(Jan 21): A tainted infant formula crisis that started with Nestlé SA is deepening globally with French manufacturers Danone SA and Groupe Lactalis pulling products potentially contaminated with a toxin. A Danone formula product was also pulled from shelves in Singapore. News that the contamination crisis is potentially spreading is a worrisome development for a highly regulated food product that millions of parents rely on globally. A public health agency in Brazil has also said that two babies were ill, potentially caused by Nestlé formula. Clinical evidence is needed to definitively prove a sickness has been caused by the consumption of a food product, it said.

“It’s been a perfect storm for long-dated JGBs,” said Koutny, who helps oversee Vanguard’s US$500 billion (RM2.03 trillion) of actively-managed fixed income assets. JGBs clawed back some of those losses in volatile trading on Wednesday, pushing the 30-year yield 14bps lower to 3.74%. What has riled investors is Takaichi’s promise to temporarily lower sales tax on food in order to strengthen her slim majority in the country’s Lower House. With Japan relying on more than 20% of its revenue from consumption tax, Koutny said, “any tinkering around there has a meaningful impact for the fiscal position of the government”. For Vanguard’s Koutny, a shift to more prudent fiscal spending plans or a hawkish turn by the BOJ to commit to a rate hike in March or April “would be key for us to resume any buying”.

KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 21): Elridge Energy Holdings Bhd (KL:ELRIDGE) is expanding its regional biomass fuel footprint by securing a one-year biomass fuel supply agreement with Thailand-based Berkana Power Company Ltd. Under a memorandum of understanding signed on Wednesday (Jan 21), Elridge's wholly owned Bio Eneco Sdn Bhd will deliver an estimated 100,000 tonnes of biomass fuel for a year to Berkana Power via 10 shipments. Elridge Energy CEO Oliver Yeo said the agreement reflects Bio Eneco’s ability to support regular, high-volume biomass fuel deliveries for regional power generation demand, adding that Thailand remains an important market for biomass energy. Elridge Energy is principally involved in the manufacturing and trading of biomass fuel products, particularly palm kernel shells and wood pellets. Its customers are mainly biomass fuel trading companies that sell to end-users such as industrial manufacturers and biomass power plant operators, with operations primarily across Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and Japan, the group’s annual report showed.

Herwadey Hashim, 45, the former senior private secretary to Azlan, was testifying during re-examination by deputy public prosecutor Noralis Mat. Herwadey said Azlan provided him with the telephone number of the company's owner, Shafie Ismail, the prosecution's tenth witness, to arrange Azlan's overseas travel. "At first, I understood that En Shafie was the owner of Sri Kedawang. On Dec 3 last year, Herwadey told the court that Azlan had recommended Sri Kedawang for overseas travel arrangements, as he had used their services while serving at Wisma Putra and found it to be excellent. He also agreed that, in practice, his actions in making these travel arrangements were lawful and did not breach any regulations.

(Jan 21): Hyundai Motor Co overtook General Motors Co as the world’s fourth-most valuable automaker as the South Korean firm’s robotics push fuelled a blistering stock rally. The Atlas robot is built by Hyundai’s Boston Dynamics unit and is set to start work in the carmaker’s plants in 2028. Hyundai Motor is the only company that can rival Tesla Inc in the physical AI market, according to KB Securities analyst Kang Seongjin, who more than doubled his price target to 800,000 won. Hyundai Motor closed at 549,000 won (RM1,511.99). Affiliates including logistics arm Hyundai Glovis Co, parts supplier Hyundai Mobis Co and tech firm Hyundai Autoever Corp have risen alongside the automaker to all hit records this month.

For this family, the monthly food rations provided by Penang’s Mutiara Food Bank have transitioned from helpful supplement to essential lifeline. The food bank is a programme where food surplus is collected and channelled to the needy for free. Penang folk receiving perishables from the Mutiara Food Bank via the Taman West MPKK in Jelutong, Penang. By having the staples covered by the food bank, the couple could reallocate their limited cash. Mechanics of food rescueThe Mutiara Food Bank was established by the Penang government in 2017 as a response to both poverty and food waste.

Maybank aims to boost ROE through organic growth by improving asset-liability management, cutting costs, allocating capital on high-return areas, and growing non-interest income. CIMB Securities said the plan marks a shift from lending-focused expansion to fee income growth and capital-efficient operations which focuses on execution of the plan. It raised its target price to RM11.70, highlighting a sustained improvement in asset quality, higher low-cost deposits, and an attractive ~6% dividend yield. AmInvestment Bank, one of the few with a 'hold' rating on the stock, said Maybank’s FY2030 ROE aspiration appears stretched and largely reliant on a favourable macro environment rather than internal factors. Achieving 9% annual growth in non-interest income over five years is also tough given its large base; it projects 6.1% growth in FY2026 and 3.9% in FY2027.

(Jan 21): China’s Zhipu is limiting access to its coding assistant after strong demand for a new AI model syphoned off computing resources. Zhipu said its recent launch of its GLM-4.7 large language model triggered a surge of users, resulting in temporary computing resource constraints. US sanctions have constrained its access to top-tier Nvidia Corp AI accelerators, pushing the company to work more closely with domestic provider Huawei Technologies Co. This month Zhipu also released a new multimodal model that it says is the country’s first to be fully trained using domestic chips. The company said that its open-source image generation model, GLM-Image, is the first state-of-the-art multimodal model to complete training using Huawei’s Ascend chips.

DAVOS (Jan 21): Meta Platforms' new artificial intelligence lab has delivered its first high-profile AI models internally this month, the company's chief technology officer said on Wednesday. "They're basically six months into the work, not quite even," Bosworth said, adding that the team's AI models were "very good". Media outlets reported in December that Meta was working on a text AI model codenamed Avocado slated for a first-quarter launch, along with an image and video-focused model codenamed Mango. Bosworth, known as "Boz", did not specify which models were delivered internally. He said, however, that Meta's big gambits from 2025 were starting to show favourable returns.

(Jan 21): S&P 500 companies are handily beating earnings estimates, yet unimpressed investors are delivering the worst share-price reactions on record as the outlook for 2026 turns murky. While it’s still early days, data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence show about 81% of S&P 500 firms have beaten fourth-quarter profit expectations so far. Among the stocks that underwhelmed, 3M Co’s shares fell 7% on Tuesday (Jan 20) even as the company topped profit estimates, with investors focusing instead on a glum forecast. That’s lifted valuations above long-term averages just as analysts have been cutting profit estimates ahead of the reporting season. Signs of weaker demand would likely be poorly received with the S&P 500 trading at about 22 times forward earnings, above a 10-year average of 19.

The combination of the region’s ongoing economic importance, developing financial markets and regulatory environment is creating opportunities in derivatives, as the global market shifts its focus eastward. Embrace derivatives marketsThe ongoing development of China’s derivatives market is a significant highlight in the Asia-Pacific derivatives sector. On Oct 9, the China Securities Regulatory Commission’s Administrative Provisions on Programme Trading in the Futures Market was implemented. The provisions aim to enhance the regulation of programme trading, standardise its development and maintain order in futures trading. Looking aheadAsia’s growing importance on the global economic stage looks set to drive significant growth in its derivatives market.

(Jan 21): Top Thai economic officials sounded alarm over the baht’s surge to a five-year high, with the finance minister calling it a “very big concern” and the central bank chief saying that efforts to rein in the currency have had limited impact. The Thai currency is trading at around 31 baht per US dollar, close to its strongest level in five years. He said officials are trying to ease the pressures by boosting foreign investment and curbing speculative activity linked to gold trading. “We don’t have enough power to set the baht level, to make baht weaken like others want,” he said. Ekniti has worked with the Bank of Thailand to give the central bank clearer authority to oversee online gold trading in baht, a segment officials say has had an outsized impact on the local currency.

LONDON (Jan 21): The International Energy Agency revised its 2026 global oil demand growth forecasts higher on Wednesday in its latest monthly oil market report, suggesting a slightly narrower surplus for the market this year. The IEA now expects global oil demand to rise by 930,000 barrels per day (bpd) this year, up from the 860,000 bpd growth forecast in its previous report. That suggests global oil supply will exceed demand by 3.69 million bpd this year, according to Reuters calculations based on the report, narrowing from an implied surplus of 3.84 million bpd in the Paris-based watchdog's December report. "For now, bloated balances provide some comfort to market participants and have kept prices in check," the IEA said.

Yet, the past two years were lacklustre for IPOs on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) as well as at its tech-heavy, crosstown rival Nasdaq. Singapore IPOs raised US$2.5 billion through 38 new listings last year while 60 IPOs in Malaysia raised RM 5.96 billion in 2025. Musk has hinted at a 2026 IPO raising more than US$30 billion at a valuation of at least US$1 trillion. The first big AI IPO off the gates this year is likely to be Anthropic whose AI chatbot and its large language models are both called Claude. Among other major IPOs this year is billionaire fashion influencer Kim Kardashian’s shapewear firm SKIMS which recently raised US$225 million led by Goldman Sachs Alternatives at a US$5 billion valuation.

“The Workers’ Party takes the view that the leader of the largest opposition party in parliament, is the leader of the opposition,” the political group said in a statement on Wednesday. Wong offered the Workers’ Party an opportunity to float another lawmaker to the role not connected to the scandal. In the 2025 general election, the Workers’ Party won nearly 60% of the vote in his constituency. Singh was appointed leader of the opposition in 2020 by then-Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong after the Workers’ Party made unprecedented gains and won 10 seats at the polls then. “In other Westminster systems, the title of the leader of the opposition is established by law and is not the prerogative or choice of the government of the day or the prime minister,” the Workers’ Party said.