— This is the weekly script of CNBC's news report for China's CCTV on April 26, 2024.
Mark Zuckerberg
This week's People of the Week starts with Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta. From entering the metaverse to betting on AI, Zuckerberg has always been very ambitious. He also hopes that investors can have patience, but the busy Wall Street seems unable to wait for too long.
Meta announced its first-quarter financial report this week, with performance exceeding expectations. However, the guidance for the second quarter is lower than expected, and due to substantial investment in AI, capital expenditure for the year is expected to increase significantly. The ROI from investing in AI may take several years to materialize.
During the earnings call, Zuckerberg attempted to persuade investors to take a long-term vision, but the market seemed skeptical. After the financial report was released, Meta plummeted 19% in after-hours trading, evaporating about $200 billion in market value. Meta continued to decline the next trading day, and Zuckerberg's net worth shrank by $18 billion as a result.
Elon Musk
Tesla's CEO Elon Musk had a different experience this week. Tesla's financial report fell short of expectations in various indicators, but the stock price surged after hours under Musk's narrative. Musk once again surpassed Zuckerberg, becoming the world's third-richest person.
During the earnings call, Musk also discussed AI extensively. He conveyed that "autonomous driving" is Tesla's top priority at the moment and issued a strong statement that if investors don't believe Tesla will solve the autonomous driving problem, they shouldn't invest in them. Additionally, regarding affordable car models, Musk stated that plans are still in progress and are expected to be released either at the beginning of next year or the end of this year. Tesla's stock price rose by 12%, making its market value return to above $500 billion.
Kazuo Ueda
Next, let's focus on the Governor of the Bank of Japan, Kazuo Ueda. As expected by the market, the Bank of Japan continued to maintain its current monetary policy unchanged this week. However, as the yen fell to its lowest level in 34 years this week, Ueda's job has become increasingly difficult.
This week, the yen fell below the important psychological level of 155 yen per US dollar and continued to weaken after the Bank of Japan announced its decision to maintain the status quo.
Ueda hopes to gradually advance the normalization of monetary policy to reduce the impact on the economy. He also emphasized that monetary policy will not be affected by changes in foreign exchange rates. However, analysts believe that the weakening yen may lead to imported inflation. Bank of America has now raised its expectations for interest rate hikes in Japan, expecting the Bank of Japan to raise short-term interest rates to 0.75% by the end of 2025.
Pedro Sánchez
Lastly, let's turn our attention to the Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sánchez. There was a sudden change in the Spanish political scene this week, as Sánchez announced that he would suspend his recent official duties due to his wife, Gómez, being investigated for corruption. During this period, he will consider whether to resign.
Previously, an anti-corruption organization accused Gómez of involvement in nepotism and corruption during her tenure at the IE Business School in Madrid. Sánchez denied the accusations against his wife and believed that they were colluding with the right wing. Earlier (this year), during an interview with CNBC, Sánchez expressed concern about the advance of far-right forces.
Pedro Sánchez
Spanish Prime Minister
"The advance of the far right, it is something or I would, I would say the biggest concern for Western democracies."
Sánchez has been serving as the Prime Minister of Spain since 2018, making him one of the longest-serving leaders in Europe. It is expected that on the 29th local time, Sánchez will announce whether he will continue to serve as Prime Minister.