LBLV Musk's prototype Martian spacecraft exploded again 2021/04/02

LBLV provides an overview of economic news.

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The main economic news for Thursday, Fubruary 4:

0:00 Musk's prototype Martian spacecraft exploded again
1:15 eBay's earnings rose 52% in the fourth quarter
2:21 Stocks fall over China's tough policies prospect
3:27 Deutsche Bank shows first net profit in six years

1. Musk's prototype Martian spacecraft exploded again
In September 2019, the billionaire unveiled a prototype of a reusable spaceship capable of carrying cargo and astronauts to Mars and the Moon. Recently, a prototype of Starship, developed by Elon Musk's SpaceX, exploded on landing after a successful launch in Texas. The broadcast was posted on the SpaceX YouTube channel. Starship SN9 began its flight from the developer's test site in south Texas and climbed to an altitude of 10 kilometers. Upon reaching it, the ship shut down its engines and, after a special maneuver, drifted toward Earth in an upright position. Unfortunately then there were difficulties with restarting the engines. The ship began to descend rapidly and exploded on impact. This is the second consecutive explosion of the SpaceX and Tesla founding spacecraft. A prototype rocket exploded on December 10 during a test in Texas, also failing to land. SpaceX was later found to have violated FAA license conditions during these tests.

2. eBay's earnings rose 52% in the fourth quarter
Net income of the world's largest online auction site eBay Inc. increased 52%, or twice, in Q4 2020. It was $845 million, up from $556 million in the same period a year earlier. The e-commerce giant said it will recover from the COVID-19 crisis after a pandemic-induced surge in online shopping helped the company beat sales and profit forecasts for the holiday quarter. In 2020, eBay's revenue rose to $10.271 billion from $8.636 billion a year earlier. The aggregate volume of transactions completed on the eBay platform in the fourth quarter rose 21%. The company saw double-digit percentage growth in sales of luxury watches compared to the previous quarter, with sneaker sales up several times over the same period in 2019 after the launch of the authenticity guarantee for those items. eBay stock prices jumped 11.1% in additional trading Wednesday.

3. Stocks fall over China's tough policies prospect
Stocks fell Thursday as a surge in short-term interest rates in China fueled fears of policy tightening in the world's second-largest economy. Though rising corporate profits and easing market volatility helped stem the losses. The former MSCI Asia-Pacific index fell 1.2%, led by declines in South Korea and China, while Japan's Nikkei lost 1.1%, both losing their three-day winning streaks. US stock futures fell 0.25% in Asia and European stocks are expected to remain flat or decline slightly, with futures down 0.1% to 0.2%. Rising short-term interest rates in China spooked risky assets, although analysts also noted that a position adjustment ahead of next week's Lunar New Year is also likely to play a role. Meanwhile, US bonds extended their decline, pushing the 30-year yield to its highest level since March at 2.2 basis points at 1.935%, following stronger economic data and a push in Washington for a massive easing plan.

4. Deutsche Bank shows first net profit in six years
Deutsche Bank posted a small annual profit in 2020 - it’s first since 2014 – thanks to strong earnings at its investment banking unit, the German creditor said Thursday. The net profit attributable to shareholders of 113 million euros ($135.69 million) compares with a 2019 loss of 5.7 billion euros. Analysts believe the bank will make another profit in 2021, according to the consensus forecast. Shares were up 3.7% in premarket trading. The return to profit is a victory for chief executive Christian Sewing, who was promoted to Germany's biggest lender in 2018 after years of losses and steep fines over the money-laundering debacle and his role in the mortgage crisis. Deutsche has lost a total of 8.2 billion euros ($9.84 billion) over the past 10 years.