• The top lawmaker on trade matters in the U.S. House of Representatives, Richard Neal, said on Tuesday that he will focus this year on enforcing U.S. trade agreements and working with the Biden administration to combat China's use of forced labor in its western Xinjiang region.
• The lawmaker is also open to negotiating new trade agreements with Britain and the European Union.
• The Massachusetts Democrat also said he would work closely with U.S. Trade Representative nominee Katherine Tai "to make sure that we aggressively enforce all the provisions" in the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

(Source: Reuters)

• The French economy is still on course to rebound 5% this year despite the uncertainty created by the coronavirus pandemic, the head of the central bank said on Tuesday, reiterating its December forecast.
• The euro zone's second-biggest economy suffered its deepest post-war recession last year, with gross domestic product contracting 8.3% due to the coronavirus outbreak and measures to contain it, including two national lockdowns.
• "I can confirm our forecast for 5% growth for the whole of 2021. It's robust and rather cautious while reflecting of course the great uncertainty around the health situation," Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau said.
• Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire has built the 2021 budget on a forecast for 6% growth this year, although he has in recent weeks indicated that might be a stretch.

(Source: Reuters)

• Wisynco Group Limited saw a 12.4% (or $217.93Mn) year over year reduction in unaudited net profit to $1.54Bn (EPS: $0.41) for the six months ended December 30, 2020.
• Depressed economic activity and shrinking wallets negatively affected revenues from some of the company’s higher-margin products, while it positively affected some of the lower margin products. The net effect was a $1.06Bn (or 6.2%) fall-off in revenues.
• However, the overall reduction in net profit was tempered by a 3.9% (or $423.94Mn) and 14.3% (or $507.20Mn) decline in direct costs and selling and distribution costs, respectively, as management effected measures to control costs.
• The company’s stock price has fallen by 1.84% since the start of the year, closing Thursday’s trading session at $16.53. At this price, the stock currently trades at a P/E of 24.0x earnings, which is below the Main Market Distribution & Manufacturing Sector Average of 28.0x.

(Source: Wisynco Financials)

• Derrimon Trading Company Limited has advised that its invitation for a subscription of 1,498,698,931 New Ordinary Shares was 2.06x oversubscribed.
• DTL previously advised of its decision to upsize by an additional 301,301,069 New Ordinary Shares (reflecting a 20.10% increase) the maximum allowable under the Prospectus.
• The Company will issue a total of 1,800,000,000 additional Ordinary Shares and take in approximately J$4.08Bn in gross proceeds to be used as described in the Prospectus to reduce indebtedness and facilitate growth through acquisitions.
• All applicants in the Key Investors Pool received the full allotment of the shares purchased. Existing shareholders or Derrimon Team members, lead broker’s clients, and the general public received a partial allotment representing 51.63%, 83.72%, and 39.15%, respectively.

(Source: JSE

• The Dominican Republic's (BB-/Negative) timely external financing and budgetary belt-tightening have eased some near-term risks from the COVID-19 pandemic, Fitch Ratings says.
• The administration of President Luis Abinader is moving to tackle longer-standing structural weaknesses, which could help stabilize the rating outlook, but its capacity to pass fiscal reforms will be critical to the success of its medium-term fiscal objectives.
• January's US$2.5Bn sovereign bond issuance means the government has secured half of its 2021 budgeted financing needs, while December's liability management operation reduced 2021 debt payments by nearly US$430Mn.
• The sovereign tapped the external bond market twice in 2020, including September's US$3.8Bn issue, having quickly secured external liquidity from the IMF (US$650Mn) and multilateral banks to offset plummeting tourism foreign-exchange receipts. Prudent management of external amortizations limits refinancing risk.

(Source: Fitch Ratings)

• Guyana said on Thursday it had terminated an agreement with Taiwan, just hours after Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said it had signed a deal with the South American country to open a Taiwan Office.
• In a statement, Guyana’s foreign ministry said it had not established any diplomatic ties or relations with Taiwan and continues to adhere to the “One China” policy.

(Source: Reuters)

• The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is kicking off a renewed effort to overhaul rules around money market funds, soliciting public input on how to reform the sector.
• The consultation, announced Thursday, suggests the SEC wants to kick-start languishing efforts to address the sector, which has twice needed government intervention in recent years to stabilize after investor runs.
• Specifically, the agency is seeking comment on a report issued by a Treasury-led working group in December, which called for significant policy changes to address weaknesses in the market.
• The report laid out a number of reform options, including setting stricter rules around fund redemptions, or higher capital buffers for such funds, but did not advocate any particular approach.

(Source: Reuters)

• Democrats in the U.S. Senate were poised on Thursday to take a first step toward the ultimate passage of President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief proposal, in a marathon "vote-a-rama" session aimed at overriding Republican opposition.
• Senate Democrats need to pass a budget resolution to unlock a legislative tool called reconciliation, which would allow them to approve Biden's proposal in the narrowly divided chamber with a simple majority. The House of Representatives approved the budget measure on Wednesday.
• Most legislation must get at least 60 votes in the 100-seat Senate to pass. But the chamber is divided 50-50 and Republicans oppose the Democratic president's proposal. Reconciliation would allow the Senate's 48 Democrats and two independents to approve the relief package with a tie-breaking vote from Vice President Kamala Harris.

(Source: Reuters)

• PROVEN wishes to advise that further to the upsizing of the Additional Public Offer of ordinary shares to a maximum of 134,124,037 New Ordinary Shares, the Offer closed early on January 26, 2021, with applications totaling 154,231,234 Ordinary Shares, representing an oversubscription of US$4.3Mn.
• A total of 4,148 applications were received totaling just over US$34.5Mn. The Key Investor Pool in particular was oversubscribed by 51.22%.
• All applicants in the General and Existing Shareholder Pools received the full allotment of the shares purchased, while Key Investors received a partial allotment representing 70.75% of the subscription amount, rounded to the nearest share.

(Source: JSE)

• Fitch Ratings has downgraded Panama's Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to 'BBB-' from 'BBB' and assigned a negative rating outlook.
• The downgrade reflects the severe weakening of public finances due to the economic disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic, which has exacerbated underlying weakening fiscal trends predating 2020.
• The unprecedented GDP contraction and government revenue loss have prompted a material rise in public debt (estimated to have risen to 68% of GDP in 2020 from 46.4% in 2019).
• The negative outlook reflects risks to the government debt trajectory and uncertainty that the fiscal consolidation path set out in the revised Fiscal Responsibility Law can be achieved, given underlying fiscal challenges.
• A prolonged pandemic and delays in vaccination distribution are the main risks to the economic recovery, which will underpin fiscal consolidation over the coming years.

(Source: Fitch Ratings)