April 1 2024
Electric Trucks
1 Stock market has best quarter in 5y
2 New government rules promote electric heavy trucks
3 China’s Xi Jinping courts 18 US CEOs
4 Attacks in Pakistan threaten Chinese nationals and investment
5 US approves arms sales to Israel
4/1/1988: Burger King releases left-handed Whopper in watershed for extremity equality
Sports
see ad astra on x @greg_loving
1 Stock market has best quarter in 5y
Global stock markets have recorded their best first-quarter performance in five years, buoyed by hopes of a soft economic landing in the US and enthusiasm about artificial intelligence. An MSCI index of worldwide stocks has gained 7.7 per cent this year, the most since 2019, with stocks outperforming bonds by the biggest margin in any quarter since 2020, even as traders scale back their expectations for rapid interest rate cuts. The charge has been helped by the S&P 500, which has closed at a record high on 22 separate occasions during the quarter. The AI boom has fuelled the market’s gains, with chip designer Nvidia adding more than $1tn in market value during the first three months of the year, equivalent to about one-fifth of the total gain for global stock markets over that period.
2 New government rules promote electric heavy trucks
The Biden administration on Friday announced a regulation designed to turbocharge sales of electric or other zero-emission heavy vehicles, from school buses to cement mixers, as part of its multifront attack on global warming. The Environmental Protection Agency projects the new rule could mean that 25 percent of new long-haul trucks, the heaviest on the road, and 40 percent of medium-size trucks, like box trucks and landscaping vehicles, could be nonpolluting by 2032. Today, fewer than 2 percent of new heavy trucks sold in the United States fit that bill.The regulation would apply to more than 100 types of vehicles including tractor-trailers, ambulances, R.V.s, garbage trucks and moving vans. The rule does not mandate the sales of electric trucks or any other type of zero or low-emission truck. Rather, it increasingly limits the amount of pollution allowed from trucks across a manufacturer's product line over time, starting in model year 2027. It would be up to the manufacturer to decide how to comply. Options could include using technologies like hybrids or hydrogen fuel cells or sharply increasing the fuel efficiency of the conventional trucks.
Today, electric trucks can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, two or three times the sticker price of a diesel truck, although prices may drop as production expands, and owners may enjoy fuel savings and lower maintenance costs. An electric truck requires a big, heavy battery that reduces the amount of cargo the vehicle can haul. Electric trucks also require extremely powerful chargers. Utilities may need to upgrade distribution lines, transformers and other equipment to deliver the energy needed to refuel several trucks simultaneously. While there are nearly 200,000 public chargers for electric passenger vehicles, there are just 5,000 charging stations in the United States that are capable of serving heavy trucks, according to the Truck and Engine Manufacturers Association, which represents companies that build and make equipment for heavy-duty trucks. Of those, there are only nine public fast charging stations that are capable of serving heavy trucks, according to the Energy Department. The rest are privately owned in warehouses and depots. The truck makers association estimates that a mix of a million public and private chargers would be needed to serve the number of electric trucks envisioned by the truck regulation. “If the infrastructures are not there, customers simply will not be able to operate zero emission vehicles,” said Jed Mandel, president of the association. His organization includes the nation’s three largest truck manufacturers — Daimler Truck, which owns Freightliner; Volvo Trucks; and Traton, a unit of Volkswagen that owns Navistar. Those companies pushed hard for the E.P.A. to relax some requirements in the final version of the regulation.
3 China’s Xi Jinping courts 18 US CEOs
China’s Xi Jinping is known for his tough leadership style, brooking no dissent, purging corrupt officials and attacking what he sees as US hegemony. But the country’s most powerful man since Mao Zedong took on the role of salesman-in-chief this week as he sought to persuade a group of visiting US chief executives that China was still a good investment. A friendly and relaxed Chinese president received the group of 18 Americans — who included Chubb’s Evan Greenberg, Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman and Qualcomm’s Cristiano Amon — at the Great Hall of the People, where they held a photo shoot before he took their questions for nearly two hours. Those present said the performance was unprecedented for Xi, who is usually more stiff and formal on official occasions.
The meeting comes as China’s economy has been struggling to regain its footing, with a deep property slump undermining domestic demand and trading partners complaining that cheap Chinese exports are threatening to undercut their domestic industries. The economic troubles and growing geopolitical tensions with the US have driven down foreign direct investment in China, with inflows last year falling to their lowest level since the 1990s.
But since the middle of last year, China has been seeking to stabilise ties with the US, with Xi meeting President Joe Biden in San Francisco in November. During that trip, Xi also attended a dinner with US business leaders and agreed to do a follow-up in China this year.
4 Attacks in Pakistan threaten Chinese nationals and investment
A string of deadly attacks on Chinese interests in Pakistan is threatening to slam the brakes on Beijing's multibillion-dollar investment in the country and further escalate security demands on Islamabad, analysts say. Five Chinese engineers and their Pakistani driver were killed in a suicide attack Tuesday in Besham, about 270 kilometres northwest of the capital. The victims were on their way to the Dasu hydropower project, a China-backed 4,320-megawatt electricity generation development. Construction work was temporarily suspended on the $4.2 billion project and two other dam projects in the wake of the violence. The Besham incident was the third deadly attack on or near Chinese interests in just one week. The Gwadar Port Authority Complex and a naval air base were separately targeted in southwestern Pakistan last week by separatists who see Chinese nationals as exploiting the region's resources. Gwadar is a cornerstone of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a $50 billion component of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Beijing's globe-spanning infrastructure push.
Ed note: terrorists target all the great powers: the US, China, Russia. Seems like an area they can cooperate.
5 US approves arms sales to Israel
The Biden administration in recent days quietly authorized the transfer of billions of dollars in bombs and fighter jets to Israel despite Washington’s concerns about an anticipated military offensive in southern Gaza that could threaten the lives of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians. The new arms packages include more than 1,800 MK84 2,000-pound bombs and 500 MK82 500-pound bombs, according to Pentagon and State Department officials familiar with the matter. The 2,000-pound bombs have been linked to previous mass-casualty events throughout Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. These officials, like some others, spoke to The Washington Post on the condition of anonymity because recent authorizations have not been disclosed publicly.
4/1/1988: Burger King releases left-handed Whopper in watershed for extremity equality
Sports
Men’s final four set: UCONN, Purdue, Alabama, and #11 NC State
Thanks for reading!
