Wall Street Rattled

On Tuesday, April 26, 2022, stocks witnessed a steep decline in technology stocks that deepened Wall Street losses after a brutal start to 2022.

Dow Jones Industrial Average closed with a loss of 809 points, a decline of 2.4%. Nasdaq composite closed with a loss of 4% and S&P 500 index fell 2.8% by the closing bell

Following a year of stellar gains, all three indices have fallen since the start of the year as investors brace for the continued war in Ukraine, high inflation and the Federal Reserve’s attempts to cool off price growth to cut into corporate profits. Tech stocks that made up much of the market’s massive gains last year are among the leading forces behind the steady decline across Wall Street.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq is down more than 21% on the year, falling into a bear market as shares of Apple, Meta, Alphabet, Netflix and Tesla plunge from record highs. All posted significant losses Tuesday, with a 10% drop in Tesla stock leading the index downward.

The S&P is down 13% on the year, beyond what investors consider a correction, and the Dow is down 9.1% since the start of 2022.

All three indices have closed out the past three weeks with losses, reversing a brief comeback derailed by concerns about growing threats to business revenue.

Both the war in Ukraine and COVID-19 lockdowns in China have boosted pressure on prices for food, energy, shipping and manufacturing after more than a year of high inflation across the globe.

Deeper supply chain issues pose a major obstacle to the Fed as it attempts to raise interest rates fast enough to reverse inflation but slow enough to keep the strong US economy growing and adding jobs.

Higher interest rates raise borrowing costs for consumers and businesses, which can hinder business investment and shrink corporate profit margins. Stocks often fall as the Fed raises interest rates, particularly when investors fear the bank may need to hike quicker than they currently anticipate or higher than investors had expected.

“The Fed is raising rates to get inflation under control. This is painful in the short term, but necessary to lay the foundation for future growth. As always, we just need to ride out the short-term pain to benefit from that future growth,” wrote Brad McMillan, Chief Investment Officer for Commonwealth Financial Network, in a Monday research note.

Some economists and investment experts have become increasingly worried about the US economy falling into a recession this or next year as the Fed fights inflation amid several global obstacles. While there is no one universal definition of a recession, some banks and economists expected three to six months of negative economic growth within the next 12 to 18 months.

“We regard it … as highly likely that the Fed will have to step on the brakes even more firmly, and a deep recession will be needed to bring inflation to heel,” Deutsche Bank economists wrote in a report to clients Tuesday, CNN reported.

Other experts believe recession fears are overhyped given the strength of the US economy and the likelihood that inflation has peaked in the United States. The US added 1.7 million jobs over the first three months of 2022, and consumer spending has been resilient in the face of high price growth, thanks in part to rapid wage growth in low-income fields.

 “In spite of these risks, the metrics suggest that the economy could escape a recession in the near term, with potential for nearly 3% growth this year,” wrote Jeffrey Roach and Lawrence Gillum of investment firm LPL Financial, in a Monday research note.

“On balance, we think the economy is steady enough to handle the current tightening cycle even if the Fed is coming late with its hawkish tones,” they added.

 

Direct shipping service from Bangladesh to Barcelona and Rotterdam to start soon

Reportedly another direct container shipping service between Chattogram and two European ports is going to be introduced next month. According to the details, Switzerland-based maritime logistics service provider Commodity Supplies AG has taken the new initiative to launch the service with three of its chartered vessels to operate from Barcelona in Spain to Chattogram to the largest European port of Rotterdam in Netherlands.

Reliance Shipping and Logistics Limited, Bangladeshi agent of the firm, applied to the chairman of the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) to grant direct liner permission for the three container ships named as MV Spica, MV Andromeda J and MV Music.

Earlier in February, an Italian shipping company launched direct service between Chattogram and Italy, opening the door to transport the country’s export cargo directly to any EU destination avoiding transshipment ports.

Reliance Shipping Chairman Mohammed Rashed hoped that they would get the CPA’s permission soon as the CPA chairman has already reacted positively to their appeal.

Once the permission is granted, they have plans to launch the service in the third week of May when one of the three ships will start from Barcelona for Chattogram, he said.

Bangladesh has long been suffering from lack of direct shipping service to Europe, its biggest export destination, mainly due to limited access to large ships at Chattogram port.

Currently, export containers are at first transported through small-sized feeder vessels to four transshipment ports, including Colombo, Singapore as well as Tanjung Pelepas and Port Klang of Malaysia and some ports in China.

The containers are then loaded to connecting bigger mother vessels to Europe, USA and African destinations.

At present, the transshipment ports particularly Colombo are facing prolonged vessel congestion and thus it takes around 40 days for the country’s export cargoes to reach EU destinations.

Rashed said once the new service is launched export cargoes could be sent to Barcelona within 20 to 22 days.

CPA Chairman Rear Admiral M Shahjahan said they always welcome any direct shipping service to EU destinations and would give priority to the services.

He said he already gave nod to this latest appeal and the permission is now under official procedure.

CPA Chairman also informed that within the next few months there would be more ships to call directly from Chattogram to Europe and other destinations as many countries have already expressed their interest in this regard.

Sources said Leixoes Port of Portugal is in a process of signing a memorandum of understanding with the CPA for direct service from Chattogram while Slovakia sent their expression of interest for direct shipping.

CPA chairman said the UAE has also shown interest to inaugurate direct calling from Chattogram.

He hoped that all those would reduce export lead time and would increase the country’s export orders.

 

The Guardian story aims at implicating Iran in arms smuggling to Russia

The Russian embassy in Tehran has dismissed media allegations that Iranian weapons are being sent to Russia to be used in the Ukraine war as "false".

"The information that circulated in the media about the delivery of Iranian weaponry to Russia is false and does not match with reality," the embassy tweeted.

The Guardian reported earlier this month that Russia was using weaponry smuggled from Iraq by Iran against Ukraine.

The Iranian embassy in London had earlier dismissed the report as "unprofessional and unfounded".

The Guardian report said, “Russia is receiving munitions and military hardware sourced from Iraq for its war effort in Ukraine with the help of Iranian weapons smuggling networks, according to members of Iranian-backed Iraqi militias and regional intelligence services with knowledge of the process”

It even went on to say that RPGs and anti-tank missiles as well as Brazilian-designed rocket launcher systems “have been dispatched to Russia from Iraq as Moscow’s campaign has faltered in the last month.”

An Iranian-made Bavar 373 missile system, similar to the Russian S-300, has also been donated to Moscow by the authorities in Tehran, who also returned an S-300, according to a source who helped organize the transport, the report claimed.

Assuming that the first three paragraphs were not ridiculous enough, the report became funnier when it said, “Using the weapons-trafficking underworld would signal a dramatic shift in Russian strategy, as Moscow is forced to lean on Iran, its military ally in Syria, following new sanctions triggered by the invasion of Ukraine.
The developments also have huge implications for the direction and volume of trade in the international weapons trafficking business.”

Using the weapons-trafficking underworld signals a dramatic shift in Russian strategy, as Moscow is forced to lean on Iran, its military ally in Syria, following new sanctions triggered by the invasion of Ukraine. The developments also have huge implications for the direction and volume of trade in the international weapons trafficking business.

Iraq has hosted US and western troops since the 2003 overthrow of Saddam Hussein, and the US has trained and supplied various Iraqi army and Special Forces units to defend the Baghdad government against insurgencies. After two decades of war, the country is awash with weaponry.

Much of it has passed legally into the hands of Iran-backed Shia militias, which are opposed to the US presence in the country, but since 2016 have been officially incorporated into the Iraqi armed forces as part of the fight against Islamic State.

RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades) and anti-tank missiles in the possession of Hashd al-Shaabi, the most powerful Shia militia umbrella, were transported to Iran through the Salamja border crossing on 26 March, where they were received by the Iranian military and taken on to Russia by sea, said a commander of the militia branch that controls the crossing.

United States will not pick sides in Bangladesh

US Ambassador to Bangladesh Peter Haas has said the United States will not take any sides in the upcoming elections in Bangladesh and reiterated US commitment across the world to help countries strengthen democracy.

“Let me be clear, the United States will not pick a side in the upcoming elections. We simply hope for a democratic process that allows the Bangladeshi people to freely decide who will run their country,” said the ambassador.

He made the remarks while addressing a seminar.

Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS) organized the seminar on “Bangladesh and the United States Relations: Moving Towards Enhanced Cooperation and Partnership” at the BIISS Auditorium.

Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen spoke as the Chief Guest.

The US ambassador said the relations between the two countries grew with a series of recent engagements while two more important engagements will be held in the coming months.

Ambassador Haas said the two countries can enhance security cooperation.

The ambassador also talked about two proposed agreements – General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) and Acquisition and Cross Servicing Agreement (ACSA) which are essential” to enabling a closer defence relationship, expanding opportunities for defence trade, information sharing, and military-to-military cooperation between two countries.

He said there are many misperceptions about these two proposed agreements.

The US Ambassador also said, “There is no scope for repealing the sanctions against Rab, without concrete actions and accountability.”

“We want to see a Rab which is capable of combating terrorism but which is also capable of respecting basic human rights,” said Haas.

Just prior to his remark Rab Director General Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun spoke about how Rab had established an internal inquiry cell to ensure accountability of Rab personnel in 2011, with US cooperation.

He said that under the International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program, a total of 147 Rab personnel have been trained on basic interviewing skills and human rights.

“The trained personnel have been distributed across Rab to ensure transparency and uphold human rights credentials,” said the Rab DG.

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen, also present at the event, commented that it was the former US Ambassador James F Moriarty who had called Rab the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) of Bangladesh.

“Rab has since then done an excellent job at combating terrorism. Maybe we have to look at it more closely to see how to increase accountability…but this is a great institution,” said Momen.

“Let us have a road – you tell me where the gap is and we will try to work with you,” he said.

Peter Haas also said that the Rab sanctions do not mean that the US and Bangladesh will not continue strong law enforcement security cooperation.

“We will continue to work with Bangladesh to combat violent terrorism, combat transnational crime and enhance security. We will continue our support to the transnational crime police and to the anti-terrorism unit and the specialized police units in Chattogram, Sylhet and Rajshahi. The signing of a proposed memorandum of agreement would facilitate our assistance training program and to donate new equipment to the police,” said Haas.

He also said, “The US is not perfect. We have embarked on our own democratic renewal. This journey ensures tackling our own issues with police accountability. We are inviting other countries in the world to make similar commitments.”

“Holding an election consistent with international standards is not just about ballot day – truly fair elections involve creating a space where civic discourse can take place, where journalists can investigate without fear, and the ability of the civil society institutions to advocate. In Bangladesh the elections have already started,” said Haas. He welcomed the law minister’s commitment to reform the DSA to prevent abuse of the law.

Momen responded to Haas’ comment about holding impartial elections by saying, “You are most welcome to come with your observers. We want to see and improve.”

The US ambassador also spoke about the need for signing two defence treaties called ACSA and GSOMIA that are foundational agreements for defence trade and cooperation.

He called the treaties “building blocks”. GSOMIA would set the ground rule for exchanging sensitive data about military operations, said Haas, while ACSA will allow exchange of fuel and food.

He said that they are not like the “broad vague defence agreement that Bangladesh signed with China in 2002”, referring to the “China-Bangladesh Defence Cooperation Agreement” which covers military training and defence production.

Haas also said that Bangladesh is not being able to capitalize on US relations because of labour rights violations.

“The DFC (US International Development Finance Corporation) has a US$4 billion active portfolio in South Asia across multiple sectors including clean energy, healthcare and agriculture. The DFC cannot operate in Bangladesh because of a lack of labour rights,” he said.

He added that the embassy will include the first full-time attache from the US department of commerce this summer, to increase two-way trade and investment.

Former ambassador Kazi Imtiaz Hossain, Chairman of BIISS, led the event, while former ambassadors Humayun Kabir, Tariq A. Karim, former election commissioner Brig Gen (retd) Dr M Sakhawat Hossain, Director Gneral of BIIS Maj Gen Mohammad Masudur Rahman and Dhaka University professor Ruksana Kibria also spoke at the event.

 

United State wants Russia weakened

Secretary of Defense of United States, Lloyd Austin on Monday said that one of the goals of United States in aiding Ukraine is to see Russia weakened so that it cannot do the kind of things it has done.

When asked by reporters what the US goal was in Ukraine, he added, “We want to see Ukraine remain a sovereign country, a democratic country able to protect its sovereign territory.”

“We want to see Russia weakened to the degree that it can’t do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine,” he said.

Austin, along with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, shared their remarks while in Poland after a visit to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv.

Austin added that Russia has already lost a lot of military capability, and a lot of its troops.

According to Austin, the US wants to see them not have the capability to very quickly reproduce those troops or military capability.

The Pentagon chief added, “We want to see the international community more united, especially NATO, and we are seeing that, and that is based upon the hard work of, number one, President Joe Biden, but also our Allies and partners who have willingly leaned into this with us as we’ve imposed sanctions and as we’ve moved very rapidly to demonstrate that we’re going to defend every inch of NATO.”

Austin praised Zelensky’s leadership as well and said, “Our deepest condolences to the president for the loss of so many civilians and, of course, the loss of those courageous troops that have done just a magnificent job of pushing back Russian forces.”

He added that the meeting was productive and their focus was “to talk about those things that would enable us to win the current fight and also build for tomorrow.”

Ukraine seeking $2B per month from US in emergency economic aid, official says Biden presses Congress on legislation to address veterans’ toxic exposures

Blinken and Austin’s visit marks the most senior US officials to visit Ukraine since Russia’s invasion began on February 24 and comes on the heels of Biden announcing the US will send Ukraine another US$800 million in military aid. 

The Treasury Department separately announced Thursday US$500 million in funding to help Ukraine fund government salaries, pensions and other programs needed to keep operations afloat.

TAGS Russia-Ukraine conflict, Anthony Blinken, Lloyd Austin, Zelensky Volodymyr,

 

Terrorist attacks in Afghanistan intended to wage ethnic and religious wars

The World Assembly of Islamic Awakening has denounced the recent despicable terrorist attacks against Muslims in Afghanistan, saying such acts are intended to inflame tensions among Afghan ethnic and religious groups and foster Islamophobia.

"Certainly, such actions are planned to create tension and wage ethnic and religious wars, launch massacre and killings of Muslims, and as a result, portray an unrealistic image of Islam and spread Islamophobia," the assembly said in a statement released on Saturday.

It went on to say that the acting Taliban governing body in Afghanistan is responsible for ensuring the safety of all Muslims doing religious activities and should be held accountable. 

The recent terrorist assaults in Afghanistan on masjid are a desecration of the holy month of Ramadan and a continuation of the slaughter of innocent people carried out by US-backed terrorists with the goal of inciting a regional crisis, according to the organization.

“The recent terrorist act in Mazar-e-Sharif in fact completes ... a conspiracy and plan that seek to create division among the Muslim Ummah… and shows that such crimes know no boundaries,” the statement mentioned. 

It highlighted that the Afghans will soon respond appropriately to such atrocities, and it urged all Muslim governments, nations, groups, and parties, as well as international freedom fighters, to preserve unity, coherence, and solidarity in the face of the enemies' machinations.

Since the Taliban took control of the country in August last year multiple assaults have been recorded, some of which have been claimed by Daesh.

Taliban’s rule has yet to be recognized by governments. The former Taliban government was solely recognized by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

At least 33 Afghans, including children, were killed and 43 others were injured as an explosion ripped through a masjid in the northern city of Kunduz on Friday, the latest in a string of horrific strikes in the war-torn country.

It happened only a day after a blast at a masjid in Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan's northernmost city, which left dozens dead and wounded in the country's second significant attack on the Shia Hazara population in a week. 

 

United States does not want Iran and Saudi Arab to become friends

It was a pleasure reading “Iran and Saudi Arabia have resumed key talks after negotiations were suspended last month”, a senior Iraqi official told AFP on Saturday.

“Talks resumed last Thursday in Baghdad,” the official said, without giving further details.

Iran’s Nour news agency also confirmed that a meeting was attended by senior officials from the secretariat of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council and the head of the Saudi intelligence service.

For me the biggest inspiration are the words of the Saudi Crown Prince. In early March this year he had said, Saudi Arabia and Iran are ‘neighbours forever’ and that it was better for both of them to work it out and to look for ways in which they can coexist.

However, the contentious selection of words in AFP is evident which says, “Shia-majority Iran and the Sunni kingdom of Saudi Arabia support rival sides in several conflict zones across the region, including in Yemen, where the Houthi rebels are backed by Tehran, and Riyadh leads a military coalition supporting the government. In 2016, Iranian protesters attacked Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran after the kingdom executed revered Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.”

The selection of words reminded me the western mantra, “Iran is a bigger threat as compared to Israel”. This was used to instigate Iraq to attack on Iran over four decades ago. The war continued for nearly ten years, only because two Arab countries provided money and ammunition to Iraq.

The economic sanctions imposed on Iran for more than four decades and the refusal of United States to implement nuclear deal signed by world super powers with Iran are the testaments that the super power does not want Iran to export oil and attain economic prosperity. It is highly regrettable that Saudi Arabia has fallen prey to the US mantra and has been supporting economic sanctions on Iran.

“It is expected that a joint meeting between the foreign ministers of the two countries will be held in the near future,” Nour said, describing what it called the “positive atmosphere of the recent meeting, which raised the hopes of a resumption of bilateral relations”.