Contents
Chinese stocks fall as online regulations tighten
After a bearish week for stocks in the U.S, it was Chinese stocks which ended the week lower, as news broke that there was set to be increased online regulations.
It was reported that the Chinese government would look to implement a new data protection act that would be similar to the GDPR rules currently in Europe.
This comes a month after the Chinese government began investigating ride hailing giant Didi for security breaches, shortly after the company went public.
Since then, there have been several reports that tougher security measures would be put in place for digital companies, with today’s announcement being one of the first.
The Hang Seng index was down 1.84% in Friday’s session.
FTSE 100 climbs despite falling UK retail sales
In the United Kingdom, the benchmark FTSE 100 finished the week higher, despite data showing that retail sales had slowed in July.
Figures released by the Office for National Statistics reported that sales unexpectedly dropped by 2.5% last month.
This comes after markets had forecasted sales to rise by 0.4%, however as lockdown restrictions eased, shoppers were instead socialising.
According to the ONS grocery sales fell as a result of the lifting of restrictions, which enabled customers to spend outside of the retail and hospitality sector
Despite this, the FTSE 100 closed 0.41% higher on Friday.
Shares in Tesla were also trading higher in today’s session, as CEO Elon Musk unveiled plans for a “Tesla Bot” in the near future.
Speaking at an Artificial Intelligence conference, the company’s founder stated that, “What is the economy? At the foundation it is labour, so, what happens when there is no shortage of labour?”
The “Tesla bot” or humanoid robot would take the responsibility of production work, in areas where there is a shortage of staff, whilst posing little safety threat.
Musk joked that, “At a mechanical level, at a physical level, you can run away from it – and most likely overpower it”.
It is reported that the bot would be around 5 feet, 8 inches tall and weighs 125 pounds. It can carry up to 45 pounds and deadlift up to 150 pounds.
Tesla stock was up 1.09% as of writing.
Quote of the day – “Buy things that are going up. Sell things that are going down. And when they stop, get out!”
– Rob Smith