US Navy sailor sentenced to 27 months on China spy charges

Events: Japan’s foreign minister Yoko Kamikawa visits Helsinki and meets President Sauli Niinistö and foreign minister Elina Valtonen. Singapore foreign minister Vivian Balakrishnan concludes official visits to Portugal and Denmark.

Central banks: Bank of England executive director Nathanaël Benjamin appears before the Treasury select committee over his appointment to the Financial Policy Committee. Banque de France governor François Villeroy de Galhau gives a new year address to the country’s financial sector.

Economic indicators: The OECD releases an economic survey on Denmark and the EU statistics office issues eurozone unemployment rates for November. Switzerland’s December jobless data comes out. German industrial production and French trade data for November are also announced.

Corporate updates: UK companies reporting quarterly results include Nottingham-based miniature maker Games Workshop Group and Leicester-based retailer Shoe Zone.

The UK and US have decried election interference in Bangladesh after authorities arrested thousands of members of the main opposition party prior to voting on Sunday.

The British Foreign Office said it condemned “acts of intimidation and violence” during the campaign. “Such conduct has no place in political life.”

A US Department of State spokesperson said on Monday that the elections, in which Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina won a fifth term, was “not free or fair”.

Hasina’s Awami League took 223 of the 300 seats contested in the election.

Carta, a $7.4bn software company used by start-ups to track their investors, is shutting down part of its business as it grapples to contain the fallout from allegations that it tried to trade customers’ shares without their consent.

Carta will wind down a private share trading platform that investors in the company — which include venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and private equity group Silver Lake — had once hoped would be a major source of revenue for the company.

Henry Ward, the company’s chief executive, said the failure of the trading platform was “my greatest failure and disappointment” in a blog post announcing the decision on Monday night.

Asian equities rose on Tuesday following strong gains in the US stock market the previous day.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index climbed 1 per cent and China’s CSI 300 edged up 0.4 per cent, while Japan’s Topix rose 0.8 per cent and South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.3 per cent.

US markets on Monday recorded their best session since mid-November, driven by advances in large-cap tech stocks. The S&P 500 rose 1.4 per cent, coming within striking distance of a record high, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 2.2 per cent.

Pakistan’s Supreme Court has scrapped lifetime bans on people with criminal convictions from contesting elections, opening the way for Nawaz Sharif to run for prime minister for a fourth time in elections due next month.

Sharif returned from exile in the UK in October last year after being removed from office by the Supreme Court in 2017 on charges of “dishonest practices” linked to the purchase of luxury property in London.

Some analysts see Sharif’s return and renewed candidacy as an effort to ensure an alternative to former prime minister Imran Khan, Sharif’s most bitter rival, who has himself been jailed on charges of corruption and who has fallen out with Pakistan’s powerful army.

Taiwan’s vice-president on Tuesday accused China of the “most serious” interference in his country’s elections yet recorded as it sought to install a “Beijing-friendly” regime.

Lai Ching-te, the presidential candidate for Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive party, criticised Beijing’s attitude that the election was a choice between peace and war.

“China meddles every time Taiwan holds elections, but this time it is the most serious we have ever seen — no matter if it is propaganda or military intimidation, cognitive warfare or fake news, they are employing it all,” Lai said.

“If this interference succeeds, then Taiwan would not be electing a president but a chief executive,” he added. “It would become like Hong Kong.”

Samsung Electronics estimated on Tuesday that its operating profit fell about 35 per cent as it grappled with a supply glut and high rates of inflation.

Operating profit at the world’s largest memory chipmaker fell to about Won2.8tn ($2.1bn) in the October-December quarter, worse than the Won3.7tn forecast of a LSEG SmartEstimate.

Its sales fell 4.9 per cent to about Won67tn from a year earlier.

The industry suffered its worst downturn in decades last year as consumer demand for tech gadgets was damped by high inflation.

But chip prices rose in the fourth quarter, helped by production cuts at memory chipmakers. Analysts expect growing demand for high performance chips to drive a recovery this year.

Events: Indonesian President Joko Widodo travels to the Philippines for a three-day official visit, accompanied by foreign minister Retno Marsudi. Bhutan holds parliamentary elections.

Economic indicators: Japan releases consumer price index figures for December and household spending data for November. Australia issues November retail sales data.

Corporate updates: Samsung Electronics releases fourth-quarter earnings estimates. Japanese retailer Izumi and kitchen equipment maker Maruzen report third-quarter earnings, as does exam tutoring group Riso Kyoiku. Osaka-based valve manufacturer Nakakita Seisakusho reports second-quarter results.

US stocks recorded their best sessions since mid-November on Monday as the S&P 500 came within striking distance of a record high.

The benchmark index accelerated late into the session, finishing 1.4 per cent higher. The index is 0.7 per cent away from topping a record high set in January 2022.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 2.2 per cent, marking its best day since mid-November, with all Magnificent Seven tech stocks advancing. Nvidia led the pack with a 6.4 per cent increase.

Traders bought Treasuries as equities pushed higher, with the yield on the two-year and 10-year notes falling slightly.

The investment vehicle of longtime Pirelli boss Marco Tronchetti Provera is increasing its stake in the Milan-based tyremaker months after the Italian government curbed the rights of China-based Sinochem, its largest shareholder.

Following a two-stage transaction involving Tronchetti Provera’s financial concern and Camfin, the holding company of Pirelli’s Italian investors, MTP will raise its stake to 20 per cent from 14 per cent, according to a statement.

Tronchetti Provera last year stepped down as Pirelli chief executive after a three-decade tenure but maintains a tight grip on the company now headed by Andrea Casaluci, a close aide. He is currently Pirelli’s executive vice-chair.

Read more here.

United Airlines said it has found bolts that need tightening on doors located on some of the 737 Max jets that have been grounded since a mid-air blowout on a similar jet three days ago.

The Chicago-based carrier said it “found instances that appear to relate to installation issues in the door plug — for example, bolts that needed additional tightening” while it was inspecting its 737 Max 9s, a variant of the single-aisle jet that has more seats than the more popular Max 8.

The airline said its technical operations team will fix the problem “to safely return the aircraft to service”.

Tech stocks surged on Monday, bouncing back after blue-chips slumped last week to end a nine-week bull run.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 2 per cent on Monday afternoon, heading towards its best day since mid-November as chipmaker Nvidia led the Magnificent Seven group of tech stocks with a 5.5 per cent gain. The benchmark S&P 500 gained 1.2 per cent.

Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, settled 3.3 per cent lower to $76.12 a barrel after Saudi Arabia cut export prices, pointing to weaker demand for fuel. West Texas Intermediate, the US marker, lost 4.1 per cent to $70.77 a barrel, its steepest fall since November 16.