sending a "mixed signal" to the West. Subsequently, both the European stock market and the early index of the US stock market fell.
Ericsson burst
On Wednesday, Ericsson was the biggest player in the global capital market. In a statement late Tuesday local time, Ericsson said that an internal investigation in 2019 found that the company's actions in Iraq were "serious violations of compliance rules", including corruption related misconduct and evidence of improper use of sales agents and consultants.
Ericsson said that the investigation team also found that the payment to intermediaries and the use of alternative transportation routes were related to bypassing Iraqi customs, while terrorist organizations including the Islamic state controlled some transportation routes at that time. The company said its internal investigators could not determine who the final payee was.
Ericsson CEO borje ekholm said on Wednesday that the company suspected that some employees in Iraq might bribe members of the organization of Islamic States to allow their road transportation through the country. "What we see is that people pay for road transportation through areas controlled by terrorist organizations, including the Islamic state." "With the means at our disposal, we cannot determine the ultimate payee of these payments."
After the news, Ericsson's share price fell 7% in the opening trading of the Stockholm stock exchange. Subsequently, Ericsson's US stocks, which had a market value of nearly 250 billion yuan, plunged more than 13% before trading.
The CEO's comments came after the company issued a statement on Tuesday admitting that Ericsson's employees and suppliers in Iraq "seriously violated compliance rules and the company's code of business ethics" from 2011 to 2019. He said an internal investigation conducted in 2019 revealed "evidence of corruption related misconduct". Including "making monetary donations without clear beneficiaries; paying suppliers for work without clear scope and documents; using suppliers for cash payments; financing inappropriate travel and expenses; and improper use of sales agents and consultants".
In addition, Ericsson was found to have violated internal financial controls, conflicts of interest, non-compliance with tax laws and obstruction of investigation. Ericsson said it also found "payment plans and cash transactions that may pose money laundering risks", but the investigation could not determine that any Ericsson employees were directly involved in financing terrorist organizations.
Ericsson said in a statement that as a result of the investigation, several employees left the company and took a number of other disciplinary and other remedial measures.
Ekholm said Ericsson had shared the findings of its investigation with the US authorities. Ericsson agreed to pay $1 billion to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in 2019 to resolve investigations into violations of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The U.S. Department of Justice said the case originated from tens of millions of dollars of improper payments made by Ericsson worldwide.
yuan universe's first performance storm
Roblox, known as "the first stock of the meta universe", has a thunderbolt performance. The company's profit and revenue in the fourth quarter of last year were lower than market expectations, with a loss of 25 cents per share in the fourth quarter, exceeding the expected 13 cents; Revenue rose 83% to $569 million, lower than the expected $772 million. Roblox's results fell 15% to $62.1. After this performance was reported, the company's share price fell sharply, with a pre market decline of more than 16%
Tianfeng Securities Co.Ltd(601162) it was previously estimated that roblox 2021q4 dau reached 51.2 million, a year-on-year increase of 38%, exceeding Bloomberg's consensus expectation of 50 million; 21q4 saw a year-on-year increase of 12% to US $72 billion, with a year-on-year increase of 171% under the influence of the epidemic. Bloomberg unanimously expected US $76.9 billion, lower than expected.
Roblox lost $140 million in the last quarter, and the amount of profitable subscriptions increased by 20% year-on-year to $770 million. The average daily active users (dau) increased by 33% to 49.5 million, the total number of user participation hours increased by 28% to 10.8 billion hours, and the average daily active users' average subscription amount (abpdau) was $15.57. The company expects the revenue of January's operating indicators to be between 203 million and 206 million US dollars, an annual increase of 64% to 66%; The average number of active users per day increased by 32% year-on-year to 54.7 million; The total number of user participation hours increased by 26% to 4.2 billion hours; The subscription amount increased by 2% to 3% year-on-year to US $220 million to US $223 million; The average daily subscription amount of active users decreased by 22% to 23% to 402 million to 408 million yuan.
Previously, the Facebook share price of all in yuanuniverse also plummeted by more than 26% in a single day. So, is the most popular track in the early stage of metauniverse going to be cold?
Analysts believe that from the perspective of stock valuation alone, with the rise of treasury bond yields, the valuation of these stocks may be suppressed. But in terms of the industry boom, it may be another scene. The financial giant "JPMorgan Chase" recently said that the success of metauniverse depends on whether it has a "strong and flexible financial ecosystem". Metauniverse can play a role in the core capabilities of cross-border payment, foreign exchange, financial asset creation, trading and custody. This means that the application scenario of meta universe extends to a broad field.
renewable variables in the situation between Russia and Ukraine
NATO accused Russia on Wednesday of increasing the number of troops it has assembled on the Ukrainian border, a day after Moscow said it had begun withdrawing some military units. The Russian government released a video clip on Wednesday claiming that military units returned to their permanent base after completing the exercise.
Russian officials also announced that troops conducting military exercises in Belarus in northern Ukraine will also return to their permanent base on February 20.
NATO defense ministers will meet in Brussels on Wednesday to discuss what the military alliance calls "the most serious security crisis we have faced in Europe in decades". NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters before Wednesday's meeting that it remains to be seen whether Russia will withdraw its troops.
"So far, we have not seen any easing of the situation on the ground. On the contrary, Russia seems to continue to strengthen military construction," Stoltenberg added. Russia "always moves troops back and forth", so the lens showing the movement of troops and tanks "does not confirm the real withdrawal".
According to Reuters, the Kremlin said on Wednesday that NATO said it was "wrong" to have no evidence of Russia's withdrawal from the border, adding that President Vladimir Putin wanted diplomatic negotiations.
Moscow doubled its claim late Wednesday that Russian troops began returning to their permanent deployment, and Russian state media released a report that tanks, armored vehicles and soldiers had begun a 1000 kilometer (621 mile) journey back to their base.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Sky News on Wednesday that although the West has seen "some positive signs" from Russia, "the intelligence we see today is still not encouraging", "They have built a Russian field hospital near the border between Belarus and Ukraine, which can only be interpreted as preparing for the invasion. I think the current signal is mixed," he said
Johnson's remarks came after US President Joe Biden warned that Washington had not confirmed that Russia had withdrawn any military units from the Ukrainian border.
"We have not confirmed that Russian troops are returning to their bases. In fact, our analysts say they are still in a very dangerous situation," Biden said in a speech at the White House. "In fact, Russia now has more than 150000 soldiers surrounding Ukraine on the border between Belarus and Ukraine."
European Commission President Ursula von der lain addressed European lawmakers on Wednesday, urging the Kremlin not to trigger further violence in Europe. Previously, Russia must have sent contradictory signals. On the one hand, the authorities announced the withdrawal of Russian troops. On the other hand, the Russian State Duma voted for the full recognition of Donetsk and Lugansk as independent republics. The Ukrainian border service is bound to be part of a broader long-term problem.
