1. A court in Moscow, Russia, fined Google and Meta. A court in the Russian capital Moscow fined Google 7.2 billion roubles on Dec. 24 local time for repeatedly failing to delete content banned by Russian officials. In addition, on the same day, Meta platform Co., Ltd. was also fined nearly 2 billion rubles for failing to delete Russian official banned content.

2. US: in November, the core PCE price index rose 4.7 per cent from a year earlier and is expected to be 4.5%, the highest since 1989; month-on-month growth of 0.5%, an estimate of 0.4 % and a previous value of 0.4%.

3. The Japanese Atomic Power Regulatory Commission held a regular meeting to discuss the future review policy around the application of the nuclear sewage discharge plan. At present, Tepco’s water storage tanks at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant can store 1.37 million tons of nuclear sewerage. As of December 16, the reserves have reached 1.29 million tons, and more than 90% of the water storage tanks are full.

4. Before the 1980s, the United States was the world’s largest producer of rare earths. Since China began to exploit rare earth minerals on a large scale, the output has exceeded 90% of the global share for many years. For a long time, China lacked effective control over the development of rare earth resources, until around 2010 began to adjust the relevant policies. In 2020, the amount of rare earth mining in China has dropped to about 60% of the world, although it still ranks first in the world. The price of rare earths began to rise, but the chaotic situation of rare earth mining has not completely changed. The leading position of China’s rare earth industry has shifted from the resource side to the processing side. The competition of rare earths in the future is a thorough technological competition, and the leading position of the rare earth industry in the future will depend on the processing of rare earth products, especially the ability of intensive processing.

5. According to reports, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released its World Economic Outlook report on the 26th, predicting that South Korea’s GDP will reach US $1.82 trillion this year and US $1.91 trillion  next year, with economic growth of 4.3% and 3.3% respectively this year and next. If IMF’s expectations come true, South Korea will remain 10th in the world for three consecutive years from 2020 to next year.

6. In 2021, the COVID-19 epidemic continues to affect the world. But at the same time, the richest people in the world are getting richer. According to the annual World inequality report by the World inequality Laboratory, the share of billionaires’ wealth increased at an all-time high in 2021. The richest 0.01%, or 520000 people, each have more than $19 million , and their wealth accounts for 11% of the world’s total wealth, an increase of a full percentage point from 2020, the report found. Meanwhile, billionaires’ share of global wealth has grown from 1% in 1995 to 3% in 2021.

7. According to Japanese government statistics, the employment rate of fresh graduates of Japanese colleges and universities in 2021 was 74.2 %, down 3.5 % from last year and falling for the second year in a row. Nearly 69000 people took part in the postgraduate entrance examination, accounting for 11.8%, an increase of about 4000 over last year. With the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic, the demand for recruitment in Japan has decreased, and more and more graduates choose to continue their postgraduate studies and postpone their employment.

8. At present, the Omicron strain has become the dominant strain that has spread in the United States, spreading to 50 states across the country and Washington, D.C., where more than 69000 people have been hospitalized because of COVID-19 infection in the United States. Experts warn that as tens of millions of Americans are still unvaccinated, the epidemic situation in the United States will continue to worsen as the Omicron strain spreads further, and the US health care system may be under heavy pressure.

9. TBO Tek, an Indian tourism platform, is seeking approval from India’s market regulator to raise up to 21 billion rupees ($280 million) through IPO. The company’s founders and investors will sell shares worth 12 billion rupees. In addition, it plans to raise 9 billion rupees through the sale of new shares and another 1.8 billion rupees through a pre-IPO placement.

10. According to a recent report released by the South Korean Statistical Office, nearly 40,000 fathers took parental leave in 2020, an increase of nearly 20 times over 10 years ago, accounting for 22.7% of the total number of people taking parental leave. Men who take parental leave are mainly over 35 years old, of which 43.4% are aged 35-39 and 32.6% are over 11. After the ups and downs of US stocks before Christmas and the end of the technical cycle of Elliott structure, the market is likely to have a long-awaited “Christmas”. In the 52 “Christmas markets” of the s & p 500 since 1969, the probability of closing up is as high as 77%, with an average yield of 1.3%. The so-called “Christmas market” begins in the last five trading days of the year and the next three trading days, during which time U. S. stocks are expected to rise more than they did in the first few weeks of December.

12. Traditionally, the last month of the year and the beginning of the New year are the peak season of gold. However, gold prices seem to be moving in reverse to their seasonality this year, and gold prices have deviated from the trends of the past five and 10 years since May. Gold may not have a Christmas market this year. The US is expected to tighten monetary policy in response to the rising threat of inflation. The US stock market is still climbing to its highest level in more than a year under the Fed’s hawkish monetary policy, which poses a major disadvantage to gold prices.

13. US holiday sales rose 8.5% in 2021, the biggest annual increase in 17 years. According to the news on December 26, local time, MasterCard’s “Expenditure Pulse” market research report said that holiday sales in the United States in 2021 increased by 8.5% compared with last year, the largest annual increase in 17 years. According to the report, clothing and jewelry sales in the United States increased the most in 2021 holiday sales, with clothing sales up 47% and jewelry sales up 32% during the 2021 holiday period compared with 2020. In addition, online shopping sales in the United States increased by 61% during the 2021 holiday period compared with 2019. 15. Selfridge: as one of the oldest luxury department stores in London, under the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on British retail, it will be sold to a joint buyer made up of Thai retailers and Austrian real estate companies. the transaction is worth about 4 billion pounds.

14. According to federal data, wages for all workers in the US private sector rose 4.6% in the third quarter from a year earlier, with the largest increases in services, retail and hotels; wages in the management, business and financial sectors rose 3.9%, lower than overall wage increases, but still the highest since 2003. But the real value of wage increases is being undermined by the highest level of inflation in 39 years, under the influence of inflation of nearly 7%.